Checking in-BOGO book surprise

I ordered erica kaufman’s book of poetry, INSTANT CLASSIC, from Small Press Distribution rather than the AMAZONIAN on the theory that my order could benefit this not-for-profit organization and better support the poet.  Imagine my surprise when the book arrived with a bonus book of “anecdotal descriptions” of the life of Ted Berrigan, poet, editor and publisher.  I know those books must not be selling, but that’s OK with me.  I’m happy to have it.  erica, by the way, is a Teaching Assistant in the ModPo course.

I’m managing to stay a little ahead of my reading goal of 30 pages per day, and I need to, because I have company coming into town in February.  I’ve split the 30 page goal:  20 pages to WOMEN OF THE BEAT GENERATION and 10 pages to FAILURE, Documents of Contemporary Art, sent to me by Daniela in the book swap.  FAILURE is dense, requiring much slower (and highly satisfying) reading.  FAILURE also mentions various works of art, so I find myself stopping to try to find them on the internet.  Only one essay, so far, has been almost completely over my pay-grade.  Here are the four categories into which the pieces are organized:  Dissatisfaction and Rejection; Idealism and Doubt; Error and Incompetence; Experiment and Progress.