The Mirror of ArenellAllenerA

Roy Arenella sends me a photocard, dated 24 June 04, that is the 262nd article of mail he has distributed this year. The face of the card consists of a dreamy-looking mannequin staring up over my left shoulder through the reflection of a building in the window that separates me from her. The pseudo-cancellation includes a rubberstamping of an angular face that clearly resembles that of the mannequin. A baseball cap, brim pointing to the right, garnishes the U in HUTH. And Roy says,

I keep trying to explain our snailmail/blog exchange to myself.
3^RDAttempt
It's like looking in a mirror & seeing myself--now, & then.
[I'm already imagining reading these words on your blog, 3 or 4 days from now...

[without an ending bracket]


Roy Arenella, Mannequin in Window (7 Apr 2004)
One day later, on 25 June 2004 (apoChristmas, that point furthest in time from Christmas, and my lucky brother's birthday), Roy sends me a 29-year-old visual moonpoem in response to the moonpoem I sent him. His note includes a line from Wallace Stevens's poem "The Comedian as the Letter C": The book of moonlight is not written yet." The pseudo-cancellation ("25 June 2004 - 265 p/c") includes a rubberstamping of the Chinese character for "moon" (one of the few Chinese characters my friend Zhibao Chen has taught me). A baseball cap, bill pointing to the left, decorates the U in HUTH.


Roy Arenella, "MOON MOOD" (1974)

un violon d'ingres