I remember / je me souviens

I remember / je me souviens

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For those limbic bursts of nostalgia, invented by Proust, miniaturized by Nicholson Baker, and freeze-dried by Joe Brainard in his I remember and by Georges Perec in his Je me souviens.

But there are no fractions, the world is an integer
Like us, and like us it can neither stand wholly apart nor disappear.
When one is young it seems like a very strange and safe place,
But now that I have changed it feels merely odd, cold
And full of interest.
--John Ashbery, "A Wave"

Sometimes I sense that to put real confidence in my memory I have to get to the end of all rememberings. That seems to say that I forego remembering. And now that strikes me as an accurate description of what it is to have confidence in one's memory.
--Stanley Cavell, The Claim of Reason

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

I remember sitting in the car going to the country and Billy showing me a black and white photo in his (biology?) book of two hands -- with six fingers each. I remember not noticing that there were six fingers until he pointed it out to me, and how awed I was at how privledged being older and having a textbook could be (they never gave US that textbook, I may add).

I also remember watching the Twilight Zone and Creature Features at the Hoges' house on 2H. All of which was over my head, but I was determined to stick it out. The Hoge boys had a triple(!) bunk bed and we used to jump from first the second bunk, but then the top bunk, onto a pile of cushions. After a while we took the cushions away and jumped onto the bare floor.

I also remember Billy teaching me how to jump down from a high rock in Riverside Park at around 82nd street. A feat of utmost proportions.

I also remember in Quogue with the Hoges how there was a sand depot and we used to play on the piles of sand and run up and jump down. It was so incredibly fun and adventurous. I was SO disappointed when the adults said it was dangerous and we weren't allowed to anymore....I still resent that they took away such fun!!!

posted by caroline 5:04 PM
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