Marginalia, no.232

He was amused by her evident belief in the curative power of animals. She seemed to think that it must steady him to look at a buffalo.

~ Nathaniel West, Miss Lonelyhearts

We spent a week camping at Yellowstone when I was nine. There were elk and moose and buffalo to be seen and we spent a large part of each day either looking for them or looking at them. With the heat and altitude, it was a tiring business. Back at the campsite my grandfather (who swore that his bypass scar was from an Indian tomahawk) simmered ground buffalo patties and onions and Campbell’s condensed mushroom soup. If looking at a buffalo had failed to steady us, eating one did the trick nicely.

Marginalia, no.202

Keys yearn to mix with change.

~ Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts

When you buy a ticket for the commuter train that runs up and down the San Francisco Peninsula, you get your change in dollar coins. Once a week on my lunch break I grab a handful and shove them into my pocket. They tinkle against my keys as I walk into the used bookshop downtown. Today I picked up a John McPhee book and read, on the first page, about the wandering poles of geologic history, and the drumskins of continental plates in perpetual basso profondo concussion. Big and small, all things conspire to make music.