Books Year of the Monkey
References to Other Books
Direct References
Cantos
I scanned the books lining his shelves, among them the Cantos of Pound
Collected Works
I scanned the books lining his shelves, among them the Cantos of Pound, the collected works of Rudolf Steiner
What Marcus Said
I opened his Meditations: Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live…
Collected Poems of Allen Ginsberg
The same drill: six Electric Lady T-shirts, six pair of underwear, six of bee socks, two notebooks, herbal cough remedies, my camera, the last packs of slightly expired Polaroid film and one book, Collected Poems of Allen Ginsberg, a nod to his coming birthday.
Flowers of Evil
There is detective fiction, collected poems of William Blake and Walt Whitman, and his precious copies of Flowers of Evil, Illuminations and the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde.
Illuminations
There is detective fiction, collected poems of William Blake and Walt Whitman, and his precious copies of Flowers of Evil, Illuminations and the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde.
Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde
There is detective fiction, collected poems of William Blake and Walt Whitman, and his precious copies of Flowers of Evil, Illuminations and the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde.
The Bobbsey Twins
when a library card gave entrance to entire series of books: The Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, Freddy the Detective, all the Oz books and Nancy Drew mysteries.
Uncle Wiggily and His Friends
when a library card gave entrance to entire series of books: The Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, Freddy the Detective, all the Oz books and Nancy Drew mysteries.
Freddy the Detective
when a library card gave entrance to entire series of books: The Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, Freddy the Detective, all the Oz books and Nancy Drew mysteries.
The Oz books
when a library card gave entrance to entire series of books: The Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, Freddy the Detective, all the Oz books and Nancy Drew mysteries.
Nancy Drew mysteries
when a library card gave entrance to entire series of books: The Bobbsey Twins, Uncle Wiggily and His Friends, Freddy the Detective, all the Oz books and Nancy Drew mysteries.
The Tik-Tok Man of Oz
But it had been worth it, for I had my books, among them The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Half Magic and A Dog of Flanders.
Half Magic
But it had been worth it, for I had my books, among them The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Half Magic and A Dog of Flanders.
A Dog of Flanders
But it had been worth it, for I had my books, among them The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, Half Magic and A Dog of Flanders.
The Mystic Lamb
I packed a rain jacket, flannel shirt, some socks and a small but profusely illustrated book on the Ghent Altarpiece.
The Death of Virgil
I thought of Hermann Broch mapping out The Death of Virgil in his head while confined in prison.
2666
the one about 2666, the one covering the dog races in St. Petersburg.
The Part About the Critics
I opened the sack and pulled out a beat-up paperback, the English translation of The Part About the Critics, obsessively notated in Spanish.
Just Kids
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010
Woolgathering
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, W朝tt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.
The Coral Sea
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, W朝tt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.
Auguries of Innocence
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, W朝tt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.
M Train
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, W朝tt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.
Devotion
Her books include Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award in 2010, W朝tt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Devotion.
Indirect References
The Colossus
The sign was silent, but the books on my night table beckoned. The Colossus.
Moby-Dick
This is the game I sometimes play when sleep is elusive, one that evolved from reading Melville, that takes me from the mat on the bathroom floor to my own bed, affording grateful slumber.
The Third Man
Once in the lobby, I was pounced upon and spirited away, much like Holly Martins in The Third Man, when he was herded from his hotel in Vienna to deliver a talk about the role of the existential cowboy in American literature.
Children of Paradise
Inwardly I always felt completely lost in swirls of revelers, like Baptiste unwillingly swept into the throes of the manic carnival at the end of Children of Paradise.
Heart of Darkness
I wonder how Joseph Conrad would like Apocalypse Now, I said, mostly to break the ice.
Places Referenced
San Francisco, California
The drive from San Francisco was just over an hour.
Santa Cruz, California
New Year’s morning in Santa Cruz, pretty dead.
Paris, France
Jean Marais in Cocteau’s Orpheus, shutting himself up in a baroque garage on the outskirts of Paris in a battered Renault.
Golden Gate, San Francisco, California
just a Golden Gate away.
San Rafael, California
Sandy had been found alone, on the eve of our first concert, unconscious in a parking lot in San Rafael.
Marin County, California
The morning of our first concert Lenny Kaye and I went to the ICU in Marin County.
Japantown, San Francisco, California
We drove back to our hotel in Japantown, hardly able to speak.
San Diego, California
I came upon a fading billboard announcing that the candy-wrapper phenomenon had spread all the way to San Diego.
Ocean Beach, San Diego, California
I should go to San Diego and check out Ocean Beach myself.
Uluru, Australia
the red skin of Ayers Rock, that I had not yet found, on a walking path in Uluru, where I had not yet walked.
Venice Beach, California
I was thinking of going to Venice Beach, I said impulsively.
Peace Tower, Japantown
Peace Tower, Japantown
San Francisco
The traffic was light reentering San Francisco.
Miyako Hotel
My room at the Miyako Hotel wasn’t ready so I passed through two internal malls and ate at On the Bridge.
Kyoto
I imagined I was in Kyoto, which wasn’t hard as the hotel bed was close to the floor next to a rice-paper lamp and a tableau of grayscale pebbles studiously arranged in a bamboo sandbox.
Marin County
In the morning, I arranged transportation to the hospital in Marin County helped by mutual friends who had taken it upon themselves to tend to Sandy.
Hie Shrine
Hie Shrine
New York
I packed up the last of my belongings and sent them to New York
San Francisco
Funny how I left San Francisco on one new year and was leaving again on another.
Chinatown
Passing through Chinatown, I collided unexpectedly with preparations for the lunar new year
Japantown
walked from Chinatown to Japantown, back to the hotel.
Tucson
The flight to Tucson was two hours and eleven minutes.
Guatemala
Buying coffee in Guatemala.
Havana
I thought back to the places we had traveled to: Havana
Kingston
I thought back to the places we had traveled to: Havana, Kingston
Cambodia
I thought back to the places we had traveled to: Havana, Kingston, Cambodia
Christmas Island
I thought back to the places we had traveled to: Havana, Kingston, Cambodia, Christmas Island
Vietnam
I thought back to the places we had traveled to: Havana, Kingston, Cambodia, Christmas Island, Vietnam.
Phnom Penh
In Phnom Penh, leeches covered me when we were trapped in the flooding streets.
Angkor Wat
I remembered a baby elephant decorated with flowers emerging from the dense jungle in Angkor Wat.
Acapulco
In Acapulco in 1972. I was a guest in a villa overlooking the sea.
Salton Sea
the surrounds of the Salton Sea, that is no sea at all.
New York City, USA
Valentine’s Day was the coldest on record in New York City’s history.
Capistrano, USA
I wondered if her swallows would return this year, a child’s query revisited.
San Francisco, USA
That night I dreamt that I was back in San Francisco at the Miyako Hotel.
Marin County, USA
April showers, just like the nursery rhyme, it fell straight across America, to the west, over Marin County, a melancholy witness to Sandy’s struggles.
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Australia
I was offered work in Australia, in a year’s time, concerts in Sydney, Melbourne and a festival in Brisbane.
Alice Springs, Australia
hop on a prop plane to Alice Springs and hire a driver to take me to Uluru.
Uluru, Australia
hop on a prop plane to Alice Springs and hire a driver to take me to Uluru.
Rockaway, USA
On May Day, I sat on my porch in Rockaway.
Cincinnati, USA
Two days later I bought a ticket to Cincinnati, paid a driver to take me over the state line to a gas station near Midland where I would be picked up.
Churchill Downs, USA
The race was set to go off at 6:51 Eastern Daylight Time, the 142nd running at Churchill Downs.
Sonoma Desert, Mexico
A Seri woman with loose, dark hair and flowing skirts in the Sonoma desert carrying a boom box.
New York City
These were the words kinetically trailing, as if that damn sign had followed me all the way back to New York City.
Brundisium
The ship approaching the harbor of Brundisium as Virgil breathed his last.
Oslo
The gray felt suit of Joseph Beuys hanging unattended in an empty gallery in Oslo.
Lisbon
I continue on my way winding down my predestined journey to Lisbon, the city of cobbled night.
Casa Fernando Pessoa
It is here I meet with the archivists of the Casa Fernando Pessoa, where I am invited to spend time in the beloved poet’s personal library.
Café A Brasileira, Lisbon
Café A Brasileira, Lisbon
Ayers Rock
You know, I whisper, you were right, I really am going to Ayers Rock.
Victoria
Perched against the wall is a slightly mottled mirror with a faded postcard of Victoria, the second smallest of Magellan’s ships, manned by the explorer himself.
Southern California
There was news of wildfires in Southern California, the dense smoke reaching all the way to Nevada.
Nevada
There was news of wildfires in Southern California, the dense smoke reaching all the way to Nevada.
Seattle
Tins of sockeye salmon from Seattle.
Rockaway Beach
I packed it with some things, got a half pound of chestnut pasta and some green onions and took the long subway ride to my little bungalow in Rockaway Beach.
Kentucky, USA
Last days of August with Sam in Kentucky.
Atlantic Avenue
I walked the length of Atlantic Avenue, where I had once bought henna and reggae records that you couldn’t find anywhere else.
San Francisco
IN EARLY OCTOBER, Lenny and I flew to San Francisco for Sandy’s memorial.
Cloisters
I found myself on a long-ago drive with Sandy to the Cloisters.
Chinatown, San Francisco
Lenny and I went back out into the night and walked through Chinatown.
Seattle, Washington, USA
Okay, it was October, Seattle, in a spacious room with a view of a massive air-conditioning unit, and I was slated to deliver a talk on the importance of libraries.
Vienna, Austria
Once in the lobby, I was pounced upon and spirited away, much like Holly Martins in The Third Man, when he was herded from his hotel in Vienna to deliver a talk about the role of the existential cowboy in American literature.
New Jersey, USA
Standing before a full house, I figured better to take the personal route and spoke of the importance of a library to a nine-year-old bookworm living in a rural community in southern New Jersey, a place devoid of culture, not a single bookstore, though thankfully a small library, roughly two miles from our home.
New York City, New York, USA
until several days later, back in New York City, unable to sleep, I was scrolling the channels and stopped at some music infomercial.
The Holy See
The Holy See, Year of the Monkey
Hell’s Kitchen
Unable to sleep, I walked over to Hell’s Kitchen.
New York
New York, I love you, but you’re bringing me down.
Houston Street
Crossing Houston Street, I noticed that the infant Jesus was absent from the Nativity scene in front of St. Anthony’s.
St. Anthony’s
Crossing Houston Street, I noticed that the infant Jesus was absent from the Nativity scene in front of St. Anthony’s.
Uluru
One year to the day having pulled into the Dream Motel, where certain things were rendered uncertain and a sign predicted I’d be going to Uluru.
Santa Ana
Traveling with an almost religious simplicity to a place I had never heard of, a town near Santa Ana, back west, where Sam was staying for the winter.
San Francisco
In San Francisco I boarded a shuttle to Santa Ana.
Kentucky
We were a world away from Kentucky, Sam’s land and horses.
Greenwich Village
I walked slightly behind in the mild drizzle, experiencing a dizzying sense of bygone days hanging on to Sam’s arm as we tripped down Greenwich Village streets.
Naples, Italy
I thought of Virgil’s tomb in Naples and how he wasn’t actually there because his ashes were lost in mysterious circumstances in the Middle Ages.
Chinatown, New York
The following night gongs sounded and dragons spewing paper flames rolled down the streets of Chinatown like enormous pull toys.
Mott Street, New York
I walked to the end of Mott Street and descended the stairs of Wo Hop to meet Lenny for congee.
Times Square, New York
I went out without a raincoat, walking all the way to Times Square.
Tangier Island
I’m here about Tangier Island, he mumbled.
Virginia Beach
I wondered what Ernest was doing in Virginia Beach.
Puerto Rico
The ravaging of Puerto Rico.
Gaza Strip
The orphaned Gaza Strip.
Virginia Beach
I was alone in Virginia Beach, suddenly left holding the bag.
Southern California
the flames engulfing Southern California
Cumberland Island
ones occupied by wild horses—say, Cumberland Island or even Tangier Island.
Tangier Island
ones occupied by wild horses—say, Cumberland Island or even Tangier Island.
Queensland
the great bleached reef of Queensland
North Dakota
the remains of stallions in the boneyards of North Dakota
Lake Michigan
the great dunes of Lake Michigan with sacred Indian names
Kentucky
I saw myself with Sam in his kitchen in Kentucky and we were talking about writing.
Dream Inn, Santa Cruz
Dream Inn, Santa Cruz
Bombay Beach
Bombay Beach
Ayers Rock, Uluru
Ayers Rock, Uluru
WOW Café, OB Pier
WOW Café, OB Pier
Kovilj Monastery, Serbia
Kovilj Monastery, Serbia
Greyhound terminal, Burbank
Greyhound terminal, Burbank
Peace Tower, Japantown
Peace Tower, Japantown
Hie Shrine, Tokyo
Hie Shrine, Tokyo
Joshua Tree cactus
Joshua Tree cactus
Outpost, Salton Sea
Outpost, Salton Sea
Café A Brasileira, Lisbon
Café A Brasileira, Lisbon
My chair, New York City
My chair, New York City
Window, Elizabeth Street
Window, Elizabeth Street
For Sandy, Rockaway Beach
For Sandy, Rockaway Beach
Jackson and Jesse, Detroit
Jackson and Jesse, Detroit
The Unicorn in Captivity, Cloisters
The Unicorn in Captivity, Cloisters
Van Eyck Altarpiece, Ghent, Belgium
Van Eyck Altarpiece, Ghent, Belgium
Samuel Beckett, telephone, Dublin
Samuel Beckett, telephone, Dublin
Walking stick, Ghost Ranch
Walking stick, Ghost Ranch
Phone booth, Mexico City
Phone booth, Mexico City
Detroit
Smith married the musician Fred Sonic Smith in Detroit in 1980.
New York City
Smith resides in New York City.