365 People

This idea came from the very clever Dan Waber - and it's a blast. Essentially you make a list of 365 people who have touched your life in some way - people you have met - and then each day for a year you write 40* words about them.

Making the list, as Dan notes on his site, is the hard part. Paring down your memories about or feelings toward a person into a handful of words is the next trick, but it's actually fun.

So try it yourself. And let me know if you decide to give it a shot.

You can read my start at 44x365.blogspot.com.

*Dan's chose 40 because the idea was to celebrate his 40th birthday. Some of us get to use a few more words. ;-)

Stools

I wrote Stools from a pile of notes scribbled on paper bags, receipts and napkins - scraps of conversations or situations that I collected or stole from places where people gather: coffee shops, bars, bowling alleys.

A few pieces were inspired by actual quotes or incidents, but mostly they're the imagined lives of the people seated in the stools beside me or across the counter. The language is simple with an unpredictable or non-existent meter because that's how I heard them, either when I first wrote them down or when I remembered them afterward.

Click here to read Stools