no best of

it's the time of year when we see a whole lot of lists that tell us the year's the top movies, books, music etc. etc. etc. i enjoy reading these lists but not because i care what might or might not be the tops of anything. i enjoy reading these lists because i like to learn those things that help make a passion. i can learn also from these lists, new books, new bands, and new movies. and i do these lists too, sometimes. not this year. i'm trying to empty myself of the concepts of best and major. the same goes for the lower end of the scale. in the end i read, listen and watch what obsesses me and gives me great good pleasure. i don't care if it's the best or no. in other words, the ideas of best and worst limits the realms and ranges of the arts of life and the life of the arts, for me at least. i'm seriously considering writing a series of texts with the title 'to the minor world poets'. these would be epistles to real and imagined writers whom i lump together as 'minor' not because i believe in the word but because in the end what matters is the writing and the writer doing the writing and fuck all labels. rather the label 'minor' is a celebration of living in creation and is used as a catch-all basin for all of us who have chosen to live by the word. i say 'world poets' because i think it's time to consider ourselves as world citizens rather than arbiters of nation-states. it's almost a new year. time to make resolutions. resolutions are, again, something i refuse to do. this year i might make an exception to my home-made restriction. i resolve to practice greater non-competitiveness. i resolve to do my best to include everyone. i resolve to take it all on.