Old Folks had completed his book, which
started when he went over to New Orleans, to visit Larry and Hazel, and saw Vanishing
Florida in a bookstore.
OLD FOLKS AT HOME: A FLORIDA CRACKER'S SUNSET CRUISE
Book I. Florida's Forgotten Coast. May 18 - June 10. 34,000 words. A travel book, a restaurant guide, with hints on ecotourism. A wine tour of Northwest Florida, like Sideways. A trip down Memory Lane. Longing for the old plantation. The darkeys in the song didn't long for the plantation, they longed for the old folks at home, on the plantation. They longed for kith and kin. Compare uncouth. Uncultured, crude, boorish. White folks ain't like us. Book I is a cultural ecology of the mullet culture, in which I visit Indian sites I dug, places I worked, applied for a job at, was let go from. Retired to.
Book II. Florida's Emerald Coast. June 11 - June 16. 10,000 words. I see that Book II is about the corporate cubicle dot-com culture, which I contrast with the mullet culture. I worked in the corporate cubicle dot-com culture, and most of the people who are moving to Florida's Emerald Coast, or come on a visit, work in it.
Book III. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. June 17 - June 28. 27,500 words. The relation between, or among, Americana, or roots music, folk, or self-taught art, and vernacular writing. Also more about the corporate cubicle dot-com culture's relation to affirmative action. Nobody working for a living ever owned a plantation. A dead horse isn't being flogged, the wrong horse is being flogged. This is Nixon's Southern Strategy, and it still works.
* * *
Old Folks outlined the series of books he was going to write in his 35th
year, and wrote a proposal for the series.
The Empty Nest: Old Folks's
First 35 Years as a Writer. A dozen books.
* * *
He even knew what he was going to write between now and August 31.
PHILLY ZINE FEST. July 2005. Projected. I fly to Philly for Zine Fest 2005. Meet LitVision Press publisher Pat Simonelli. I read from Bukowski Never Did This and hold a workshop on self-publishing in pamphlets and on the Internet. Give away Underground Writer Makes Good.
HURRICANE SEASON. August 2005. Projected. August--Look Out You Must.
* * *
August 31 was his birthday, and his 34th anniversary as a writer.
Maybe he'd live to write about his 35th year.
No reason he wouldn't. He
was in good health.
He planned to stop drinking coffee after he got back
from Philadelphia, eat more fruits and vegetables, walk after supper and ride his
bike to the post office and the grocery store.
Lose weight.
He had
a pair of barbells, and he looked like Bukowski lifting weights. Bukowski working
out.
It made him laugh to think of Bukowski working out.
But he was
going to do it. July and August.
He had to get in shape for his 35th year.