WATCH ME COUNT THE CARDS IN MY ROLODEX (2,142) WHILE LISTENING TO THAT PAUL CELAN RECORD I ORDERED FROM GERMANY

Yesterday, I finished revising my book-length poem wheel of fortune (I think), which means the time has come to write the poem onto the rolodex that inspired it. But first I needed to know how many cards are in the rolodex so I can obsessively and meticulously pre-layout the poem's lines into the cells of a spreadsheet so that when I write the lines onto the rolodex, I don't fuck up the wheel. So I spent a couple of hours counting the cards while listening to the Paul Celan record I ordered from Germany, which arrived on 2/18/25.

I found the rolodex at an open air flea market in Springfield, OH in May 2021. See how it's a circle, a wheel that turns but also an assemblage of surfaces, of planes that touch while simultaneously radiating outward. Hear the spokes as it revolves on its axis. The ghost of Paul Celan's voice is also a circle, a wheel that turns but also an assemblage of surfaces, of planes that touch while simultaneously radiating outward. Hear the spokes as it revolves on its axis. The record, Gedicthe Und Prosa (Suhrkamp Verlag), is from 1975, in mint condition, as advertised. I spent as much on shipping as the cost of the record itself, but it was 1 of 2 copies I could locate and the other, while already on U.S. soil, cost three times as much w/o shipping included. Do I comprehend German? God no. Does it matter? Not one bit. 

In addition to card counting + Celan, you can hope to enjoy: my thoughts about daylight savings, a glimpse of Princess Mimi, a charming anecdote about the time I stayed in a duke's castle in Unsleben, Germany (when 2008 turned into 2009, not, as I say in the video, when 2007 turned into 2008), my attempts at pronouncing a handful of German words, and interstitial notes written on very small post-its that you'll have to hold up to a mirror to read. Here's the video: