GENERATIONS Copyright (C) 1997 by Not Nice Music
III. POEMS FROM A THREE YEAR SOPHOMORE by Barry J. Drogin

5. My First F

	I have nothing intelligent to say about the reading by
Geoffrey Wolff on October 22.
	Yet I must say something, or, rather, write something,
and it is supposed to be intelligent, whereas I have nothing
intelligent to say, or, rather, write.
	So perhaps this is all to fill up lines on a page, which
has nothing to do with Geoffrey Wolff, but does have to do
with intelligence, for I have just concluded a self-reference,
and such self-reference (or self-awareness) is argued, by
some, to be part and parcel (excuse the cliche, I self-refer)
with intelligence.
	Which is all beside the point as pertains to Geoffrey
Wolff, but does fill up more lines on a page, which is a
stupid thing to do if it is all that is intended.
	And stupid things are not intelligent.
	So I must make an effort to connect this all to Geoffrey
Wolff, who stood behind a lecturn and stuttered his way through
a text which was a big self-reference, but only in the past
tense, which is called "autobiography."
	And so I have made a connection, but there are problems,
because there was no self-reference in the present tense, which
is self-awareness in the true sense, but rather a large account
after the fact, which is more memory and hindsight.
	But that is not the point, that is not the point, and I
find myself sounding like Gertrude Stein, who must have had a
lot of fun filling up pages and seeing the pages be filled.
	The point is behind the words, or maybe in-between, and
what do I mean by THAT?
	WELL.
	Geoffrey Wolff, by writing about himself, and living a
rather stressful and out-of-the-ordinary life, has, in minute
ways, given us insight into how he has become what he is now,
and how one thing led to another, and how some things really
DO lead to other things, and how we, too, have lived through
some of these things that have led us to what we are now.
	Ah-ha!  It IS possible for one to say something intelligent
if one puts one's mind to one.
	But what have I said?  That listening to Geoffrey Wolff
talk about himself, as an experiment in self-awareness, has
expanded into the listener's own experiment, although he may
not be too aware as to how this has been done or what will
become of it, if anything.  But was there a moment of insight,
impenetrable by stutters?  Perhaps, although I cannot pinpoint it.
	Which is all rather vague.  Which is all very intelligent?
Which is all very vague.  Which will not be the same as others.
As if they were intelligent, as if they were, as if they, as if,
as, to the exclusion of others, which is all rather vague.
	And is not very nice.
	Unlike Geoffrey Wolff.
	Who was very nice.