Short Talk on…
by Aidan Flynn
“Short Talk on Major and Minor”
Major things are wind, evil, a good fighting horse, prepositions, inexhaustible love, the way people choose their king. Minor things include dirt, the names of schools of philosophy, mood and not having a mood, the correct time. There are more major things than minor things overall, yet there are more minor things than I have written here, but it is disheartening to list them. When I think of you reading this, I do not want you to be taken captive, separated by a wire mesh lined with glass from your life itself, like some Elektra.
– Anne Carson, Short Talks (1992)
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“Short Talk on Aidan’s Short Talks”
Inspired by Anne Carson’s short talk poetic form, this column combines brevity and silences with citations, or some explanation (to taste). Peripheral spaces, buildings, bodies, and brief memories of mine. Queerness, some queerness. Stuff and nonsense, stuccoed Vancouver houses, sexuality, that Westwerk once, 2004 and 2020, noisy flooring, anxiety, a proper cup of coffee from a proper coffee pot.
Aidan Flynn / SMArchS (History, Theory, Criticism of Architecture & Art) 2021 / a curious comment in my second grade report card reads, “Aidan takes his time decorating his notebook with flowers, trees, pirates, and things.”
