This morning I retrieved an unused sketchpad from upstairs and began a new page. There were three different-sized things on the dining room table and I used them to make three circles on the page. I sketched face in the uppermost circle intending to draw a world-weary author, female; it evolved into what looks like a slightly feminized version of Roy Thomas of comic-book legend.

At this writing I’ve surrounded the circles with three acrostic poem spines, “Morning Borning,” “Toe Tag” and “Customer Feedback.” Some dark grittiness seems to flavor the draft of “Toe Tag.” (I’ve just finished the ultraviolent and remarkable Cruddy by Lynda Barry, and just watched the quite-violent In a Lonely Place starring Humphrey Bogart. Cruddy paints a gritty, dark picture of a young person’s dysfunctional life; In a Lonely Place paints a gritty, dark picture of a talented, sought-after writer with a maniacal temper. Both were well worth experiencing but at intervals flat-out unenjoyable.)

I will probably try to finish this page as soon as I can and then move on to a new one, more simple, less busy, less dark.