Elizabeth Bishop’s most impactful letter of the summer of 1947 was the first substantive one she ever wrote to Robert Lowell.

When I was younger, in college and grad school, I'd read that someone my current age had won the lottery, and it just seemed so pointless. What would they do with twenty years of money coming in that could possibly make their, or anyone's, life better?

Kathy Acker's first book appeared, in at least one version, as The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula by The Black Tarantula (in 1975, as published by Viper's Tongue Books).

the erotic maskWorn the world over by illusionTo weddings of itself and simple need.

I began this as a reply to Timothy Morton's extremely helpful comment on entropy in letters and words (following Shannon, whom I've used elsewhere in discussing the editing of Shakespeare). In fact all the comments were wonderful, so let me say thanks. Thanks!