Introducing ... death & spritzers
a new column coming in 2025!
Back in February 2022, I wrote a poem. It began:
“if I had a column called ‘death & spritzers,’
would you read it?”
I’ve been reflecting on what’s next for the ARH Substack in 2025, and realized that as much fun as we’ve been having here on this corner of the internet in the last year, that I haven’t spent quite as much time as I’d intended sharing poetry and collage.
Digging deep in the archives, I found that old poem, which I actually wrote and published before moving my blog over to Substack. I re-read that opening: “if I had a column called ‘death & spritzers,’ would you read it?”
Well, would you? Let’s find out, shall we? Introducing “death & spritzers,” a new column coming your way in 2025.
wtf is death & spritzers?
“death & spritzers” will be a monthly column dedicated to poetry and collage. I will be testing out some different formats, but the general idea is that I will be using this as a space to share:
Original poetry, like our namesake “death & spritzers”
Poetry excerpts + accompanying original collages inspired by said poem or poet
Collage essays, like this one (“listening to GARBAGE again”)
All of the above!
But what does this have to do with death and/or spritzers? Nothing, probably! That really depends on my mood, which after all, changes constantly.
“when I think of all the things I’ve been thinking of I feel insane”
— Frank O’Hara, “St. Paul and All That”
Stay tuned! Or don’t! Either way, the first edition of “death & spritzers” is coming soon.
Don’t worry; I’m going to continue sorting through all kinds of things in 2025, and also plan to return to the “Discovering …” series. Holy shit I am well rested and full of ambition. This is what happens when a person finally finishes reading War & Peace, I suppose.
See you in 2025.
related:
What Do You Hope Will Happen? (A New Year)
Happy New Year! I started this post on New Year’s Day, briefly full of ambition. Then I looked at the time and realized I was supposed to be walking out the door to get Phil for our movie date (“American Fiction,” go see it now! Right now!).
Discovering ... Bette Howland
“Why tell people anything? Why not tell them the truth? It seemed so much simpler.” Bette Howland wrote that in W-3, her memoir about her time in Ward 3, the psychiatric wing of a Chicago hospital where she was admitted after she’d swallowed a bottle of pills at her pal Saul Bellow’s apartment.