score is defined as a crack, a crevice, a notch, a mark, a line drawn with a sharp instrument to denote a boundary, the crossing out or cancelling of something, a track, a slash, a gash. weaving. it is the name of the game, the record or register of points during the progress of a match, the place in which the competition stand before beginning a race or shooting at a target. in measurement, a set of twenty, a weight of twenty-one pounds (specifically pigs or oxen), a percentage, a debt, a tally, a bill of reckoning. a grievance. further, numerically, the combinations “three score” and “four score” are archaistic synonyms for sixty and eighty, as in the gettysburg address. nautically, to fracture or shipwreck. musically, it appears as a written or printed piece of concert music in which all the vocal and instrumental parts are noted on a series of staves, one under the other; it is also a song on the fugees album. in sex, a conquest, to copulate outside marriage, to procure sex for a third party, or for a prostitute to secure a client. in money, any form of material gain or consumption. in crime, swindling, gambling, robbery, drugs, a cache of illicit goods, a planned killing. in merit, used as a humongous acknowledgement of a correct answer, to succeed, to do well, to get.
score: lessons from an and man and other short stories seeks to parallel the various definitions of score to fragments of my memory. within these parallels, i pay tribute to loss, grief, and lessons learned along the way. some lessons are credited to an and man: a terrific consumer of women who can sometimes be found dancing among the definitions you will come to know.
fragments are displayed in a poem of sorts, with each number, word or phrase as its own narrative, inscribed in porcelain clay. the project is divvied up between lessons in a score, and other short stories in a half. a selection of fragments are noted below.
lessons from an and man
27
fee-fi-fo-fum
sage green exterior
confirmation bias
tender tantrum
do what you think you can manage
powder
mahogany
you are a far way from home
(box of compartments)
everywhere and all the time
skinny
take it
that is all you are for
grey county
ox blood
9 is for your narcissism
other short stories
555
with you i could steal horses
kapitan kloss
white horses in a fisherman’s garden
the liberties
thunder clap
a fish is a fish
exhibited from december 3 to 30, 2015 in the mon ton window gallery in toronto with generous support from Rochelle Rubinstein.
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