Out of Office Haikus, ca. 2008

Another great note book find – cut & paste into your email auto-replies:

Spent blood samples and scarred fingers.

I am fascinated with bodily functions and the tangible traces they leave behind. Sweat, blood, semen, snot, etc. act as reminders of my corporeal presence and ground me in honest, animal existence. Living processes often leave behind visual reminders of past bodily experiences in the form of stains, marks and residues on material that I come into contact with, such as clothing or bedding. One of the most appealing things about these traces is that they are not necessarily confined to my individual existence or experience alone. Sometimes they represent the results of directly or indirectly shared bodily experiences – fucking or childbirth, for example. More broadly, though, they represent universal experiences that are not particular to me, or any one individual. The physical ties that link us together are both vulgar and deeply profound. “…we are all just animals… stuff comes out of every hole we have, no matter where we live or how much money we’ve got.” In the deeply elegant words of author Tarō Gomi, “Everyone Poops.”