Rare Prose by bp nichol

It’s refreshing to spend time with someone who has as much of a crippling book fetish as I do. My friend Max has known me for almost seven years now, and throughout that time he has learned extensively about my taste; the books that get me off, the editions of my dreams. As a graduation present, he sent me on a scavenger hunt which ended with my joyous tears over a first edition of Gravity’s Rainbow. It’s now my most prized possession.

Early this morning, before the rain, he stopped by my apartment to give me something he said he knew I’d love. He already read it, had made annotations, and remarked that it was another book he just couldn’t keep, considering he knew what a complex life long love affair I had with this poet. Sitting on the stoop outside my building, I unwrapped a copy of bp nichol’s Still, a rare novella. This particular pristine copy was signed by bp nichol with a personal message for Thomas King from 1984, with a penciled “and Karen” underneath the dedication in Max’s handwriting. At only 70 pages, it’s a book I could “have for dinner”, as Max put it. I plan on dining with nichol tonight.