In the Spring of 2020 a friend of mine told me about a practice he maintains with his uncle wherein every few days one will send the other a word or short phrase which has caught their attention. To me it sounded like a low-barrier, creative way to maintain or reestablish contact without having to re-mobilize the full machinery of “hey, how are you?'“ and “what’s up” and “sorry its been a while” (apologies especially in which it is so easy to read with latent accusations of the same crime) for having allowed the conversation to lapse.

I took up the habit with him as well as a few others. The process has quickly become my favorite writing exercise, resulting in the production of some of my favorite images and phrases—including, not incidentally, the title of this blog. I am reminded of certain surrealist free-association exercises, as well as the early, more absurdist days of twitter. What follows are some selections of my own work and that of my correspondents, reproduced with permission.