Please send to real life
-Ray Johnson, Mail Artist
Send. Add and send. Return. Add and return. These were Johnson’s instructions to his correspondents and this is how my correspondence with KhairAllah has lately been. I send to his son Soliman’s account, sometimes in English and sometimes in Arabic. I ask Soliman to ask that his father dictate a response and that Soliman return. Soliman returns only in English even though his father knows only Arabic.
I once wrote in Arabic to KhairAllah via Soliman, I will see you in the near future if God has willed, putting the future and the past in the same sentence as is proper. Soliman returned a question in English, Are you coming to Sudan? I in turn sent in English, No. God has not yet willed. At present, in real life.
Camel with Moticos and Artist’s Eyes, Ray Johnson