Would John Ashbery have thought so richly about Guadalajara, a city he "wanted most to see, but did not see," had it not been for that instruction manual? I guess that's the point: doing what you do not want to be doing, how that takes you elsewhere. How many times a day does that happen? How often do we notice?

I will be going to Mexico after my residency in April, part of which will be spent in Gaudalajara, where I have rented a small seaside apartment. My plan is to rewrite Ashbery's "The Instructional Manual" -- as an instruction manual. What those instructions will be for, I'm not sure yet. Something unlikely. A fiberglass pinata? Yes! But instead of sticks -- Glock pistols!