A Million Random Digits

I was pleased to be asked by the Reanimation Library to write about one of the books in their collection. I chose "A Million Random Digits" published by the Rand Corporation in 1955, and wrote something including John Cage, the I Ching and the nature of arbitrariness, with cameos by Bob Dylan, Enrico Caruso and Arnold Schoenberg. Have a look!

Upon hearing Lachenmann's Pression for Solo Cello

He had imagined
pitched silence.
Pitch black,
from the sound of
the composer's name.

The cellist introduced
the sounds of Lachenmann
before laying in to
the muscular geometries,
as if rain
fell on rooftops
in deliberate,
conceived and
orchestrated
patterns.

He wondered if
her cello could
have conceived
such a thing
on its own.