Florida Sightings

Constraints. Let me count the ways.*

Raymond Queneau (1903-1976) had thoughts about telling a story.

The same story.

Ninety-nine times.

Ninety-nine different ways.

The French poet and novelist relates an ordinary everyday sighting in his book “Exercises in Style” (1947):

“On a crowded bus at midday, an unnamed narrator observes a cranky man in an altercation; later, in another part of town, he sees the same man being advised by a friend to sew a new button on his overcoat.”

His use of 99 constraints proves key to the retelling of this chance event.

I’m considering a Queneau revisit of “Florida Sightings” my many years back micro published by the Journal of Microliterature, December 2013.

Unfortunately, the online link to the published version leads to a dead link reborn.

The Bulgarian-detected Google- translation: Blog about the art of living**

Perhaps Queneau might have considered this “wellness blog”a technological retelling of sorts. At the very least, a reshuffling of form. As a member of the experimental writing group OULIPO, he likely would have embraced the online world with constraints from his book and beyond.

“Exercises in Style” is available online free to read here.

A New Directions (2012) English version release of the modernist classic (translation from French by Barbara Wright) is available from various booksellers online. Chris Clarke adds new exercises as well as a compilation of additional exercises by Queneau himself.

Total number of exercises: 260!

Fortunately, I kept a copy of “Florida Sightings”, a quick observation viewed back in the days cattle ranchers outnumbered condos and I fancied myself some sort of Florida documentariste.

These days, I’m hanging out with Raymond.

Thank you, Journal of Microliterature for publishing this early micro work.

The pickup pulls into the rural gas station as I top off my tank.

The driver steps from the truck, his Stetson tipped back to better study the fuel prices. The passenger side swings wide to reveal a woman dressed in full Florida ranch wear-- belted work jeans with a tucked long-sleeved calico blouse buttoned to the throat, her hair swept back in a no nonsense sort of way, as if to say I've been up since before dawn, don't mess with me.

Her boots hit the pavement, but in afterthought, she turns back to pull something off the dash. Turning back my way, she shades her eyes with a pair of Chanel sunglasses, the iconic gold CC's winking a detail much unexpected.

I watch her sashay into the convenience store, struck by how this rancher wife with an affinity for fine eyewear so typifies Florida, a state juxtaposed in a constant clash of opposition.

Thank you for reading.

***

Credits:

*How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43). Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

**Photo by Sheree Shatsky (2025)