[specimen] come from a series on flies--the pieces take their starting point from some element of a fly's appearance, name, or behavior, and go from there. The fly gets things started. They are also part of a series that is made of pieces containing two elements, either two sentences, or one sentence divided by a semi-colon, the two forming a conceptual couplet.The quotation in the first [specimen] is from Agnes Martin. Each piece is crafted from stray thoughts, cartoons, headlines, things I hear people say--random events. If I'm skillful (or lucky) enough, the "subject" of the piece is not in any one element, but in the gap they revolve around.