it came in the post (he should reply in kind but he's a lazy sod)

'the purpose of mail art, an activity shared by many artists throughout the world, is to establish an aesthetical communication between artists and common people in every corner of the globe, to divulge their work outside the structures of the art market and outside the traditional venues and institutions: a free communication in which words and signs, texts and colours act like instruments for a direct and immediate interaction.' 

– loredana parmesani in the wikipedia article on mail art. 

to be mail art it must be 

a) a work of art, and 

b) have been posted

thus horsemouth's copies of the triple negative calendar for 2026 and his copy of tripe negative's nothing is possible (and the cassette that came with it) are mail art. on the other hand his copy of god bless the death drive by them is not (because he purchased it at a show of theirs). 

similarly his copy of sean o'connor's the lycan print is not a piece of mail art because he was given it at a comics convention.  similarly also matt boyce's radioactive future mutant horsemouth purchased at a comics show is not also (is that right? that's how he remembers it). 

the letters he received through the mail from howard are mail art but the annotated copies of books horsemouth lent him are not (because they did not come through the mail). 

conversely the various poetry chap books and CDs he has 

received from rob lawson in far off riogordo are mail art because they came in the post. similarly the books mandy keifetz sent him (even if ordered online) constitute mail art (perhaps his 'reviews' online constitute some kind of repayment/ engagement).

he should reply in kind but he's a lazy sod

he supposes that at one point he was posting out copies of the musicians of bremen CDs and that this could be considered his mail art. (if he just physically gave you a copy of the CD when you met that doesn't count but if he dropped it off round your house while you were out that may count). 

if you downloaded it or streamed it (but didn't ask horsemouth for a physical copy) that doesn't count as mail art. 

he would like to post out more mail art (but he doesn't have any new 'art' to hand). he would have to make it. (in some ways this would be a good thing for him to engage in). 

it's the sunday morning and rainy and grey

horsemouth is off to the bell-ringers lunch soon. in a bit he'll have a shower and start sorting out soe clothes for it. at the end of it he'll go off to lock up the abbey (and then that's him and his mum's stint on the abbey rota done until the end of march). 

yesterday afternoon zoom beers with howard (two beers) and a discussion of mary wollstonecraft and her prose style.