when I wrote letters

 last nite I startd looking thru old files in search of something. this morning I kept on. I still haven't found that something but I'm finding so much more.

there's a file of my copies of letters -- most from 50 or more years ago. I humbly admit to being a great letter writer in the day. & I think I kept copies hoping that after I'm gone some bright young thing will edit a volume of them. & not because I'm any kind of celebrity but that I've been what I think it was Bryan Borland who calld me this -- a "culture witness."  I've been there when so many historic moments happend. or simply when important figures were doing important things. I mean I saw David Hockney paint & Dale Chihuly blow glass & Jean-Claude van Itallie write.

soooooo.... I was reading this 1971 letter to Frank Oatman & thot of being that culture witness. I know some accuse me of being a name dropper. I prefer to agree with Maggie Anderson who wrote that I document my life & in so doing "everything matters." so I'm offering this section of that letter to Frank because all these years later it feels like I was writing history. it was a rich time in the life of a lad still in his 20s. also -- if you haven't heard I have this great book out now calld "A Litter of Lists." & this is a list. yes I've been doing it forever.

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in New York for a week wrapped in a resplendent quilt of happenings:

        eating hash brownies with john ashbery (with whom we stayed) before going out for my birthday dinner

        listening to jean-claude at his new westbeth apartment read from his indian journal about his trip to conquer fear

        coming upon djuna barnes in all her elegant oldness strolling up & down w. 10th in front of patchin place

        lunching with lois wilson at sardi's

        discovering rauschenberg in a soft brown leather jacket at warhol's opening

        dining with henry van dyke at casey's before he took us on a mad spree of friends' apartments & village bars   touching edges with lindsay patterson   axel de knight   james coco

        gazing at the swing which hangs from the ceiling of harvey quaytman's loft

        watching john perreault argue with ira joel haber outside max's

local arts festival

a city-wide event calld XOXO. many offerings of music & theater & art. one artist transformd a whole building into a wild art happening to which I was invitd to read poems.

& some of my writing was on display as well as a piece from my art series "Circles."

one for the memory book

 

20 years ago I was the first poet to read at Palm Springs Art Museum. I began a series which ended with Anne Waldman. since then I've given some readings at galleries in town. but yesterday was a major addition to my list.

my friend & neighbor Michelle Fiore is an opera singer. she did a concert at the legendary Plaza Theater & askd some friends to perform with her.

let me tell you how historic this venue is. it opend in 1936 with the premiere of "Camille." the story is that Garbo slippd in unnoticed to watch the screening. later it became home to radio broadcasts of Bob Hope & Jack Benny. & then came the popular "Palm Springs Follies." 

after that closed its use was limitd & it became shabby. but some locals felt it needed to be saved & a 2-year $34 million restoration took place.

as far as I know I'm the first poet to read from that storied stage since it's reopening. it was thrilling to feel the response of an audience of 500. & makes me proud to be a part of the history of Palm Springs. 

David Hockney (1937-2026)

 

at the 2024 Hockney show at Palm Springs Art Museum. I'm holding a copy of my Poems that Fit in a Shoe open to an illiustration of a map David drew in my travel journal in Paris in oct 1973.

Ashbery by Kitaj

 

the current exhibition at Morgan Library is "Friends Who Came to See Me." it's drawings of John Ashbery which David Kermani donated.

of particular fascination to me is one by R. B. Kitaj. I feel like the midwife on that one.

in an old journal there's this from july 1971:

"3:15 p.m. John Ashbery just called to say he got my note & it's fine to give Kitaj his phone number. He likes Kitaj's work & is pleased he reciprocates.

3:30 p.m. a call from Kitaj: glad to hear John likes his work but will be so rushed leaving for London he doubts he'll have time to meet & sketch him..."

I didn't actually introduce them until feb 1974 at Kitaj's opening in NYC. this drawing was done in 1979.

june is bustin' out all over

 what a month this will be for me:

1) my new book -- A Litter of Lists -- is coming out.. it represents 55 years of list making.  it can be orderd now from Sibling Rivalry Press.

2) I'll be reading a few poems from the stage of the legendary Plaza Theater as part of the XOXO concert "Michelle Fiore & Friends" on the 14th.

3) my interview in the documentary series "Aging Wildy" will be releasd.

Marilyn 100

 to celebrate Marilyn Monroe's centennial Palm Springs is putting on 4 days of events.  the biggest was today -- breaking the world record for number of Marilyn impersonators in one place at one time.

the city sold a packet of wig & dress. rather than get into them & becoming a footnote in the Guinness record books I optd to create my own piece within the gathering near the Marilyn statue to count those dressing up.  so I cleand up with the bar of soap I bought at Quaker Square 50 years ago. I pin'd my Marilyn pandemic mask made by Cesar Julio to a baseball cap. & I gatherd up materials for my piece. 

I had some Marilyn post-its. I brought them & askd people in costume to imprint their lips on a post-it & then sign it. I askd men & women   people I knew & strangers. among them were photographer Stephen Baumbach & dear Marshall Pearcy (Dottie from Les Dames du Soleil). perhaps the most interesting was professional Marilyn impersonator Shelley Michelle. she is an ambassador for Billion Dollar Marilyn Lipstick & was actually wearing it when she kissd the post-it.

I didn't get as many as I'd hoped. it was hot & I was juggling the post-its & the book they were going into & a pen & my phone as well as having a tote hanging from my shoulder. but I did create my own work.