overheard at Love Field

"the devil is the author of confusion"

_____________________________________________

part of the curse of the cell phone is that in public places we have no choice but to enter into private lives of strangers. much of what one hears in passing on the street or at the grocery store or in an airport is boring in scope & banal in delivery. so I was surprisd yesterday when a woman passing my gate sd this. since that was all I heard as she went by I have no idea of context. is it original or a quotation?

critters

since Melina died I haven't shared my house with an animal. I feed neighborhood cats on the back portal. I can go a few houses down to Rita's to greet her dog Cinco & cat Marcos. & I've become an uncle to Emma to Culver City.

an hour ago I returnd from a quick trip to visit my penpal Bob in Texas. for the 1st time I met his two wonderful pets. Cali is a sweet dog.

& here Hilton decides to lick my chin.

"The Book of Java"

marrying this clock

no quick courtship
it's
been ticking
along for years
waiting
just for

the RIGHT time

from "Ohio Triangle"

thx John

Sylvia Sleigh (1916-2010)

one of her portraits of Paul Rosano from the '70s

& on his blog Ira Joel Haber posts some wonderful photos

here the artist speaks

& here are other portraits of Rosano as well as "The Turkish Bath"

winds

Weather Channel sez they're 40 mph. but it feels much gustier out. & the cooldown these winds are bringing looks to give us our first frost tonite.

the word "focus" becomes a movie star

        for Tom Beckett

what was hearth
gave heat to Kepler

its rays spread

words in a row
like Busby's chorines
till one
steps out of line

focus on the figure
fake coins sewn
on bodysuit

third girl from left
becomes Kim Novak

I pluck "focus"
from Tom's sentence

a star is born

not since that
dirty joke
from junior high
has "focus"
scored like this

it clutches
its breast
walks into
the spotlight
to shimmer
forever

smells of fall

roasting peppers
farmers market
this morning

as I age

dance becomes an ever more poignant art.

I'm just back from seeing Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. this extraordinary company of beautiful young people delights on so many levels. but there was a moment in "Uneven" when Sam Chittenden was alone on stage that was a sort of personal time warp. his movements -- of hands & legs then whole body -- suddenly propeld me into a space in which I was my current self as well as a long ago self. it didn't last long but I was suddenly living several moments of my life. I was young & flexible & moving as if time didn't matter. & I was old & lumpy & aware of my ending. all the while physically confined to my seat but with my spirit soaring freely toward the ceiling of the theater.

it made me think that as much as I've loved dance all my life it matters more now. what happend to me tonite cdn't have happend to me 30 years ago or 20 or probably even 10.

remembering the Blind Owl

I've been working on a collection of poems calld Ohio Triangle for quite a while. each section of the book focuses on an important city in my life. opening section is "Elyria" & was publishd as a chapbook last year by Crisis Chronicles Press. middle section is "Cleveland" which is ready for publication as a chapbook. & I'm still working on the final section "Kent."

one of the poems in that last grouping is "Blind Owl (1964-65)." & now I've discoverd a wonderful little history of the folk music venue by Roger Thurman (who stage-managed a high school musical for which I wrote publicity many years ago).

altho I saw several of the famous performers listd in Thurman's piece there are so many more I didn't but now wish I had. after all these years I can still bring back the feeling of sitting in that little black space drinking hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick & waiting for the music to begin.

I love

the kind of project Ernesto Priego is doing now. & in addition to the blog he's keeping there's now a map which gives a different dimension to the work. wish I'd have thot of that for some of my pieces.

levy online

Joanne Cornelius announces that Cleveland Memory Project updated its d. a. levy website. among the new material is rare 1967 footage of the Fugs performing at the levy/Lowell defense benefit.

also available are page-by-page scans of many publications levy edited     including Marrahwannah Quarterly. here is a poem of mine which appeard in that legendary publication in 1966:

just when I thot snail mail was dead

this happens:

a box from Brent Kubasta in Florida containing a book     a t-shirt     CDs of his program "The Magic Transistor Radio Show"

an envelope from Gary Brower in nearby Placitas with the newest issue of Malpais Review with 2 of my poems

a box from cousin Paula in Georgia full of Halloween goodies

all in the same day

Egyptian Theater

I just read on Facebook that this famous Hollywood movie palace is 88 years old today. Bill Berger took this of me there a couple of years ago.

whole lotta hate goin' on

Frank Rich seems spot on here.

not sure where all this is leading
but it scares me.

happy Sweetest Day

my mother celebrates every holiday & when there isn't one makes the day into one. this year she sent me money to get my neighbors Sweetest Day gifts from her.

since there is already a Valentines Day which I always presumd was begun by candymakers as a way to boost profits I never understood exactly what this Sweetest Day is. then this morning I discoverd via a Facebook post that the holiday was begun in Cleveland. I checkd Wikipedia & found that indeed it was begun in Cleveland. & yes its guise was to cheer the less fortunate but was actually another means to peddle sweets since it was creatd by candy manufacturers.

besides the Cleveland connection I like that Theda Bara was slightly involvd in pushing the holiday. I'm sure Cleveland's candy merchants learnd a great deal abt promotion from Hollywood & this cross-pollination tickles me.

from the files

going thru old stuff I found these notes from my only meeting with Sam Steward in the spring of 1982.

time strikes on entering Sam Steward's. it's the clocks all over the house. ticking their unsynchronized concertos. it's the mementoes: Gertrude Stein's stamp box     Valentino's public hair in a reliquary. enough police patches to make a quilt. then it's Sam himself     the man whose lovers aren't just legion but legend. Sam     nearing his 80s   nbsp; & still averaging four fucks a month (large pink slashes in his engagement calendar).

he's just out of hospital wth a pneumonia seige. besides the clocks & the phone which registers a few honks rather than the traditional ring     there's another interlude of bells to remind him to take a pill.

we talk abt his late fame     which still surprises him     & his writing. a roman a clef abt Sir Francis Rose     written in the '50s     is being revised. & he's correcting proof on an old Gay Sunshine interview which was never printd but will appear at last in the 2nd book of GS interviews (which Winston Leyland told me abt last nite). & finally the most recent Phil Andros novel will appear from Gray Fox. (Sam had phoned me in Ohio to see if Craig Russell might undertake a cover     only to discover Don Allen had already askd Tom of Finland whose drawing Sam showed me.)

Sam told me he hoped Mark Thompson wd cease sending him books to review for The Advocate. the last was the Brendan Behan memoir which he found dreary.

next time

I forget
where
I put my keys
I am
gonna
take a walk

weepy

between release of the miners in Chile & proliferation of "it gets better" videos I've been rather emotional of late.

thx Ernesto

The Hay(na)ku Postcard Project

queen for a day

I was starstruck as a child. & many of the personalities upon whom I gave star status have stayd with me over the decades. for reasons I don't understand I've continued to think on & off abt many of them.

this morning I read the obit of one of those long-ago fascinations -- Leona Gage. clippings of her short reign as a beauty queen are in the scrapbooks I kept so many years ago. the obit fails to mention the 5 movies she made or her descent into working strip clubs.

if I'd become a journalist -- as one early career path suggestd -- I think I wd've concentratd on finding out what happend to people who are thrown into the spotlight for a short time & the results of that on the rest of their lives.

woke

in middle of a dream in which I was writing an entry here. as I stumbld toward the kitchen I had growing ideas on how to amplify the post. but by the time I'd finishd cereal I came to the realization that I'd already written this entry some years ago.

a tent of tens

Stanley Crawford's radishes

Homecoming at Kent State

not there today. but remembering Homecoming back in 1986 when rock legend Joe Walsh returnd to town to grand marshall the parade.



sharing the Cadillac were Gary Jackett & Bill Zorn.

Roy Ward Baker (1916-2010)

when I think of this British director 2 of his films come to mind.

in "Don't Bother to Knock" he guided Marilyn Monroe to one of her first important performances. & altho I haven't seen "Dr. Jekyll & Sister Hyde" in years it's one of those films for which I had an unexplicable fondness.

Steepletop

haven't read Millay in a hundred years. & never had a connection with her. but I'm a fan of Bill Fogle & I'm happy when he's making his little films. & his love of Millay turns this into a small joy.

a favorite poster

I pickd this up at a screening of this film in 1972. it was a period in which I was reading Mishima. haven't seen the film since. don't know if it's available.

& the theater is one of those which were torn down to build an ugly tourist hotel.

crossd the arroyo to go to my neighborhood office supply store to purchase a new desk lamp. they had a DVD sale. it's impossible for me not to peruse any DVD sale. I pickd one -- the 1949 "Batman & Robin" serial featuring durable Lyle Talbot as Commissioner Gordon.

as I was checking out the saleslady told me that was a very popular item. "you must have a little guy at home" she sd. "yup" I replied "the little guy is me."

a beautiful photograph

waiting

for other people to do things.

a bunch of people. lots of stuff.

not to worry. I'm still producing

but sometimes one has to wait for others.

Buddy Morrow (1919-2010)

4 years after the release of this -- his biggest hit -- I saw Morrow & his big band at the Lorain County Fair.

free meals

I was in shock when I got a free lunch on my Continental flight to Cleveland & then breakfast on my return.

in the latest batch of clippings from Mom I read in the Plain Dealer that Continental was the final airline to provide meals in economy class for nothing & that the service will end in 2 weeks.

& I remember when people got dressd up to fly & were servd a complete dinner on china with silverware & cloth napkins even in coach.