"I read the news today... o boy"

Libya
gets stickier by the day

Fukushima
remains a world threat

Ohio
fills me with shame
as it mimics Wisconsin

James Koehler (1952-2011)

his website

& I wrote this in February 03:

tea at Longevity Cafe with James Koehler
a month ago the weaver donatd a kidney to his sister

such love & generosity lift me to song

George Tooker (1920-2011)

Lee Hoiby (1926-2011)

I met the composer at Lake George in the summer of 1976. it was for a production of his opera "Summer and Smoke." & strangely the libretto for the Tennessee Williams play was done by Lanford Wilson.

Farley Granger (1925-2011)

pollen's low

so I was able to attend to some outdoor tasks before the winds returnd.

slippery language

boudoir photography centers on seductive photos of women.

however collectors of historic photography may seek boudoir cards. & these can have as their subject matter anything from an Indian chief to a scene of tornado destruction. here's a boudoir card from 1887 which shows a man who was shot thru the head.



the term "boudoir card" has nothing to do with sex. it's all abt size. the size of the item   that is. such cards were 5 1/4" x 8 1/2". a size larger than a cabinet card (which in turn is larger than a carte de viste). & that size was of the cardboard mounting. the actual albumen print was of course smaller.

happy hundred Tenn

this is the centennial of my favorite playwright.



I only saw Tennessee Williams once. but I've seen & read his plays over & over for all of my life. & they endure.

previously I postd a picture of myself at his grave. here I am in the backyard of his NOLA residence in 1988.

never forget

25 mar 1911

Lanford Wilson (1937-2011)

I took this of the playwright at a Tennessee Williams festival in Key West in 1986

as if

all this pollen in the air isn't bad enuf now we hear radiation from Japan has been detectd over neighboring state of Colorado.

hay(na)ku for a movie star

flowers
the color
of her eyes
will be placed
on
Elizabeth Taylor's
star
on Hollywood Boulevard
this morning

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

I took this is Taos 10 years ago. obviously it isn't a great photograph. but as so often in her life Taylor was in the middle of a jostling mob so it was difficult to even point a camera without being manhandld by her admirers. that was the last of several times I saw this legend.

we walk from house
to gym to coffeeshop
pattern of morning
not to question

this ease of routine
unquirks the day
allowing perigee
to illuminate nite

but even strolls
thru gardens
proffer blood
from hiding thorns

unctuosity
of the ordinary
is the friend
who murders us

Gustave Baumann's "Arroyo Chamisa"

1927 woodcut

not sure how close this is to my house

out of the past

this 1951 Life cover brings back some memories.

the photo was taken by legendary Alfred Eisenstaedt. when I was 13 the daughter of Oberlin College's president married the governor of New Jersey. the nuptials took place on the edge of campus. since the bride's cousin Adlai Stevenson was to attend I came to the wedding. afterward -- claiming to be a representative of my school paper (which I sort of was) -- I went to the church basement to photograph the couple & Stevenson. I don't know how short I was then but I vaguely recall jostling the pros for a position in the mob of photogs. at the time I didn't know that one of those cameramen was none other than Eisenstaedt.

the subject of the cover was Dagmar. a Broadway chorus girl   she became one of television's 1st big stars with a show calld "Broadway Open House." later she gave Liberace a big break when she hired him to accompany her. the only time I saw Dagmar was in a 1966 summer stock production of "The Women" featuring Gloria Swanson. I still recall her getting the evening's biggest laugh. she was in a hospital bed after giving birth. one of her friends lookd down at her newborn & askd if the child had a birthmark. Dagmar lookd down   blew at the child's face   & sd "no. it was just cigaret ash."

Toshiko Takaezu (1933-2011)

I saw her give a lecture at Kent State in 1986

Odyssey Dawn

this isn't the name of a stripper. it's our newest war.

who comes up with this shit?

I was never there

r.j.s. sent me this link to Paul Hilcoff's wonderful tribute to Adele's. I wish more people wd do this kind of site.

in the comments section there are memories of La Cave. I did go there to hear the great Judy Henske.

hoping

our winter is over I attachd outdoor hoses & gave some water to nascent plants.

looking back

my hometown paper -- the Chronicle Telegram -- has this in today's edition:

It was 50 years ago on St. Patrick’s Day that the state of Ohio last used sudden death to decide a game. It was a regional semifinal game and Elyria got the win, 44-42, over Lima Senior.

altho I wasn't much interestd in basketball   as editor of the high school paper then I wrote a front-page story abt the upcoming game. & on the sports page that editor Ivan Braun ran headshots of the team.

here's the team picture the C-T is currently running:



I was in classes with some of these guys but not friends with any of them. at least one of them is dead. I suspect some of the survivors will attend my 50th high school reunion this summer (altho I have no plans to be there).

2 things come to mind seeing pictures of the team in action. first has got to be the harshness of time's passage. & on a frivolous note: do you see the size of those shorts? I don't watch basketball on tv but when I catch a moment while channel-chasing I always wonder when & why the fashion changd from sexy form-fitting shorts to those baggy saggy skirt-like things players wear these days.

from the archives

in one of the ancient theaters of Greece (1992)

I keep wondering

what's going on in the minds of those brave 50 workers who remain in Japan's nuclear plants.

with so much bad news everywhere

I took Dad's trowel to the small courtyard off my bedroom.

& I plantd some seeds.

"Current Seas"

I've made a book of my pieces involving money. I suspect it's too expensive to ever be a print book. & I don't know what e-publishers mite want it.

so I've decid'd to make it available via e-mail. it's a 2.58 MB file. if you'd like me to forward it then send me yr address privately.

the world & my bed

hundreds dead in earthquake in Japan

crazy man killing his own people in Libya

Republicans stealing workers rights in Wisconsin & Ohio

__________________________________________

me sleeping in the middle of my bed
means nothing

a life change?

even tho I haven't had a partner for years I still sleep on the right side of the bed. when traveling I pick a side depending on the bed's placement in the room.

last nite I put one pillow on top of the other in the middle of the bed & slid under the covers.

it was an odd feeling.

"lundin"

discoverd this word in a restaurant review.

it means "between lunch & dinner."

will

winter never end?

what searches reveal

"arroyochamisa.blogspot.com is ranked number 16,045,745 in the world according to the Alexa Traffic Rank."

& who is 16,045,746?

Jean Harlow

born 100 years ago today

Eugene Fodor (1950-2011)

I never saw him perform live but in 1980 I was at the Grammys when his screw-up was one of the highlights of the show.

it's Small Press Month.

everybody buy a book.