Al Gildzen (1918-2008)

Dad died 4 years ago.  but it was on Leap Day so technically today is the first anniversary of his death.


the year he died I did a piece in his memory. a video of it was on You Tube. but in the past few days I've put together more documentation for an expanded version of "Dad's last garden."

happy 100 Lawrence Durrell

I'm not sure this novelist (1912-1990) is as popular today as he was when I was young. & I haven't read him for many years.  but I do recall when he was the rage. I publishd him once. he contributd a short tribute for my Festschrift for Djuna Barnes on Her 80th birthday.

aboard USS Midway

thx Craig

my Melville weekend

just back from a quick trip to San Diego. fri nite I saw Jake Heggie's exciting opera of "Moby Dick." yesterday I viewd "Three Voyages to Paradise: Cook, Melville & Gauguin" at the Maritime Museum.

yesterday

2 friends sent old pictures they'd taken of me:

Culver City: 19 feb 2000 (by Bill E. Berger)

Big Sur: 25 apr 2003 (by Craig Eadie)

Buddy

great to see the president do a quick duet with Buddy Guy last nite.  here's a picture I took of Guy at one of his Santa Fe gigs.

collage I did 11 years ago today

"Imagining Meryl Streep Playing My Mother"

she sits at kitchen table
scissors in hand
ready to attack newspaper


she looks my way
I have to squint
is it Mom or Meryl?


scissors trim obit
of course it's Mom
right?

dark side

for my first six years in Santa Fe my property oozd into land full of trees & cactus. it went all the way to a major street. during summers I cd sleep with doors & windows open. then an apartment complex went up on that land with the nearest building within feet of my property line. soon my bathroom window was shot by a kid from the apartments.  then my beautiful stucco walls were taggd by a gang.


during the past few years there have been two break-in attempts.  the first was thwartd by my alarm system. the most recent by my return.  both happend in daylight.


I'm a block captain in my neighborhood watch.  so I know from meetings with the police that at any one time the city has only nine patrolmen on street duty. & we have 25 gangs at work thruout town.


one of the tough components of aging is a feeling of vulnerability. following my most recent break-in attempt I made the decision to add another layer of protection. yesterday I had security screen doors installd.


this is Lynda Benglis on my back portal in 1996:

& here is the new screen door:

remembering Lois Wilson

Fred Moramarco (1938-2012)

I knew him for only a week.  it was that fabled summer of 1963 when we were students of Kenneth Koch at Wagner College on Staten Island. Fred had an apartment in Manhattan & let me stay there one nite.  I no longer remember if it was after the party with Frank O'Hara or if it was a nite I took in a Broadway play.


I wrote to him years later but we didn't stay in touch.  he publishd poems (including "Clark Kent, Naked") but was probably better known for his critical writing.


even tho he wasn't a great friend his death is a shock which brings back that important time when I was 20 & learning so much abt life & writing.

one of those days

waiting for people to do things before I can finish projects


&


failing to master a new computer function

working on a new film

the cats in my life

it's James Dean's birthday

in 1981 I threw a brunch to celebrate the actor's 50th birthday.  on the front of the invitation was my poem "Autobiographical Fragment" & a drawing of Dean by Jim Provenzano. I had that front cover separately publishd in an edition of 20 which Jim & I signd & numberd.

Cesar Romero & Joel McCrea

of all the pictures I've taken in Hollywood over the years this is one of my favorites

T. R. Queen

hard to believe it's been 10 years since Tom died.

Twin Lakes: 1975

Las Vegas: 2002

"Gourm" (collages from 2000)

Ben Gazzara (1930-2012)

the original Brick

out of the past

going thru a box of old photographs I found this sketch of me.  I'm guessing it was done early in my undergrad days at Kent State. however I'm having trouble remembering the artist. the signature appears to read "Jacquelin" but I can't decipher the last name. any of my classmates out there have better memories than mine?

"Yvette Vickers' Bones"

that was the title
of a haiku
I wrote in prison
in my dream


it was a women's prison
& I workd in the laundry