2 artists named Craig

it was 1984 on Morris rd in Kent. I was giving a party to celebrate the publication of P. Craig Russell's Elric of Melnibone. I took this picture of the guest of honor (on the right) with another friend of mine -- the painter Craig Lucas.

it's not the best photo of either of them. but it's important to me now because it may be the only picture I have of the 2 of them together. & both of them have been on my mind in these past few weeks.

for those who mite ask: the painting is a portrait of me by Billie Jo Clayton.  & the print is my only Picasso.

blossoms real & created

Andria Derstine was visiting this morning. I had her take a picture of me with my beloved apricot tree & a lovely little Roberto Marquez watercolor from 2000.

Frank O'Hara

here is my list poem

(thx to editor Eileen Tabios)

Margarete Bagshaw (1964-2015)

she was unique. the last of a dynasty of female painters.  daughter of Helen Hardin & granddaughter of Pablita Velarde.

here we are at her gallery in 2012:

breakfast

2 stressful days which left me pissd at both government & big business. so when I woke to such a glorious day I decided I wantd something other than my usual cereal & banana. I walkd the several miles to Counter Culture for this:

of course they're famous for their cinnamon roll.  so I got one of those to bring home.

on the verge of spring

weepy eyes &

"scrawled alephs aflame,
hint of a hatchway torched open,
a fiery blink each spring"

Steven Riel

today's hike

La Luz Trail

she had red hair

& was quiet. Karen Nelson. a classmate writes to me that she's dead. I'm trying to bring back memories of her from when we were little. I look at pictures of us lined up against the stone structure that was Garford School. I look at the faces. some have stories. others no longer have names. we were so little then. we grew. we partd. we lived lives the others knew nothing of. & now we're calld elders. & each year there are fewer of us to try to remember the cloakrooms where we hung our leggings   to remember the snake dances at Halloween   to remember the candy store across the street.

I knew you very well Karen Nelson. but now I struggle to retrieve any memory. & what I think I remember I'm not sure I really remember.  so I count the little ones in the pictures who are dead now. & I think of us sitting in rows at our desks asking the questions that little ones ask. & wondering how many of us ever got the answers.

reasons

I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day:

1) I no longer drink
2) I don't like cornd beef
3) more than one St. Pat's parade is less than welcoming to my tribe

however -- the outlaw in me likes to shake things up. 

& in the "going thru" phase of my downsizing I found this t-shirt & decided to wear it one last time   posting the proof today.

Shea-nanigan's was a restaurant & Irish pub near campus that I first went to in 1979. its heyday was the first half of the 1980s. it was popular with the theater crowd. & I certainly took my share of young actors & dancers there. but it was also a spot to take poets & those with whom I shared flagons & morsels were Tom Meyer & Jonathan Williams   Kenneth Irby   Jacob Leed   John Moritz.

this particular t-shirt became mine when I "borrowed" it from a hot bartender.

I know it's the wrong holiday but

I'm still going thru files & piles preparing things to send to Kent & other things to other places.

I found the documentation for valentines I made in 1995. I made & sent 43. I didn't photograph them so I don't know what "Jock Itch" (the one I sent Kevin Killian) looks like. I maild them to my closest friends as well as people I didn't really know like artist Mamie Deschillie & poet Gavin Dillard.

 this one I sent to my parents:

the old woodcut is from the small town of Napoleon where they were married.

Al Rosen (1924-2015)

those who know me know I have little interest in sports.

however when I was 12 I met Al Rosen. & since the Cleveland Indians were ubiquitous in northern Ohio I had a brief affair with baseball.  somewhere I have a signd picture of Rosen. & a 1956 letter from him is in my papers at Kent State.

thinking back I bet my infatuation with Rosen was partially because he was a gorgeous man.

I wrote this prose poem in his honor. it first appeard in the baseball issue of Io in 1971. & that same year it was one of the prose poems that Steven Saylor turnd into glamorous broadsides for our portfolio The Origin of Oregano.

`

after dreaming

of doing a duet with Judy Garland I was full of some old memories.

this painting hangs in my guest bathroom.  it's one of my oldest art purchases. 1966. & instead of cash I traded artist Don Walker a scarce Nina Simone album I had.

Walker was a character. my first memory of him was one of G. Harry Wright's spring theater trips. we got on the train in downtown Kent & traveled to I believe Hoboken. then took the ferry across to Manhattan where we stayd at the Picadilly Hotel.  I still recall Walker flouncing around the train station.  he was a large man. & he was doing some sort of routine in which he spoke French.  something abt a handbag -- "sac" in French. for the time he was pretty outrageous.

later I got to know him thru friends in the school of art.  I believe he was a few years older than me. if memory serves he appears in Dick Myers' 1965 film "Coronation."  I think he's the priest who puts the crown on Terry Corley's head.

as so often happens I lost touch with him. again if memory serves he taught art in the Akron school system. I don't remember if he still made art. but soon I will have had this piece for a half century.

today's hike

Grasshopper Canyon

a breathing bibliography

J C Gonzo stoppd by to photograph me with some of my books.  I'm putting together a massive archive which I will offer for sale here. it's a bigger project than I expectd.  the house is in disarray.

allergies

woke me at 3.

it seems unforgiving that we survive the agonies of winter with the promise of spring.  only to have forgotten that spring brings sneezing & tears.

Emory Bass (1925-2015)

back in 1979 when I was sort of seeing Robert Drivas he was having a couple of his actor friends for dinner at the Hollywood apartment of James Coco which he was subletting.  I was staying at Chateau Marmont but came over to do the cooking. those friends were Emory Bass & Tony DeSantis.

overwhelmd

Mike Busam writes abt "Matchless" -- & so much more -- on his blog. 

I've been writing & doing my odd little pieces for the last half century.  most of it goes unnoticed. I can hold the reviews my books have rec'd in one hand. & a few of those few were not kind. I know….. none of us do it for fame.  but we don't create just for ourselves either.  & when I read what Mike has written I'm overtaken with emotion. there's someone out there who knows what the dimes were abt. what the matchbooks are abt.

well I don't want to blather on.  so I'll just thank Mike.  & I'll add a sprinkle of synchronicity.  he mentions Tom Beckett.  I recently sent Tom the romertopf that Nancy & Paul Metcalf gave me as a house gift during one of their visits.  I no longer remember which visit -- but it may have been the one in 1978. & on that visit Paul went off on his own for a reading somewhere & Nancy stayd with me. & dear friends took us to the REA Express in Quaker Square.  I'm too old now to remember any exact conversation but I can be honest in saying it was wonderful. & that I took that matchbook as we left.

so Mike as you take yr library on the road with that matchbook you're not just taking me. but I dont have to tell you that.  you know Mike.  you know.

I startd crying

as John Lewis was introducing the president but by the time Barrack Obama finishd his speech in Selma there were so many tears I cd barely see the television screen.

at the gym

yesterday a guy was beaming because it was his third year working out. that got me thinking.  I began after moving to the house on Morris Rd which was 35 years ago this summer. I think I startd at the university before joining Tree City Nautilus.  here's a sheet I still have from there:

these days I have a normal routine at Mandrill's Gym but don't keep such notes.

Dirk Shafer (1962-2015)

I haven't seen him since we met in 1996 but we were Facebook friends. so his death is quite the shock.

Albert Maysles (1926-2015)

the last time I saw him he was filming Rufus Wainwright in town. lighting that nite wasn't the best so these photos are a bit grainy.

Bellini's doge

what fascinates me abt reviewing my various collections is the discovery of real treasures.

there among my hundreds of postcards was this one I purchasd in London in 1984.

what makes it so special is that it is the very card which I mention at the end of the poem "At the National Gallery."  (that piece appears in my most recent chapbook Jumping Over the Moon.)

it was like finding a lost friend.  & I will make note of it & put it in the next batch of papers to be sent to my collection at Kent State.

postcards

any collectors out there?

in my determination to cull my past I'm going thru nearly everything I own. today it was my postcard collection.  I have hundreds going back decades.  & I'm now willing to part with them.

if you'd like a large bundle contact me. I'll be happy to give them to you for just the cost of postage.

homage a Dad

this ipad picture isn't very clear but I was so hungry I ate instead of reshooting

National Pancake Day

here's Dad who always enjoyd making pancakes.

& here he is in the army where I'm sure he perfectd his pancake skills.

hard to believe he's been gone 7 years already.

first day covers

this is me at the Y.

the adult is activities director P.F. Johnson. & the activity here is stamp collecting.

one of the things Mr. Johnson encouraged us to do was send in for first day covers.  I put mine together in a little blue photo album which has my first bookplate.

as I attempt to lighten my load I'm reviewing my past & finding new homes for "stuff." this little album has 27 first day covers as well as a set of 3 Grace Kelly wedding stamps & some miscellaneous envelopes.

also for the rabid Gildzen collector you'll see one of my earliest autographs on the Nebraska centennial cover in the photo.

if anyone is interestd I'll part with this treasure for $75 (or the best offer).

"Manzanita"

as I recalld the publication of the portfolio in honor of the library's dedication I rememberd something else. I also brought out a separate publication as a keepsake to be given away at the dedication. for that we used Gary Snyder's poem from the portfolio. there were a thousand copies & dealers are asking betwen $50 & $225 for that.

however I have a signd one. & I don't remember how many Snyder signd. the bibliography lists the broadside as item B63a but makes no reference to those he signd.

Warhol ephemera

in my copy of The Life and Death of Andy Warhol:

a 1966 newspaper ad for when I saw the Exploding Plastic Inevitable in Cleveland

& a first day cover of the Warhol stamp

"Six Poems / Seven Prints"

after seeing this
I'm having feelings
that maybe it's time
to sell my copy

a director's actor

I met Dan O'Herlihy (1919-2005) in 1959 when producer Ross Hunter brought him to Cleveland for the premiere of "Imitation of Life."  last nite I saw him in one of his last films "The Dead." as I was watching I began thinking how many important directors he'd workd for during his long career.  so I lookd up his filmography & made this list:

Carol Reed
Orson Welles
Ben Hecht
Luis Bunuel
John Frankenheimer
Douglas Sirk
Tay Garnett
Sidney Lumet
Tom Gries
Sergey Bondarchuk
Blake Edwards
Paul Verhoeven
John Huston
David Lynch

Restaurant Week

a fun way to try new places in town.

just back from Terra Cotta where I startd with portobello bisque which was smooth & flavorful. then pork schnitzle with potoatoes & red cabbage. dessert was sweet potato cheesecake with maple icing.

the most amazing response

I've had to "Matchless" came in yesterday's mail from Mike Dyar.

he calls his piece "Fire Safe Under Polyurethane." it came in an envelope featuring a matchbook.  the mailing also included his own matchbook from a Japanese restaurant in San Francisco.

today's hike

wasn't really a hike.  the group lunchd at Abiquiu Inn.  then we took visitors on a driving tour of area sites. here I am at Echo Amphitheater.

circles within a circle

today's task

reviewing files. tossing much.  but I have to save this sweet receipt -- both as a souvenir of a dead bookstore & simply to bring a smile to my weatherd face.

going thru my library

to cull more volumes to forward to Kent State.  here are a couple from the cinema section:

"texture of winter"

John Buchanan discoverd slides he took of me at Headlands Beach in 1972 & just sent me the images.  here are 2:

& here's the film in which you see him taking them:

"Hearts Transplantd"

for my 1997 valentine I printd a xerox edition of 46 copies of this (item A50 in my biblio).  text was taken from Alex in Movieland. each cover was an original collage.  here are a few I photographd before mailing:

way back

this 1934 magazine cover is on the wall of Chloride Bank Cafe. of course it immediately reminded me of "Brokeback Mountain."

(after posting this I did a search & discoverd the painting is "Winter in New Mexico" by Tom Lea.)

just back

from an overnite with my hiking buds.

Belen

Truth or Consequences

Chloride

Carmen Miranda (1909-1955)

for her 80th birthday I threw a party:

Henry Van Dyke

Michael Pierce & Tom Beckett

Bill Berger

a rarity

this morning I opend Mom's cedar chest which is under the table on which my computer rests in the guest room. it's full of files documenting my writing life.  they will be going to my collection at Kent State in the coming weeks.

I haven't lookd at these files since I put them together some years ago.  I noticed one was bulging. I pulld it out to discover something I'd completely forgotten.

I did a little book of prints called Men Out of Their Underwear. there were only 3 copies: one sent to the dedicatee Michael Linder   mine & if I remember correctly   artist R. B. Sprague. I don't know if Roger's copy made it to Oklahoma with his collection after his death or went into the trash.  & I have no idea where Linder is.  so the copy I'm sending to Kent may be the only one to survive.

the piece was done in april of 1999 in response to an online site Linder had.  the collages were of porn stars: Gene Carrier   Lee Ryder & a blond whose name escapes me. with their images are momentos from my travels   such as a napkin from Buenos Aires & something from a trip on the Southwest Chief.

but the fascinating thing abt this strange effort of mine was the binding. the loose sheets in each of the 3 were laid into a casing made from my underwear.

my most famous underwear piece is Underwear in a Box. I guess I have what Rick Castro wd identitfy as a fetish abt underwear. this isn't the time to analyze that. but I must say I was delightd to encounter this piece & send if off to Kent with my blessing.

under a peacock

at San Marcos Feed Store

Lizabeth Scott (1922-2015)

& here's a photo I took of her some years ago at the Beverly Hilton:

from my resorts

blooming cactus: Inn Exile (Palm Springs)

succulent: Alcazar (Fort Lauderdale)

stucco fragment: Blue Moon (Las Vegas)

matchbook: Parliament House (Orlando)

mug: Elysium Resort (Fort Lauderdale)

jockstrap: Canyon Club (Palm Springs)