72

Billi Jo Clayton (who paintd me years ago) made this for my birthday. only time I've been this close to Errol Flynn.

"Ohio Triangle"

an announcement today from John Burroughs.

& here's what I wrote on Facebook:

it's a bit difficult to realize that I have another birthday this weekend. & I know all my dear friends are pondering what to get me. instead of the festoons of flowers & chocolates & jockstraps I usually receive I have a humble suggestion. please purchase a copy of my new book. I've been working on this collection for more years than I like to admit. but I'm so proud of this book. nothing wd make me happier this birthday than to share it with you.


& for my friends across the pond my publisher informs me that you can save international postage by ordering from yr own country's Amazon.

TBT

summer of 1987. Thessaloniki.

this is Radio City Theater. & I actually saw "Rebel Without a Cause" there.  but I had this taken for a friend who was a Doris Day fanatic.

Orange Bear Reader

still finding treasures as I sort thru files & piles.

this was a broadside series from Windsor Canada (1970-71). 500 copies. original price: 75 cents each.  today they sell from $15 to $150 each.

my poem "Dolphinsong on the Nile" was number 6.

other poets
Paul Goodman
Joyce Carol Oates
Douglas Blazek
Irving Layton
Greg Kuzma
George Bowering
Lewis Warsh
Hayden Carruth

as far as I know this is the complete run.

Poems-for-All

my admiration for this series is off the charts.

it began 14 years ago with the publication of one of my favorite d.a. levy poems "the bells of the Cherokee ponies" (which I reprintd in my 1971 levy issue of The Serif).

when Richard Robert Hansen scatterd my "Nijinsky's Underwear" around the world I was ecstatic.

& now I have a second contribution to this history-making series:

synchronicity

yesterday I was thinking abt Eve Arden.

then today 2 things happend. first I saw that "My Reputation" in on TCM tonite. Arden supports Barbara Stanwyck in that one. then a dear friend wrote to tell me that yesterday he met Arden's nephew.

here I am listening to Arden at the Beverly Hilton following the AFI salute to Stanwyck in 1987:

ceiba speciosa

Billy's silk floss tree is mentiond in my poem "Colors."

here it is the other day. those white tuffs are what's left when the parrots have rippd off the seed husks.  Billy got out his cutting gizmo & snippd the one on the right for me.  I have it here in a baggie waiting till the day I spin some art out of it.

mail

thx John Dorsey & Colin Scholl 

back from LA

where I celebrated a special birthday of a special friend who took this of me with the beautiful Emma:

Judith Malina (1926-2015)

we were on a panel together  at the CUNY seminar "The Theater of Jean-Claude van Itallie" in 2008

I took this of her with Jean-Claude & Brad Burgess

a reunion

for years I've been looking for this photo. it shows two leading ladies of the silent era meeting for the first time in more than 40 years.

that's Lois Wilson on the left with May Allison. the photo was taken on the Kent State University campus in spring of 1973.  Lois was in town to appear as Mary's mother in the University Theater production of "The Women."  she had playd Mary years before in the national tour. so I suggestd to the Kent director that he cast her as a guest star. Miss Allison had been living in nearby Cleveland for years.

the original photograph must exist in the files of the University News Service. this copy isn't so good because it's a scan taken from the back cover of The Silent Picture (no. 18). I didn't remember I had a copy but discoverd it while culling stacks of ancient periodicals.

& during that same visit here I am watching Lois sign the library's copy of the poster for "The Women" which proudly hung in the Special Collections reading room during my tenure as curator.

the nites are dark in LA

this was 1988

"Goddess" (1997?)

this is the little Bernique Longley piece I mentiond in the previous post.

Bernique in the men's room

with all the interest in "Mad Men" there's also been memories of La Fonda Del Sol. this legendary restaurant opend in the Time-Life Building in 1960. it was designd by Alexander Girard with furnishings by Charles & Ray Eames. & a Google search just informd me that the men's room featured a mural by Bernique Longley (1923-1999).

Bernique was one of Santa Fe's legendary painters. & I was lucky to have known her in her final years. shortly after meeting actress Sally Kemp she invitd me to dinner   saying she had a friend I must meet. that friend was Bernique & we liked each other immediately.

since her death I regrettd that I didn't have a photograph with her. just the other day I was looking thru my albums for something else & encounterd this:

I had completely forgotten abt this long-ago party but there I am (in the rocker) & there is Bernique -- in between art historian Richard Trump & actor John Ericson.  we're not side by side but at least I have this one document.

of course I have Longleys in most rooms of my house. there's a painting I commissiond in the bedroom. one of her chickens in the kitchen. & a small goddess sculpture in the guest room.

I haven't been able to find an image of her La Fonda Del Sol mural. maybe someone somewhere will share that. until then I'll have to imagine Jon Hamm sharing space with a Longley (even if that is only film fiction).

Easter (1988)

I took this of my dear friend Julia Waida at a holiday dinner on Morris Rd. the lamb cake in the background was made by my cousin Sal.

Easter past & present

it was a cold & windy morning. but I woke from a wee nap to feel that it was nicer out.  so I opend the front door.  & there was a package. it was Peeps from Bill E. Berger.  something he's done for years.

this time I took them outside for a photo shoot. the bread box is also a gift from Billy (in 1972). Paul Metcalf told me it looks like the bread box his mother found Billy Budd in. posing with the sweets are an egg Nancy Holt gave me in 1997 & a little pink basket from one of Pooka Longley Glidden's Easter dinners.

another centennial

Stan Hywet Hall in Akron has begun celebrating its 100th year.

here's a little Wedgewood souvenir which shows its doorway.

& just for the record the black bud vase was pilferd from The Mark in NYC by my last partner years ago.

today's hike

Dragonback Trail

"A Book of Memories"

into today's box of books going to Kent is my copy of this 1993 KSU Press imprint.  I remember having some friends sign my copy (a la high school yearbooks).  but looking thru it one last time I didn't remember just how many signatures I collectd.

here are those of true crime writers Albert Borowitz & Jonathan Goodman. the photo was taken on the nite of a library gala I organized in 1990.

another true crime writer signd the book -- the late Leo Damore. & I discoverd as well signatures of astronaut Carl Walz   novelist Henry Van Dyke   football star Jack Lambert   childrens author Virginia Hamilton   entertainer Bertice Berry   fantasy writer Stephen R. Donaldson   historian Lawrence Kaplan & many others.  also all 3 editors (including the man responsible for my library career -- Dean Keller).

the dimes in Hollywood

going thru more "stuff" & I found 3 photographs Stathis Orphanos took during our 2001 shoot at Chateau Marmont. those are the Century Dimes on my chest.

here's one of the b&w photos from that shoot:

of course the best known one from that day is the portrait which appears in It's All a Movie.

a lost poem

in a copy of a friend's chapbook I found this. I inscribed it to that friend with the date "11 june 85." I have no other copy of this poem. in fact I have no memory of this poem.  but it's obviously mine.


A SUITCASE OF
WATERMELON FOR
BREAKFAST AFTER
A ONE NIGHT STAND

swimming among the
seeds I touch your
porcelain foot with
my hair
               & wake up

more inscriptions

James Broughton

Paul Metcalf

Thomas Meyer

inscriptions

in reviewing my library as I send off so many volumes to Kent I find much I'd forgotten.

Richard Howard was a house guest in 1974. here's what he wrote in my copies of a couple of his books:

Preferences
"For Alex Gildzen
who has (quickly) become 
one of mine"

Alone with America
"For Alex Gildzen
with whom I am
not alone"

reading these now they seem like stock responses. wd be interesting to compare with the copies of others to see.

& then there are the marvelous inscriptions of Kenneth Irby:

hiding in plain sight #3

Kevin McCarthy came to my house in Twin Lakes one fine day in 1976 to make use of the swimming pool.  while there he took some photographs. & they turnd out to be the best photographs I now have of that property.

this one has me in the living room:

but as I've begun doing at this stage of my life I'm reading the photograph not so much for me but for what's around me. & there in the background is the Anuszkiewicz seriagraph which looks down at me as I type & near it Berrocal's "Mini-David" which is on top of the shelves on the other side of this room. there's the antique doll's head from France which Mom bought me when I took her to Manhattan so many years ago. I still adore that piece.

there too is the old gumball machine my parents gave me for Xmas of 1972.  it's currently in my kitchen. I see a Judy Collins album & my Rockwell Kent edition of Moby Dick -- both of which are in my great room.

the rest of the story

so I return to the file cabinet & pull out another stack.  & suddenly I found this:

the mind is strange. a dozen years after all this I still remember that "Halloween" image. but I'd totally forgotten that Joel kindly sent me this next.

& this time there's a printout of my response:  "I told you while posing that I trust an artist. so when I saw the 1st image (which came in an envelope with a Warhol stamp) I thot…. o well   my nose & lips ARE my worst facial attributes. if that's the way he sees me so be it. anyway I guess I'm more vain than I thot. the new image (which appropriately came with a Cary Grant stamp) does make me feel like a movie star."

another surprise

& so one more respite from plowing thru files. this certainly was enuf to stop me.

in the fall of 2003 Joel Singer photographd me in his NYC studio. I was excited. I'd be joining the likes of Mark Morris & Jonas Mekas in his portrait gallery.

a couple of weeks later I got an envelope from Joel. I rippd it open in anticipation of seeing his portraits. this is what greetd me. 

after the shock I was hurt. I cdn't believe that this was how my friend saw me.  I must've eventually recoverd enuf to write him because tuckd in the envelope is a printout of an e-mail response. Joel wrote: "sorry to have alarmed you with the first image. it was meant as a Halloween mask and certainly not as a 'serious' portrait."

I filed that away & haven't seen this image again until today. it continues to disturb me. so now it goes into the next Kent box just waiting to frighten whoever one day comes across it.

Icebox Beauties of 1999

in reviewing my correspondence to my parents before sending it off to my collection at Kent I discovered this piece:

when I did it I didn't photograph each piece so it was exciting to see this. the work appears in Making Circles. as you'll see there I did photograph another from the series:

copying that brought back a memory of a photograph of one other piece in the series but I don't know where that is.

hiding in plain sight #2

the other nite I was channelchasing & came upon Bill Raymond gueststarring on "Miami Vice." in 1985 I appeard in the Mabou Mines production of "Cold Harbor" on campus. Bill was the lead. during that time I had a party for Bill & the others who came from NY (including Ruth Maleczech & Dale Worsley). here's Bill in my kitchen on Morris.

the thing I see this time is the matchbook collection in the glass jar on the fridge. this was exactly 30 years before my piece "Matchless."  that jar is on the floor near me as I type with some of those same matchbooks in it.  others of those matchbooks are now scatterd across the country.

& on the fridge is the postcard of myself with James Broughton in "Jungle Girl." on the walls in the background are posters by Robert Schultz & James Rosenquist.

hiding in plain sight #1

this is Newbery medalist & MacArthur fellow Virginia Hamilton (1934-2002) in my office on the 12th floor of the Kent State University Libraries in the mid-'80s.

but what interests me today are those shelves that I wd see from my desk everyday. there is an Ira Joel Haber drawing which is now in my bedroom. & that exquisite Henry Halem piece which is also in my bedroom. next shelf down is the portrait of Mom which Dad took to war. it's now in the guest room. beside it is a memento which the American Film Institute gave to special donors. it's in the guest bathroom. & on the next shelf is a James Dean postcard which I think was sent by Edward Field.

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.