I've spent the morning with Richard Siken. not the person. he's in Tucson. but the poet. the one who left a parcel of poems dripping blood on my bed. the book is calld Crush. I don't think I've ever read a book of poems straight thru before. I feel like I'm sticky & heading to the shower after hours of sex.
I just finishd the book & took off my clothes. I slippd on the boxers I'd slippd off Jimmy at the Sunburst Inn in Phoenix. I know Phoenix isn't Tucson but Arizona is Arizona. & sun bursting on boys works for me.
so I'm sitting here in Jimmy's boxers. I feel I need to examine my flesh for bruises. Crush is a punch. the poems are dangerous. I want to go back immediately & study them but I'm too much enjoying the afterglow. I guess this is the moment in film noir where the couple props up on pillows with cigarets. but I'm alone & don't smoke. so I'll slip off Jimmy's boxers & jump into the shower.
15 November 2005
14 November 2005
the small world of Hollywood
I just watchd a cheap western made nearly a half century ago. my reason for seeing "Two-Gun Lady" was that the cast includes one of my faves -- Marie Windsor.
I was taken by a young actress playing a tomboy. so I lookd up Barbara Turner. this was her film debut. the following year she married Vic Morrow. one of their children is Jennifer Jason Leigh. Turner's acting career didn't last long. she became a screenwriter with credits ranging from "Petulia" to "Pollock." I get so excitd when I make all these connections.
I was taken by a young actress playing a tomboy. so I lookd up Barbara Turner. this was her film debut. the following year she married Vic Morrow. one of their children is Jennifer Jason Leigh. Turner's acting career didn't last long. she became a screenwriter with credits ranging from "Petulia" to "Pollock." I get so excitd when I make all these connections.
13 November 2005
culture in the desert
long before I knew of Palm Springs as a major gay resort I was fascinatd with it as a playground of the stars.
silent star Charlie Farrell startd the Racquet Club. generations of blonde bombshells (Jean Harlow Betty Grable Marilyn Monroe) playd there. James Dean drove too fast in its streets. hunks like George Montgomery & Guy Madison & Richard Harrison had homes there. that vibe still retains its power for me. but it's not just a playground. the art museum there is a must stop every time I visit. the film noir festival is important for cinemaddicts.
& now the vivacious Kimberly Nichols has a blog which covers arts activities in the area. her current entry discusses the work of Cole Morgan.
silent star Charlie Farrell startd the Racquet Club. generations of blonde bombshells (Jean Harlow Betty Grable Marilyn Monroe) playd there. James Dean drove too fast in its streets. hunks like George Montgomery & Guy Madison & Richard Harrison had homes there. that vibe still retains its power for me. but it's not just a playground. the art museum there is a must stop every time I visit. the film noir festival is important for cinemaddicts.
& now the vivacious Kimberly Nichols has a blog which covers arts activities in the area. her current entry discusses the work of Cole Morgan.
last nite
Charles Lloyd
old beat daddy
flauting & saxing
trunk asway legs akick
drum battle
Zakir Hussain & Eric Harland
worlds collide & meld
old beat daddy
flauting & saxing
trunk asway legs akick
drum battle
Zakir Hussain & Eric Harland
worlds collide & meld
12 November 2005
11 November 2005
Gerard Malanga
is a month older than I am. we met during that tumultuous summer of 1963 when I was in Kenneth Koch's poetry class at Wagner College. I've only seen him a few times in the intervening years. he's in Santa Fe this weekend for a series of events.
I know how unkind time can be. & I wasn't expecting the beauty who did the whip dance & appeard naked in the pages of After Dark. but I hadn't seen a recent photo of him so when Malanga enterd the theater for a Q & A following a pair of Warhol films I nearly gaspd. he's overweight & uses a cane. it was most unsettling. we spoke briefly at the reception.
/
I know how unkind time can be. & I wasn't expecting the beauty who did the whip dance & appeard naked in the pages of After Dark. but I hadn't seen a recent photo of him so when Malanga enterd the theater for a Q & A following a pair of Warhol films I nearly gaspd. he's overweight & uses a cane. it was most unsettling. we spoke briefly at the reception.
/
10 November 2005
break out the caviar
I startd this adventure a year ago.
recently a friend sent me an article on blogs which includes a list of rules for a successful one. it's not surprising to me that I break most of them. that's probably why my audience is small. but then my audience has always been small. I remember reading an online description that calld me "semi-legendary." I laughd for days.
so what do I think of this adventure? if I weren't enjoying it I'd have stoppd. o sure there are frustrating times. if I work hard on something I think important (like "2 jars")& it elicits silence I become vexd. esp when something I toss off strikes a nerve & gets comments. but anyone who's been at this writing business for as long as I have learns to just keep going. & the blogosphere has introducd me to new friends. for that I'm grateful.
so if you've read this far down thx for stopping by. & pass the crackers.
recently a friend sent me an article on blogs which includes a list of rules for a successful one. it's not surprising to me that I break most of them. that's probably why my audience is small. but then my audience has always been small. I remember reading an online description that calld me "semi-legendary." I laughd for days.
so what do I think of this adventure? if I weren't enjoying it I'd have stoppd. o sure there are frustrating times. if I work hard on something I think important (like "2 jars")& it elicits silence I become vexd. esp when something I toss off strikes a nerve & gets comments. but anyone who's been at this writing business for as long as I have learns to just keep going. & the blogosphere has introducd me to new friends. for that I'm grateful.
so if you've read this far down thx for stopping by. & pass the crackers.
09 November 2005
08 November 2005
he finds Dennis Morgan divine
I'm not a regular traveler to the country of Amazon.com. so until Shanna Compton tippd me off in her blog I had no idea Kevin Killian has producd nearly a thousand reviews there. I suspect some day they'll be a book. but until then you can dip into them anytime.
& what a dip. here's a sample line: "And what were all those handjobs under the sheets in Cleveland?" I know I know: it's not fair to isolate one line from KK's zillions. & probably not the single best line. but it's one I adore & so it's here.
Killian covers everything from books on crafts to political biographies. he must read all the time. for me his film reviews are esp fun. in a few sentences he seems able to distill the essence of Barbara Stanwyck or Sylvia Sidney.
& what a dip. here's a sample line: "And what were all those handjobs under the sheets in Cleveland?" I know I know: it's not fair to isolate one line from KK's zillions. & probably not the single best line. but it's one I adore & so it's here.
Killian covers everything from books on crafts to political biographies. he must read all the time. for me his film reviews are esp fun. in a few sentences he seems able to distill the essence of Barbara Stanwyck or Sylvia Sidney.
07 November 2005
black borders
over the weekend I went to the dedication of a city park which bears the names of 2 brothers. both gay. both murderd (in separate crimes). I was on a board with one of them Herman Rodgriquez. on Dia de Los Muertos I'd been walking in Rosario Cemetery where the brothers are buried.
perhaps that was still with me last nite in my dreams. suddenly there was my best friend from boyhood. I embracd him & sd "Tom it's so good to see you." he lookd deep into my eyes & sd "I'm dead... & you're next." that may be a bad movie line but it startld me awake in the middle of the nite. between tossing there were moments asleep but all with dark imagery.
when I finally got out of bed exhaustd I turnd on the computer. the 1st thing I do is check my mail & then the obits. I was shockd to find Sheree North whose movies Tom & I both liked as boys. she grew from sexpot to accomplishd actress.
I dashd to the gym to try to exorcise my anxiety. when I returnd there was an e-mail from a friend telling me of the death of John Fowles. at one time Fowles was Tom's favorite author. he's give me his copies of the novels after he read them.
I'm almost afraid to go outside to the mailbox.
perhaps that was still with me last nite in my dreams. suddenly there was my best friend from boyhood. I embracd him & sd "Tom it's so good to see you." he lookd deep into my eyes & sd "I'm dead... & you're next." that may be a bad movie line but it startld me awake in the middle of the nite. between tossing there were moments asleep but all with dark imagery.
when I finally got out of bed exhaustd I turnd on the computer. the 1st thing I do is check my mail & then the obits. I was shockd to find Sheree North whose movies Tom & I both liked as boys. she grew from sexpot to accomplishd actress.
I dashd to the gym to try to exorcise my anxiety. when I returnd there was an e-mail from a friend telling me of the death of John Fowles. at one time Fowles was Tom's favorite author. he's give me his copies of the novels after he read them.
I'm almost afraid to go outside to the mailbox.
what I read
I may have been reading Dickinson at 12 but my taste in fiction then was centerd on authors who wrote for children. I was 10 when I wrote my first fan letter to an author to Lois Lenski. by 12 I had a regular correspondence with Jean Bothwell. at abt that time I was also writing to Pearl S. Buck & Robert Lawson.
altho we all read comics as well I was never addictd to them. my favorite was Classic Illustrated. of the action heroes I was most fond of Wonder Woman. & there was a comic which featurd fashion designs that children sent in.
but my favorite reading material as a child was movie magazines. Photoplay Modern Screen Screen Stories. usually in the front were the gossip columns of Hedda & Louella Mike Connolly & Sidney Skolsky. then came the stories many by sister team Reba & Bonnie Churchill. & all those glorious photos. George Nader in the tightest jeans ever made. Denise Darcel & Tab Hunter on a date. Robert Francis playing golf in Palm Springs.
I clippd these magazines & preservd my favorite images & stories in a series of scrapbooks. I've already written abt this in a series of poems which appeard in the inaugural issue of Court Green.
& my first publication (not counting an early drawing which appeard in a booklet of the Elyria schools) was a brief letter to the editor in the june 1957 issue of Screen Stories.
I miss the old movie magazines. today we still have celebrity publications but they lack the look & feel of the magazines of my childhood with those beautiful movie ads & studio portraits of Ava Gardner & candids of Rock Hudson getting a massage at Finlandia Baths & stories abt the men in Mamie Van Doren's life.
altho we all read comics as well I was never addictd to them. my favorite was Classic Illustrated. of the action heroes I was most fond of Wonder Woman. & there was a comic which featurd fashion designs that children sent in.
but my favorite reading material as a child was movie magazines. Photoplay Modern Screen Screen Stories. usually in the front were the gossip columns of Hedda & Louella Mike Connolly & Sidney Skolsky. then came the stories many by sister team Reba & Bonnie Churchill. & all those glorious photos. George Nader in the tightest jeans ever made. Denise Darcel & Tab Hunter on a date. Robert Francis playing golf in Palm Springs.
I clippd these magazines & preservd my favorite images & stories in a series of scrapbooks. I've already written abt this in a series of poems which appeard in the inaugural issue of Court Green.
& my first publication (not counting an early drawing which appeard in a booklet of the Elyria schools) was a brief letter to the editor in the june 1957 issue of Screen Stories.
I miss the old movie magazines. today we still have celebrity publications but they lack the look & feel of the magazines of my childhood with those beautiful movie ads & studio portraits of Ava Gardner & candids of Rock Hudson getting a massage at Finlandia Baths & stories abt the men in Mamie Van Doren's life.
06 November 2005
little Alex receives his 1st rejection slip
yesterday's entry brought back the memory of my submission to Weekly Reader. it was early 1954 & what I sent wasn't publishd.
first some background. my Aunt Sophie my godmother was a woman of such complexity it'd take a book to capture her. but for the sake of this story let me just say that she was fond of jokes esp offcolor ones. here's the only one I remember her telling me:
Q: where did Joe DiMaggio spend his honeymoon?
A: in Maryland.
altho at 10 I didn't "get it" I must've found it quite hilarious because I submittd it to Weekly Reader. the rejection slip that came in the mail was a generic one. when I grew up I often wonderd abt the reaction of the editors of Weekly Reader.
first some background. my Aunt Sophie my godmother was a woman of such complexity it'd take a book to capture her. but for the sake of this story let me just say that she was fond of jokes esp offcolor ones. here's the only one I remember her telling me:
Q: where did Joe DiMaggio spend his honeymoon?
A: in Maryland.
altho at 10 I didn't "get it" I must've found it quite hilarious because I submittd it to Weekly Reader. the rejection slip that came in the mail was a generic one. when I grew up I often wonderd abt the reaction of the editors of Weekly Reader.
05 November 2005
juvenilia
I'm fascinatd by Silliman's last 2 posts abt early work. to think that Rae Armantrout had a poem in Weekly Reader when she was 7!
a late bloomer I was already 12 when I wrote this:
Blossoms, Blossoms, oh lovely Blossoms,
An Artist's Pure Delight;
With Butterflies around.
Lovely at night;
In the Pale Moonlight,
The Bee's gone away;
A perfect setting,
On a perfect day.
was this my first poem? I don't know. but it is the earliest to survive. was it the poem that I carvd into the branch of a willow tree in the front yard? I don't know that either.
if someone were to ask me my earliest influence I'd not hesitate in naming Ferlinghetti. but this "poem" suggests that Emily Dickinson came earlier. I have terribly few poems from the apprentice period (1955-60). I startd publishing poems in 1962.
is all the early work bad? it's easy for a quick yes. but as a survivor who's still at it I must say that even some of the worst of those are instructional to me. I see the me I was -- both person & writer. I detect the changes progress made but also I retain some awe that I was creating with words before becoming a teenager.
a late bloomer I was already 12 when I wrote this:
Blossoms, Blossoms, oh lovely Blossoms,
An Artist's Pure Delight;
With Butterflies around.
Lovely at night;
In the Pale Moonlight,
The Bee's gone away;
A perfect setting,
On a perfect day.
was this my first poem? I don't know. but it is the earliest to survive. was it the poem that I carvd into the branch of a willow tree in the front yard? I don't know that either.
if someone were to ask me my earliest influence I'd not hesitate in naming Ferlinghetti. but this "poem" suggests that Emily Dickinson came earlier. I have terribly few poems from the apprentice period (1955-60). I startd publishing poems in 1962.
is all the early work bad? it's easy for a quick yes. but as a survivor who's still at it I must say that even some of the worst of those are instructional to me. I see the me I was -- both person & writer. I detect the changes progress made but also I retain some awe that I was creating with words before becoming a teenager.
04 November 2005
hard to believe
that Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962 is still making news. but there she was on "Good Morning America" sharing headlines with Shrub's dive in the polls & Camilla's drag queen voice.
apparently there's "new evidence" in the form of second hand memories being publishd in a popular magazine. was it suicide or accident or murder? certain stories will live forever.
apparently there's "new evidence" in the form of second hand memories being publishd in a popular magazine. was it suicide or accident or murder? certain stories will live forever.
03 November 2005
"queerer things were yet to come"
Hitchcock is my favorite Hollywood director. battling for second place are Wilder & Altman. last week I saw Wilder's "Avanti" a late film which may have been his worst. to gargle away its taste last nite I saw one of his best "Sunset Blvd."
I don't know how many times I've seen this film but it never looses its allure. it's that perfect blend of script & art direction of casting & score. Swanson's Norma Desmond is such an indelible performance that it deserves its legendary status. I get lost in her face. Holden is so sexy he's lickable. but he's more than a hot body. he was a subtle sensitive actor whose naturalness balances Swanson's grand guinol performance. throw in Von Stroheim for more ghoul & a minute & a half of Keaton for comedy. mix all that up with those zingy lines & Franz Waxman's magnificent score.
because the movie has been around for 55 years it's accumulatd layers of meaning. & I suppose as with all great art there are universal layers & then those personal ones. as a cinemaddict I find the Hollywood levels irresistable. mentions of silent stars Marie Prevost & Wallace Reid & of star getaways Catalina & Palm Springs. Hedda Hopper playing herself. that mansion & pool being used again by Nick Ray for "Rebel Without a Cause." the car at the Paramount gate being referencd by David Lynch in "Mulholland Drive."
then there's a fascinating true crime connection. we first see Holden's character Joe Gillis in the Alto Nido Apartments. legend has it that Elizabeth Short once livd there. later in the film Gillis shows up at a party & is introducd as a "Black Dahlia suspect." the actor mouthing that line is Jack Webb who 8 years later wd write a book abt the LAPD calld "The Badge" which includes a discussion of the Short case. that book was a favorite of a young man by the name of James Ellroy who wd write a novel calld The Black Dahlia the manuscript of which I purchasd for Kent State University Libraries during my tenure as curator of Special Collections.
all these layers make the movie more & more fascinating to me. so it's a work of which I never tire.
I don't know how many times I've seen this film but it never looses its allure. it's that perfect blend of script & art direction of casting & score. Swanson's Norma Desmond is such an indelible performance that it deserves its legendary status. I get lost in her face. Holden is so sexy he's lickable. but he's more than a hot body. he was a subtle sensitive actor whose naturalness balances Swanson's grand guinol performance. throw in Von Stroheim for more ghoul & a minute & a half of Keaton for comedy. mix all that up with those zingy lines & Franz Waxman's magnificent score.
because the movie has been around for 55 years it's accumulatd layers of meaning. & I suppose as with all great art there are universal layers & then those personal ones. as a cinemaddict I find the Hollywood levels irresistable. mentions of silent stars Marie Prevost & Wallace Reid & of star getaways Catalina & Palm Springs. Hedda Hopper playing herself. that mansion & pool being used again by Nick Ray for "Rebel Without a Cause." the car at the Paramount gate being referencd by David Lynch in "Mulholland Drive."
then there's a fascinating true crime connection. we first see Holden's character Joe Gillis in the Alto Nido Apartments. legend has it that Elizabeth Short once livd there. later in the film Gillis shows up at a party & is introducd as a "Black Dahlia suspect." the actor mouthing that line is Jack Webb who 8 years later wd write a book abt the LAPD calld "The Badge" which includes a discussion of the Short case. that book was a favorite of a young man by the name of James Ellroy who wd write a novel calld The Black Dahlia the manuscript of which I purchasd for Kent State University Libraries during my tenure as curator of Special Collections.
all these layers make the movie more & more fascinating to me. so it's a work of which I never tire.
02 November 2005
watching the news
2 big stories on the ayem shows:
first it seems the Dems finally got their balls back. that Senate meltdown was sheer fun & portends some fireworks for Scalito. & bravo to anyone who wipes that perpetual smirk off the mug of Senator Frist.
then there's Camila Parker Bowles. everyone seems to think she's a triumph. to me she remains the Duchess of Frump. I mean with a staff of 40 laboring over you even Marjorie Main wd look elegant.
I turnd off news & turnd on blogs. feeling o so curmedgeonly while downing my second cuppa I checkd Richard Lopez. I must tell you that his shots of Nicholas as a lobster are so dear that I feel totally avuncular. & the one of our wee lobster smiling at the bookshelves is probably as prescient as it is precious.
first it seems the Dems finally got their balls back. that Senate meltdown was sheer fun & portends some fireworks for Scalito. & bravo to anyone who wipes that perpetual smirk off the mug of Senator Frist.
then there's Camila Parker Bowles. everyone seems to think she's a triumph. to me she remains the Duchess of Frump. I mean with a staff of 40 laboring over you even Marjorie Main wd look elegant.
I turnd off news & turnd on blogs. feeling o so curmedgeonly while downing my second cuppa I checkd Richard Lopez. I must tell you that his shots of Nicholas as a lobster are so dear that I feel totally avuncular. & the one of our wee lobster smiling at the bookshelves is probably as prescient as it is precious.
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