in circles

 the flooding in Texas hit hard. one of the reasons is the reporting on Camp Mystic. that brought memories of boyhood summers at Camp Iss See Kes -- the YMCA camp in Amherst. so I got out  my earliest photo album & there were my photos. then I did an online search & discoverd that the main building there was calld Rotary Lodge. here's the photo I took of my cabin mates & counselors in front of it in 1951.

I also learnd that it was the idea of Ralph Murbach (1888-1987) -- a founding member of Elyria's chapter of the Rotary Club.  he was the local coal dealer who added building supplies to his store whose customers included my father.

I met Ralph's grandson John years later. in the 1990s I became part of a group of gay men interested in "Music / Art / Books" who met online & calld ourselves the MABsters. after a quarter century I remain friends with some of them. actually 2 of them were/are among the best friends of my life.

in conversations I mentiond being from Elyria & one of the members told me that that was his roommate's hometown as well.  the next time I went to Chicago where they lived I met them. that was the only time I met John -- a prominent set designer who workd with Wisdom Bridge & Center Theatre. 

but the story goes deeper. it turns out a cousin of John's was a high school classmate of mine. but even more significantly he had been a lover of an actor with whom I had an important connection. he shared details of our mutual friend's death that I didn't know.  

people & events overlap. I understand that & try to capture those reverberations in my work.

forget the fireworks

 

No Kings

 I'm late posting this. when I left the house Saturday to walk to the bus stop it was 107.  why organizers decided 6 pm wd be a good time to start our rally is suspect. but gather we did. 5000 of us. hours later when I got home it had only coold to 98.  so yesterday I was sorta tired & forgot to put up a picture.

here's Palm Springs.  part of the 11 million disgustd by the president & his criminal cabinet.

completing a circle

 in the summer of 1967 I attended Indiana University Writers Conference to study with Gwendolyn Brooks.  at the concluding awards banquet I was surprisd & delightd when Miss Brooks announcd that I had won the poetry award. (this story was told in an article by Rasa Gustaitis -- who later wrote Turning On -- which appeard in Cosmopolitan the next year.)   shortly thereafter I wrote the poem “On Winning a Prize" which I dedicatd to Miss Brooks.

In 1969 Abraxas Press published my first book — a little chapbook with just 3 poems. one of those was the poem for Miss Brooks.

for a while now I've been working on what I call my Legacy Project.  this is finding good homes for my publications & art. I only had one copy left of that first book -- Into the Sea.  it didn't take long for me to realize the perfect match was the Lilly Library at Indiana University. & I was so happy when they agreed to accept it.

here I am in my study bidding bye to that copy which is now in Bloomington.

proud

 to celebrate Pride month the city's original library -- now a museum -- has mountd an exhibition from the holdings of The LGBTQ+ History & Archives of the Desert. it includes my "Desert Paradise" displayd beside the actual resort mug mentiond in the poem.

this delights me for many reasons -- not the least of which is that we live at a moment in time when a cruel & hateful administration is trying to erase the histories of so many minorities.  we must resist.

voices of the dead

 my dear friend Michael -- who I've known for more than a half century -- sent me a postcard which our mutual friend David -- who died in 2008 -- sent him from Leipzig in 1984.  

here's some of what David wrote:

"I left Alex in Venice a couple of weeks ago enjoying the place like crazy.  He shepherded me to Florian's for coffee just before I left, a place I'm happy not to have missed. (Alex was a high priest in some other life --  he has a natural feel for ceremony.)"

reading this moved me. to have these words from a great friend & travel companion after all these years saying something that perceptive means so much to me.

thank you Michael.

& thank you David ....

a story abt a poem & a building

 the poem:

"Summer Sunday in Kent"

written 60 years ago this is the best-known of my early work.  in october 1965 I read it at The Cellar on the Kent State campus. d. a. levy was there & askd to see what it lookd like on the page. he immediately told me he wantd to publish it. it appeard in a 1966 issue of Marrahwannah Quarterly. 

in the summer of 1967 I went to Indiana University Writers Conference to study briefly with Gwendolyn Brooks. at the concluding awards dinner she prefaced announcement of me winning the poetry award by reading this poem. one of the great moments of my life.

here is the poem as it appears in my selectd poems The Avalanche of Time (North Atlantic Books   1985):

the building:

I came to Kent in the fall of 1961 as a KSU freshman. I often walkd from campus to town & the railroad station soon became a favorite stop. I even took the Erie-Lackawanna from there to Hoboken in spring of 1962.

in a journal I kept in 1968 I tell of taking new friend Jean-Claude van Itallie on his first visit to Kent to "the pink railroad station" to catch his train back east.

I'm not sure when the station closed but there was a time in the late '70s when Kent Acting & Touring Company did plays there. & they produced a reading of mine. I don't recall if I read this poem then but I wd've been a fool not to.

some time later the space became the Pufferbelly Restaurant.  after I left Kent it continued as a restaurant under other names.

this little wooden version of the building is on a console in my living room:

why have I postd this?

today is the 150th anniversary of the building's opening. Kent Historical Society -- which has offices there -- is sponsoring a celebration. if I still lived in town I wd not only be there but probably wd've insistd on reading my poem.