"Who Introduced Me To Whom"

 that's the title of a list I began last nite. one of the entries is "Stanley Krippner to Diane Varsi." he is the parapsychologist. she is best known as an actress. because her career was short I fear she's not well known today. especially by the young who tend to know nothing that happend more than 20 years before their births.

Varsi was Oscar-nominated at 20 for "Peyton Place." her abrupt leaving of Hollywood to pursue a creative life on her own terms has become legend. she found her way to Bennington where she studied poetry with Ben Belitt (at around the time my dear friend Roberta Elzey did as well). sadly I've been unable to find any of her poems online. she settled in San Francisco where she did stage work as actress & director. she is sometimes dumped into the Beat barrel -- perhaps because of working with ruth weiss.

Stan introduced me to her in San Francisco in 1978. she was wearing a silk Chinese jacket & lookd beautiful. a year later I was back in her city & calld her. she was unable to meet me but we had what a remember was a long chat abt poetry. unfortunately I took no notes & time has erased all detail.

of all the people who are in this new list she was the one who jumpd out of it & swirls around my head this morning. 

I don't live in the past but

 I allow the past to inform my present. I bring them together in my work.

& so I recently learnd of the death shortly before last Thxgiving of someone I knew briefly over 40 years ago. he was a singer/songwriter in a local band & one of "Those Who Came to My Door." he passd out of my life as quickly as he came into it. but I'd taken some photos at one of my parties with him in them & they wd crop up from time to time over the decades. learning of his death made me remember that he wrote in "the book of the house." I lookd it up:

I was suddenly brought to tears. has anyone else ever written me such a non-love poem? why did I not follow up on it? why didn't we see each other more? or stay in contact?

life is full of such questions. & a person of my years seems to ask them with more frequency.

anyway my dear boy. we knew each other for such a short time but I say goodby. I hope yr life was one which found you writing more non-love poems. 

Ira Joel Haber (1947-2026)

 

my interview

 

actress Briza Covarrubias interviews me as we sit on the Poet's Bench. it's part of the documentary series "Aging Wildly."

not sure why but I'm unable to create a link. so if you want to see the video you either have to search You Tube or cut & paste this:

https://youtu.be/O-KMGpCCphc?si=4I49lQ_yGJcVJWWB

the first reviews are in & so far my performance has been calld "energetic" & "flamboyant." at this stage of life I'll take that.

when I wrote letters

 last nite I startd looking thru old files in search of something. this morning I kept on. I still haven't found that something but I'm finding so much more.

there's a file of my copies of letters -- most from 50 or more years ago. I humbly admit to being a great letter writer in the day. & I think I kept copies hoping that after I'm gone some bright young thing will edit a volume of them. & not because I'm any kind of celebrity but that I've been what I think it was Bryan Borland who calld me this -- a "culture witness."  I've been there when so many historic moments happend. or simply when important figures were doing important things. I mean I saw David Hockney paint & Dale Chihuly blow glass & Jean-Claude van Itallie write.

soooooo.... I was reading this 1971 letter to Frank Oatman & thot of being that culture witness. I know some accuse me of being a name dropper. I prefer to agree with Maggie Anderson who wrote that I document my life & in so doing "everything matters." so I'm offering this section of that letter to Frank because all these years later it feels like I was writing history. it was a rich time in the life of a lad still in his 20s. also -- if you haven't heard I have this great book out now calld "A Litter of Lists." & this is a list. yes I've been doing it forever.

_________________________________________________________

in New York for a week wrapped in a resplendent quilt of happenings:

        eating hash brownies with john ashbery (with whom we stayed) before going out for my birthday dinner

        listening to jean-claude at his new westbeth apartment read from his indian journal about his trip to conquer fear

        coming upon djuna barnes in all her elegant oldness strolling up & down w. 10th in front of patchin place

        lunching with lois wilson at sardi's

        discovering rauschenberg in a soft brown leather jacket at warhol's opening

        dining with henry van dyke at casey's before he took us on a mad spree of friends' apartments & village bars   touching edges with lindsay patterson   axel de knight   james coco

        gazing at the swing which hangs from the ceiling of harvey quaytman's loft

        watching john perreault argue with ira joel haber outside max's

local arts festival

a city-wide event calld XOXO. many offerings of music & theater & art. one artist transformd a whole building into a wild art happening to which I was invitd to read poems.

& some of my writing was on display as well as a piece from my art series "Circles."

one for the memory book

 

20 years ago I was the first poet to read at Palm Springs Art Museum. I began a series which ended with Anne Waldman. since then I've given some readings at galleries in town. but yesterday was a major addition to my list.

my friend & neighbor Michelle Fiore is an opera singer. she did a concert at the legendary Plaza Theater & askd some friends to perform with her.

let me tell you how historic this venue is. it opend in 1936 with the premiere of "Camille." the story is that Garbo slippd in unnoticed to watch the screening. later it became home to radio broadcasts of Bob Hope & Jack Benny. & then came the popular "Palm Springs Follies." 

after that closed its use was limitd & it became shabby. but some locals felt it needed to be saved & a 2-year $34 million restoration took place.

as far as I know I'm the first poet to read from that storied stage since it's reopening. it was thrilling to feel the response of an audience of 500. & makes me proud to be a part of the history of Palm Springs.