my Palm Springs

from Facebook:

 upon returning from sunday breakfast with the guys at Billy Reed's I opend social media & found the press conference abt yesterday's bombing. our wonderful police chief Andy Mills askd us to support our community by posting something positive abt it.

it's difficult for me to post "something" when there are so many "somethings." I came here 9 years years ago after visiting for some 20 years. I wantd a place that wd nurture my creativity as well as to be comfortable for my last chapter. I've found community here people who respect me as poet/artist. I've also found a sort of liberation which allows the goofy side of me to come out & play. sure I've taken some guff from stuffy sorts who don't like my poses. but I keep doing them. I enjoy walking the city. I try to support those institutions that enrich my life -- museums theaters art galleries performance centers. I indulge in our restaurants & bakeries. & then I have my quiet time on my patio sipping coffee & writing & talking to my animal pals.

the chief suggestd we post a photo of our favorite place. another tough choice to make. but I want to share the public art piece I did with Emeline Tate. it's calld the Poets Bench. it means a great deal to me. it puts my words out there to be read by people who may not read much poetry. it's "public art." I embrace that. just like I embrace Palm Springs.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10161697866497686&set=a.35826132685

day trip

 on the yellow brick road at Salvation Mountain 

yesterday

 was my birthday & I gave a reading at a local gallery.  can't recall exactly when I gave my first reading but I suspect it was some 60 years go. this reading was poems abt art & artists done in chronological order beginning with a poem from 1962.

photo by Tammy Taylor

reflection

 last nite I saw a documentary abt Peter Bogdanovich. it brought back a pleasant memory. some years ago I was in the lobby of the Hollywood Roosevelt & saw the director standing alone. it hadn't been long after seeing the restoration of "The Last Picture Show." so I went up to him & told him I'd seen it & that the crisp print was beautiful & that I really enjoyd it.

he seemd pleasd. he smiled & askd "it holds up?"  & I was happy to report it certainly did.

thinking abt that lovely moment produced a rush of encounters with film directors. I've seen Hitchcock & Wilder    Welles & Fellini   Altman & Godard.  I've chattd with Truffant   been driven thru the Hollywood hills by Sam Fuller   been a movie date of James Bridges.

I recount all this not to boast but to fill with joy at my good luck. I've had one hell of a life. I've loved the movies since I was little. so I've not only gone out to attend screenings but have shared time/space with the people who made the films I love.

Speedo Cross Series

some swimsuits die. their elastic can limpen. or fabric stretch to the point where one's equipment  no longer snuggles. when this happens I usually toss the garments. however I found in 2 separate places I'd saved a pair of former favorites I suspect to eventually use for art. & today was that day.

I think I wore the purple pair when I was flirting with Rick Wilson at Jerome Lawrence's Malibu residence ("The House That Mame Built") in 1984. the pinkish pair (which wd redden when wet) appears in a photo taken in Aruba in 1992.

I decided to cut strips from them which I then pin'd together to form crosses. I made 15.

more Desert X

at a glorious work by Kimsooja

(photo by Gary Francis)

Desert X

 every 2 years the valley gets a major showing of outdoor art.

here is Ronald Rael's "Adobe Oasis" from this year's offering.