snail mail

I confess. I don't write letters anymore. it was an activity which I loved. many of my antique epistles are among my papers at Kent State -- along with thousands of letters from others. but now it's all e-mail. so when I open my mailbox if I have anything it's bills & adverts.

however in the past 2 days I've been surprisd by 2 packages. first from Philadelphia came Jim Cory's new book:



(as a boastful aside let me note there's a Gildzen blurb on the back cover.)

then from Brooklyn came a package from Ira Joel Haber which included this original work:



this receiving brought back memories of pre-computer days when I hung on the postman's visit. & it made me feel warm to be rememberd by friends.

pennies from heaven: part 2 (the leaving)

Rm 215
Coral Sands
Hollywood
23 aug 10
      under bed

Gallery
“Colossal Statue of Tutankhamun”
Denver Art Museum
12 sept 10
      on bench

Inn Exile
Palm Springs
5 nov 10
      on top of pyramid fountain

Westlawn Cemetery
Santa Monica
19 nov 10
      on Glenn Ford’s grave

Blue Moon
Las Vegas
Xmas 10
      on top of grotto

Forecourt
San Diego Museum of Art
21 jan 11
      under Alexander Calder sculpture

Bush St. entrance
Chinatown
San Francisco
5 mar 11
      in mouth of dragon

429 Winckles St.
Elyria
10 apr 11
      at base of David Meredith’s yellow rose

Walk of Fame
Hollywood Blvd.
1 may 11
      on Lois Wilson’s star

Scottsdale Mall
27 may 11
      in pool

near Kelso Dunes
11 jun 11
      under sand at base of cactus

thx for the comment Mike

before

lunching in Baker Gary & I stoppd in Kelso. this town is even smaller. its only attraction is a restored train station. inside is a small museum. when I saw the horse saddle I cdn't resist.

Baker

is a hamlet in the middle of nowhere. but it has 3 attractions:

the world's largest thermometer

Bun Boy Motel

Mad Greek Cafe.

it was in the latter that I saw a man with a leg tattoo of Boris Karloff. I askd him if I cd photograph it.



I'm not the biggest fan of tatts. but I do subscribe to cinemaphilia. you may recall my posting a Carol Borland tattoo some 5 years ago. perhaps someone has a Lon Chaney or Vincent Price to add to my collection of fan flesh.

over the weekend

Darryl Grimm wd've had his 61st birthday. so Gary & I went to the Mojave Desert. we toastd him at lunch at one of his favorite places -- the quirky Mad Greek Cafe in Baker CA.

Mrs. Weiner

with the media swirling around Huma I wish Anne Bancroft were still around to introduce her to Uma Thurman.

snake

I confess. that's one creature I dislike. over the years they've made cameo appearances on my property. just now I was watering in front of the house & voila.... a small one slitherd by.

smoke gets in yr eyes

once again I woke in the middle of the nite. this time I felt the beginnings of a sore throat. & again the house was tightly closed.

the smoke from the Wallow fire in Arizona has made life uncomfortable. but I really worry abt its toll on birds & wildlife.

can it be?

my high school graduation was 50 years ago today...

still no rain

as our drought drones on
& Arizona gifts us with more smoke

Rita took this yesterday: the 1st wearing of the Jimmy Poyer belt buckle from the Heard.

a tale of 2 dales

sculpture (purchasd in Scottsdale) & plant (grown from leaf brought back from Fort Lauderdale)

speaking of big

Quinton Aaron

smokey

nearest fire is outside Taos. so it's surprising that the pollution we're experiencing is coming in from a fire in Arizona.

the big & the small

too much press coverage:

NJ gov in tux

&

Weiner's weiner

Marilyn

today is her 85th birthday

Fanizani Akuda (1932-2011)

on sat we went to Zuva Gallery. there Regina & I were admiring a piece by Fanizani. we both own works of his. the gallery director informd us he died 3 months ago.



of all the Shona sculptors he had the wiliest sense of humor.

Binkley's

here we are at this amazing restaurant with the hot appetizer course:



I'm having figs with port-glazd pork belly & mulberries. Regina has a goose egg with osso bucco ragout.

& here is Regina's dessert -- fruit with sweet garnishes & an atmospheric fog.



mine was probably the richest mousse I've ever had.

amuse-bouche

one of the delights of fine dining is this little gift from the chef.

Regina drove me to Cave Creek for a tasting dinner at Binkley's. between the courses were several of these wondrous wee gifts. & since this chef has such a sense of humor this particular amuse-bouche was quite the stitch.



this has got to be the tiniest sloppy joe ever made. & the fact that it's a sloppy joe between such elegant courses as roastd figs & ivory salmon en papillote is a salute to the whimsy of chef Kevin Binkley.

playing a theremin

at Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix:



& with my big sis Regina at Arizona Biltmore:

begging for a caption

active ayem

fertilizing pines
&
digging up gopher holes

Rapture

the wonderful thing abt today's ascent of the evangelicals is that will sweep out a large percentage of whackadoddles from Congress.

the death

of tenor Bob Flanigan of the Four Freshmen sent me to my scrapbooks. here's a photo I took of the group at the Lorain County Fair in summer of 1956:

politics

provides endless comedy. but the last week has been especially fun as the GOP continues to eat its own. just yesterday we heard Republicans call Gingrich nasty & Santorum dumb.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Arnold Schwarzenegger singing their new duet from "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Forum"...

"Everybody ought to have a maid! Everybody ought to have a working girl!"

Charles Michel on Facebook

no more

Robin Hood in Kent

art talk

Nancy Holt at Santa Fe Art Institute this afternoon

the other Keaton

Michael is being honord this weekend with a retrospective

the Blogger meltdown

validates my fears that what the internet gives it can take away. it appears that all this blog lost was its last posting but it doesn't make me feel confident. not sure what pangs I'd suffer if this longtime project simply disappeard.

my poetics

it's 1934 & Helen Morgan faces the cameras at Paramount. it's a small part in a small film. she sings "When He Comes Home to Me." wearing her signature black gown she holds a sort of kerchief in her right hand. as she sings the fingers of her left hand poke & prod the material.

that's what happens in a poem.

happy hundred Eric

diehard Broadway fans will remember Eric Brotherson for creating the role of Henry Spofford in the musical "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

I first saw him on stage as Horace to the Dolly of Dorothy Lamour when that bus & truck company came to Akron. & afterward my partner & I hung out with him & the boys of the chorus at the local gay bar.

Brotherson's film credits were few & minor. but I do think of him from time to time & was surprisd to learn that today wd be his 100th birthday.

"Without Further Ado Annie"

      can't say

but trying
rends mouth
mends rip
ends gall

      no

via Facebook

I learnd of today's memorial service for Oakley Hall III. somehow I'd missd notice of his death 3 months ago.

several years ago I postd my photo of him when he came to town for a film festival.

Dana Wynter (1931-2011)

Martin Heinrich campaigns for Senate

celebrating his fourth

the neighbors gather again
to fete Cinco

Marian Mercer (1935-2011)

TCM festival

at Vanity Fair opening nite party with Margaret O'Brien & Randal Malone


Barbara Rush / Dickie Moore / Jane Powell / George Chakiris


Eva Marie Saint / Alexis Gershwin / Leslie Caron


Roger Corman

Peter O'Toole at Grauman's

Joe Mantegna receives his star on Walk of Fame

story & video

Gregory Peck stamp

spent a long weekend in LA. began with a too quick visit with old friend Bill Berger.

before he droppd me off in Hollywood we stoppd at the Academy of Arts & Sciences for the unveiling of the newest postage stamp. the actor's family & some friends & former co-stars were there. Sharon Stone was the inept emcee of the formal program. Billy took this picture of one of the speakers -- Laura Dern.

"flying home"

the woman beside me
brought her grandfather on board
& slid him under
the seat in front of her

she was afraid to leave
his ashes in the overhead

"Reading the world as a Carolyn Jones movie"

rabbit on bike trail
beside apartments
where someone was murderd

road where
a president passd
train a poet rode

is this language
or history
theory or philosophy?

strain of tomes
too fat
to take on vacation

hares on back
of neck
end up in stew

puffy boudoir lamp
softens
fuzzy pink camisole

"Just say you
love me. You
don't have to mean it."

Phoebe Snow (1952-2011)

little by little

our past disappears.

I remember feeling sad when on a return visit to Kent State University I saw my dorm -- Stopher Hall -- a pile of rubble. more recently Jerry's Diner disappeard. now word arrives of the coming demolition of the Robin Hood.

when I began studies at Kent this was a charming upscale restaurant where I'd brunch when my parents came to visit. years later it turnd into a bar that servd mean New England ice teas.

in 1986 I took this picture of Joe Walsh in the Homecoming parade. the building behind his Cadillac is the Robin Hood.

I've always

been a Judy fan but don't consider myself a Judy fanatic (there's a difference).

however when I think abt it I suspect I've seen "The Wizard of Oz" more than any other film & listend to "Judy at Carnegie Hall" more than any other album.

50th anniversary

murderd brothers

"Dateline" tonite told the story of the Kissel brothers who were separately murderd. this material had alredy been presentd in a telefilm as well as books.

it got me to wondering why similar attention hasn't come to the Rodriquez brothers of Santa Fe. in 1996 teacher Noah Rodriguez was murderd by a young gang member. less than 2 years later his brother Herman was murderd in a case which has never been fully told.

I servd on the board of our local AIDS organization with Herman who had been a Santa Fe County Commisioner (appointd by Gov. Gary Johnson who yesterday announcd he was running for president).

this is the only picture I have with Herman. the quality is lacking because it's copied from the Santa Fe Cares newsletter which I editd. that's Herman (with glasses & tie) on the left & me on the right.



I still think someone cd write a hell of a book abt these tragedies.

don't know who

makes up this stuff but I read in the morning paper that april is "national stress awareness month." really? & do I need to be made aware of living with stress?

a while ago I postd a cover of one of my books which artist Craig Lucas "doctord" -- adding color lines to a batch of covers.

the other day I found this in a book catalog. it's one of the covers Mary Ann Begland did for my 1976 chapbook Swimming. she paintd some 190 covers by hand. that must be some kind of record.

pierogies for lunch

next year is the centennial of Cleveland's West Side Market. a book is being editd for the event. looking for material to submit I made a tasty discovery. in Ohio Triangle I have a poem calld "West Side Market." it mentions pierogies. my WSM entries for both "The Century Dimes" & "The Book of Java" mention pierogies. I found this 1999 photo of me at the market:



I'm buying pierogies.

so of course I had to fix some for lunch.

behind the thumb

is Bruce Hornsby
& in the white shirt his guitarist Doug Derryberry
(also famous as a producer)
at the Lensic

Michael Sarrazin (1940-2011)

memories of Craig

while it's sad to take in the death of a friend I was happy to find this site. here are both a stream of wonderful pictures of Craig Lucas which I'd never seen as well as loving tribute from his colleagues & students.

wanna feel old?

Peter Billingsley turns 40 today

Paul Kirby (1941-2011)

every tuesday nite for almost 5 years I've gone out to dinner with a group of guys. altho the cast changes from time to time some have been regulars from even before I joind.

Paul was one of the group when I came on board. I met him on my first visit to Ten Thousand Waves -- the Japanese spa just outside town. he told me he'd been an actor/model in another life & even had a short tenure as the Marlboro Man.



the last time I saw Paul was at the grocery store across the arroyo maybe 2 months ago. he carried an oxygen tank.

pruning

did some
before
winds got fierce

"Akran"

found this little clip from Richard Myers' 1968 film. it goes by so fast I'm not sure I'm in any of this footage. I do remember being in the bus sequence & I think a section done at one of the seedier Kent bars.

Cleveland China

some years ago Mom bought these at a neighbor's garage sale.



I'd never heard of the company but like all things Cleveland so brought them home. my initial research yields little. apparently a Clevelander by the name of George H. Bowman was an exporter of porcelain who sold to department stores between 1890 & 1930. Cleveland China items sell on ebay from time to time.

Smitty's

John Burroughs took this of me at the Elyria landmark after we had perch dinners.

back

from visiting mom in Ohio.

we had a great time together but boy do I loathe the transportation part of travel. on landing at Cleveland Hpkins I experiencd my first near miss. this morning the flight to Houston was thru storm country. serious bumpage. the next leg of the trip was a wee plane in high winds with a passenger who coughd more than Camille.

even tho they're slow & expensive maybe it's time to return to trains.

happy hundred

cinemaddicts remember Gordon Jones as the first Green Hornet of film. I don't recall ever seeing that serial which also featurd the great Keye Luke as Kato.

but when I was young I was enthralld with a sitcom calld "So This is Hollywood" which only lastd a single season. I've written before abt my affection for that show & its star Mitzi Green. her boy friend on the series was playd by Gordon Jones. he had a good career as a character actor with an abundance of credits considering he was only 52 when he died.

I hope someone puts a flower on his star on this his centennial day.

world's best cinnamon roll

at Counter Culture yesterday Michael Thomas took this with his phone. up in the corner my fingers wait to begin the devouring.

Mamie Deschillie (1920-2010)

I was taking friends around town this morning & stoppd in at Rainbow Man where I always show guests the work of my favorite Native American folk artist Mamie Deschillie.



while chatting I askd one of the people who work there how old Mamie was & learnd that she died 4 months ago.

altho I only met her once I have 2 wonderful pieces of hers (both are cowboys on horses). she had a playful eye.

a Lucas cover

in 1981 Catcher Press brought out Skins   a chapbook of my found text poems   in an edition of abt 250 copies. Craig did the cover but wasn't happy with the quality of the printing. so he handpaintd a number of covers. I don't know how many he did by hand but this appears to be the only one of those I still have.

Craig Lucas (1941-2011)

when I moved into my house on Morris Rd in 1980 Craig gave me this graphite & pastel piece as a housewarming present. today it's in my livingroom.

O.K. OK

along the Verdigris River
in Oklahoma
597 people
live in a town
calld Okay