early spring

a sweet friend sent me these shirts to cheer me up.

my heart sings.

update

"Dad's Last Garden"

on my last trip to Boston

I went to Brandeis for the 1st time. I specifically wantd to see the surrealism show at Rose Art Museum.

this morning I read that the university announcd this week that it will close the museum & sell its collection of 6000 pieces.

staggering news for the art world.

of course there is fury on that campus & perhaps something can be done to stop such dramatic action. but its very suggestion is stunningly depressing at a moment in our history when depression is as common as salmonella.

beet juice & cocoa powder

some of the ingredients for

red velvet cake.

in other words

happy birthday Bob.

howlerama

our spring weather got whackd today when winds lowerd our temps. this is my weekly boys nite out & I'm putting on a sweater & winter jacket.

my year of stress & sorrow

continues to manifest itself with dark dreams. mostly abt Dad suffering.

the liberation of my cheese

on his blog Tom Beckett confesses.

food & art

"Intake" is a new project of Kimberly Nichols. I was honord that she askd me to contribute.

a gig at GiG

Larry Mitchell


Joel Fadness

picture Barbara Stanwyck on a Blackberry

go back to "Sorry Wrong Number." it's her big scene. suddenly a sound. it isn't vibrating. it isn't the opening chords of a pop tune. it's loud. it's clear. it's a telephone.



film freezes time. I love the now   the new. but as I approach my last act there's a comfort that comes from the past. when I hear telephones or see runningboards or experience any number of adventures obliterartd by technology I almost tingle.

lying-in

there's a scene in "The Other Boleyn Girl" in which a pregnant woman takes to bed to insure a safe delivery.

altho it's hardly customary for me   I have performd a variation of that with poem pangs. after all these decades I still have little comprehension of the birthing of poems. but recently something was happening that I knew wd be a poem. so I stretchd out on the couch & closd my eyes till it workd its way out.

lifting the funk

it seems Richard that we all are balancing the peaks & valleys. if we hold hands maybe we won't all fall at the same time.

"Hunting for Bess Flowers"

she’s everywhere

Chaplin unwrappd her
Wilder gave her a notepad
Hitchcock a poodle

Bess drank more cocktails
than anyone in film
she dined at Sardi’s & Ernie’s
danced for Mitchell Leisen & Bobby Lewis

I’ve been spotting her
for half a century

* * *



where in The Cantos
is her walk-on?

surely no extra
was ever as “trim-coifed”

* * *

Bess’ place
is Hollywood

so I can’t
find her in
Paterson or
The Maximus Poems

* * *



Alexander Mackendrick put
Bess in Toots Shor’s

so she cd’ve been
in Lunch Poems

O’Hara
mentions “Swingtime”
but names Ginger
not Bess

* * *

Dorn daren’t
put her in Slinger

too gay

* * *

so far
I’ve only
read
500 pages
of Dillinger
so maybe
Moore
has used
Bess

* * *

I confess
I confuse
movies & poems

* * *
put her snippets
together

a bouquet
whose aroma permeates
my life

new chapbook

my Elizabeth Short pieces from Green Panda Press (3174 Berkshire Rd. Cleveland OH 44118)

1 & 44

I took both of these last year.

on the eve of history

I already postd what was probably the most important photograph from my first trip to Washington.

but with all the televiewing I've been doing these days this one came to mind & means the most to me. I was 13 & my father photographd me in front of the Lincoln statue.

painting walls

1st time I've seen Obama in jeans

watching

the Lincoln Memorial inaugural concert I was struck by a moment of symbolism.

footage was shown of Marian Anderson's historic concert. & then the song she sang was then sung by the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington.

inaugural weekend

the part of me that functions as witness to history wants to be in Washington these next 4 days. but the part of me that's getting older finds the prospect of standing in the cold with 2 million people a daunting task.

at least I did attend an inauguration -- the first Clinton one.



as a matter of history I think the Obama inauguration may be the most important since Kennedy's. but -- regardless of history's final verdict on Clinton -- I have no regrets abt being there. at least I have one inauguration under my belt. & that whole weekend was pretty amazing. the outdoor concert with Diana Ross swooping on stage in a huge red gown. the fireworks that nite. the tents on the mall where you cd hear Peter Paul & Mary or the Staple Singers. & of course that moment of the swearing in.



then the parade. not only the new president & members of his party but also Chief Justice Rehnquist & recently disgraced Ted Stevens.



it was a moment in history & I was right there.

from the archives

I always felt this was a lovely shot of Mom. & I like the way snapshots of that day were printd with borders.