This was on my roof. It's a crocheted cover, covering something bigger than a pumpkin (& displayed on a cloth). I confess I was afraid to poke at it.
NauenThen
Mysteries (part 1)
July 20, 2017
I don't know how to get 2 pictures into one post, so there'll be 2 today but it's really one, & I have one question: What the hell are these?!?!?!
This one was outside my office on 5th St. It is foam with some cement stuck to it. A giant drain stopper, it looks like, but what? what? what? Read More
This one was outside my office on 5th St. It is foam with some cement stuck to it. A giant drain stopper, it looks like, but what? what? what? Read More
Rachelle
July 19, 2017
My long-time neighbor & friend Rachelle Garniez is an amazing songwriter, musician, & performer. We went to see her last night at Rockwood 3, right around the corner on Orchard Street. Accompanied by a stand-up bass player & a violist, she sang a few new songs + a couple of familiar ones, with a little Mose Allison-Leonard Cohen medley in the middle. As Robyn said, Read More
25 Things About Me
July 18, 2017
Another work that turned up in my vast sweep through the vault & files.
25 Things About Me
1. I like to get fired. Time off & something better always seems to come along.
2. I’ve been to 49 states. Lately rethinking my ambition to round it out by going to Alaska.
3. No matter how many times people learn that I’m from South Dakota, they usually remember it as Read More
25 Things About Me
1. I like to get fired. Time off & something better always seems to come along.
2. I’ve been to 49 states. Lately rethinking my ambition to round it out by going to Alaska.
3. No matter how many times people learn that I’m from South Dakota, they usually remember it as Read More
Beach house!
July 17, 2017
This is on the roof of a building on my corner. You can only see it from kittycorner across the street. I once heard that the guy who built it said all his friends had houses in the Hamptons & this was as close as he could get.
It's for sale! $3.5 million. You also get Read More
It's for sale! $3.5 million. You also get Read More
Notes on being a Jew/Jewish writer
July 16, 2017
This piece, published probably 20 years ago, resurfaced & (unsurprisingly) still has many of my concerns & thoughts.
Notes on being a Jew/Jewish writer: the start of my questions
(one Jew, six opinions—old joke)
“To be Jewish is to have left home early and arrived nowhere.”
—Edmund Jabes
I am a Jew because Read More
Notes on being a Jew/Jewish writer: the start of my questions
(one Jew, six opinions—old joke)
“To be Jewish is to have left home early and arrived nowhere.”
—Edmund Jabes
I am a Jew because Read More
Jack Collom: Poetry Everywhere
July 14, 2017
Sad to learn about the death of poet Jack Collom out in Colorado where he had lived for many decades. He always used to point out that he was older than Ted Berrigan, so I knew quite well he was older. I have so many memories—of him calling me late at night from Idaho, where he was teaching & lonely. He would sing & yodel & I would be half-asleep. Of going bird-watching at Jamaica Bay with Jack, Doug Oliver, & Shelley Kraut. They were birders & I had a car. Of poetry being at the center always. Of how useful his Teachers & Writers books were in every class & workshop I ever taught. How kind & encouraging & responsive he was. I hadn't talked to him much in the last couple of years, but as I've been typing up poems, I have found several with or for or about him. Read More
Jubilee year
July 12, 2017
Liza & my new scheme is for there to be no internet every seventh year. We all get a break from email & the rest. I had that today—apparently Time Warner was out everywhere & that's my office wifi. So I couldn't know that anyone was looking for me & had a lovely few hours of typing & revising lots of poems. Read More
The Poets Play Baseball
July 11, 2017
in honor of the All-Star break:
The Poets Play Baseball
1B—Gertrude Stein
2B—Bill Luoma
SS—Hart Crane
3B—Walt Whitman
LF—W. H. Auden /Muriel Rukeyser
CF—Ron Padgett
RF—Charles Reznikoff
C—Bernadette Mayer, Elinor Nauen
Pitchers
Starters:
Charles Olson
Hoa Nguyen
Jim Behrle
Anne Waldman
Middle relief:
Alice Notley
Closer:
O’Malley (Tony Dohr, Dgl R)
General Manager: Anselm Berrigan
Manager: Edmund Berrigan
3B coach—Frank O’Hara
compiled by O’Malley, O’Malley & O’Malley Read More
The Poets Play Baseball
1B—Gertrude Stein
2B—Bill Luoma
SS—Hart Crane
3B—Walt Whitman
LF—W. H. Auden /Muriel Rukeyser
CF—Ron Padgett
RF—Charles Reznikoff
C—Bernadette Mayer, Elinor Nauen
Pitchers
Starters:
Charles Olson
Hoa Nguyen
Jim Behrle
Anne Waldman
Middle relief:
Alice Notley
Closer:
O’Malley (Tony Dohr, Dgl R)
General Manager: Anselm Berrigan
Manager: Edmund Berrigan
3B coach—Frank O’Hara
compiled by O’Malley, O’Malley & O’Malley Read More
Woody Sez
July 9, 2017
Saw a wonderful show at the Irish Rep yesterday, a revue of the life & songs of Woody Guthrie. It made clear his incisive commitment to justice & fairness, & was fun. I don't think there were any songs I didn't know.
We didn't stay for the hootenanny but maybe we'll go back one Sunday for it.
We didn't stay for the hootenanny but maybe we'll go back one Sunday for it.
Norman
July 9, 2017
It's already a few weeks since we saw this movie—I even had to look up the title. Sometimes early enthusiasm wanes & sometimes I like a movie more in retrospect. This one I guess I was indifferent to or bugged by from the start.
Richard Gere just didn't seem Jewish, & that was an essential component of his character & the world he lived in. And Steve Buscemi as a cursing, shoving, garbage-kicking rabbi?!
Could Norman really Read More
Richard Gere just didn't seem Jewish, & that was an essential component of his character & the world he lived in. And Steve Buscemi as a cursing, shoving, garbage-kicking rabbi?!
Could Norman really Read More
And for good measure, an essay regarding fireworks
July 7, 2017
Fireworks
In 2007, my birthday fell on the Chinese New Year, and for once, fireworks were legally allowed to be set off in Chinatown. What a thrill to walk just a few blocks and get both fireworks and birthday at one & the same time.
Fireworks are like birthdays. You grab ‘em as they Read More
In 2007, my birthday fell on the Chinese New Year, and for once, fireworks were legally allowed to be set off in Chinatown. What a thrill to walk just a few blocks and get both fireworks and birthday at one & the same time.
Fireworks are like birthdays. You grab ‘em as they Read More
Fireworks
July 6, 2017
We always go on the roof because we can never remember if we can or can't see the fireworks. I finally figured out, after living in the Ezra Pound for 40 years, that some years we can see them & some years we can't. Which is why we can't remember!
Last year they were down at the Seaport or out in the bay, & if we leaned out (dangerously) Read More
Last year they were down at the Seaport or out in the bay, & if we leaned out (dangerously) Read More
From the vault IX: America the Most Beautiful
July 5, 2017
America the Most Beautiful
Your Brooklyn Bridge
flung across some great water
o worthy son of our Great Wall!
Your graffiti artists
scribbling black jokes on the Mack trucks underground
o worthy sons of Mayakafka!
Your buxom women
their charms slung like rubles in a samovar
worthy daughters of the blue suede shoes! Read More
Your Brooklyn Bridge
flung across some great water
o worthy son of our Great Wall!
Your graffiti artists
scribbling black jokes on the Mack trucks underground
o worthy sons of Mayakafka!
Your buxom women
their charms slung like rubles in a samovar
worthy daughters of the blue suede shoes! Read More
Que Seurat, Seurat
July 4, 2017
Sunday in the park with Chris
I'm so frigging pleased with myself for thinking this up & then doing the (OK, primitive) photoshopping.
Chris Christie is a joke.
* Thanks to Peter Cherches for the title of today's post.
Chris Christie is a joke.
* Thanks to Peter Cherches for the title of today's post.
Homebody
July 2, 2017
I remember once, years ago, headed home & all I wanted in this life was to take my shoes off & lie on my bed. And I was struck by how that simple wish was out of reach for homeless people. I'm never not grateful for my pleasant house. I took this picture lying on the bed, Johnny and Buster asleep next to me. I'm happy whenever I remember the ecstatic fact that I will never run out of books to read. Read More
Weird couple of days
June 30, 2017
A 15th-century friend said all women are delicate. I said, Leonard, if you see me coming, you'd better step aside—a lot of men didn't & a lot of men died.
We had an electrical fire. Flames! Luckily, Johnny was here & I wasn't so no screaming or fainting. (The super came by & gave us a new outlet & everything is fine.)
Maybe I am delicate.
The internet was out for two days Read More
We had an electrical fire. Flames! Luckily, Johnny was here & I wasn't so no screaming or fainting. (The super came by & gave us a new outlet & everything is fine.)
Maybe I am delicate.
The internet was out for two days Read More
Baseball Diary
June 28, 2017
Look at this beautiful book, a year's worth of the art & writing that William Fuller (who is also in the great Sacramento band Draw Pinky) put out weekly as a stapled newsletter 30 years ago. I miss the days of really great amateur work. And by amateur I mean done for love. Fancy production values just weren't possible in the 1980s, at least not for a mag like this, but the writing & art are totally great, & everyone poured so much energy & talent & excitement into this without any reward except pleasing oneself & the rest of the readership, which I suppose numbered in the hundreds or even fewer. Read More
Brooklyn
June 27, 2017
Canal Street station, where I changed to the Q.
People who live in Manhattan are required to announce their departure to another borough each & every time they go.
I went to Brooklyn.
My friend Annabel lives in a building called the Waterfall, which has a waterfall & turtle pond in front. Also, it's an elevator building.
Other than that, it was just Annabel at home, not really the Outer Boroughs. That's what they're called, though, the Outer Boroughs. Read More
I went to Brooklyn.
My friend Annabel lives in a building called the Waterfall, which has a waterfall & turtle pond in front. Also, it's an elevator building.
Other than that, it was just Annabel at home, not really the Outer Boroughs. That's what they're called, though, the Outer Boroughs. Read More
I love science
June 23, 2017
I try not to have regrets: what's the point? If I mess up, I try to make amends then leave it alone.
But I do regret my inexplicable & silly distaste for science when I was young.
I'm enthralled these days by what scientists & researchers know & come up with. MRIs in infants that can predict Read More
But I do regret my inexplicable & silly distaste for science when I was young.
I'm enthralled these days by what scientists & researchers know & come up with. MRIs in infants that can predict Read More
Laughing all the way to Oslo
June 22, 2017
Johnny & some of the grandkids + elder son
Last week was so hectic that I never wrote about half the stuff I did:
* Saw Kevin Kline in Present Laughter, a Noel Coward play. He plays a ham without being a ham, utterly funny & wonderfully graceful.
* Saw Tony-winner Oslo at Lincoln Center. Unfortunately, we were in the very last row & it was both cramped & at times hard to hear, so the play felt a little too long. The best part was when people burst out with their most deeply held beliefs & you felt like this (Israeli-Palestinian conflict) never could be resolved. But the hope (no matter how things turned out later) was wonderful & seeing negotiation in action illuminating.
* Father's Day with Sean & his 3 wonderful kids.
* Lots of classes & work & reading & my sister's visit. Read More
* Saw Kevin Kline in Present Laughter, a Noel Coward play. He plays a ham without being a ham, utterly funny & wonderfully graceful.
* Saw Tony-winner Oslo at Lincoln Center. Unfortunately, we were in the very last row & it was both cramped & at times hard to hear, so the play felt a little too long. The best part was when people burst out with their most deeply held beliefs & you felt like this (Israeli-Palestinian conflict) never could be resolved. But the hope (no matter how things turned out later) was wonderful & seeing negotiation in action illuminating.
* Father's Day with Sean & his 3 wonderful kids.
* Lots of classes & work & reading & my sister's visit. Read More
Appreciated
June 21, 2017
Look what got delivered! It's a thank-you from the Poetry Project's staff & board for my 22 years on the board, which concluded last week. That's almost half of the Project's 50-year existence, & now that there's term limits, I may well be the longest-serving board member ever.
I helped choose two directors & raised a lot of money this our 50th year. I signed checks, entirely because I live the closest to the Project office. I was Treasurer & not only avoided ever once making a (required annual) report, was so nervous that I mostly didn't open the statements from the financial people. I was the bad cop when we negotiated a contentious lease. I was the first person in years to vote against a motion, which impressed Steve Hamilton no end.
I'm sad/glad glad/sad to be finished. Read More
I helped choose two directors & raised a lot of money this our 50th year. I signed checks, entirely because I live the closest to the Project office. I was Treasurer & not only avoided ever once making a (required annual) report, was so nervous that I mostly didn't open the statements from the financial people. I was the bad cop when we negotiated a contentious lease. I was the first person in years to vote against a motion, which impressed Steve Hamilton no end.
I'm sad/glad glad/sad to be finished. Read More
Where we read now
June 20, 2017
Meltzer Park.
From the street, Meltzer Park isn't that appealing. It's mostly paved & the benches are fixed in blocks. But inside, it's cool, breezy, shaded, & empty. Also, it's a block away. This is where we'll spend the summer reading poetry.
We started with Inger Christensen's wonderful Alphabet, but I'd lost our place and left it at work, so we decided to spend time with A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad. I'd thought he was pretty but he's sophisticated in his rhymes & deep (in a youthful but hard-charging way) in his philosophy. He is considered to be one of the greatest scholars in history (true?) & he was in love with a schoolmate, who was heterosexual but they remained lifelong friends, which seems to be rather mellow for the Victorian era. But what do I know. Read More
We started with Inger Christensen's wonderful Alphabet, but I'd lost our place and left it at work, so we decided to spend time with A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad. I'd thought he was pretty but he's sophisticated in his rhymes & deep (in a youthful but hard-charging way) in his philosophy. He is considered to be one of the greatest scholars in history (true?) & he was in love with a schoolmate, who was heterosexual but they remained lifelong friends, which seems to be rather mellow for the Victorian era. But what do I know. Read More
The road to Wigan Pier
June 19, 2017
Half a description of working-class life in northern England in the 1930s, & very grim it was; half an explanation of & plea for socialism. Orwell's prose is serviceable, his ideas sometimes wrong & often prescient, as in:
To a political climber it is sometimes an advantage not to be taken too seriously at the beginning of his career.
Is this wrong, prescient, both or neither:
The machine has got to be accepted but it is probably better to accept it rather as one accepts a drug—that is, grudgingly and suspiciously. Like a drug, the machine is useful, dangerous and habit-forming.
Other quotes from the book:
The less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food. A millionaire may enjoy breakfasting off orange juice and Ryvita biscuits; an unemployed man doesn't. Read More
To a political climber it is sometimes an advantage not to be taken too seriously at the beginning of his career.
Is this wrong, prescient, both or neither:
The machine has got to be accepted but it is probably better to accept it rather as one accepts a drug—that is, grudgingly and suspiciously. Like a drug, the machine is useful, dangerous and habit-forming.
Other quotes from the book:
The less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food. A millionaire may enjoy breakfasting off orange juice and Ryvita biscuits; an unemployed man doesn't. Read More
Gallery 440
June 18, 2017
I love Shanee's work. Always recognizable, there's a complexity of color & form that is utterly appealing. We bought a collage at her last show that's on our kitchen wall. I still look at it often (you know how you get used to your surroundings & rarely see things after a while—sadly, that includes messes as well as art). This show was more colorful & less abstract. We went for the gallery talk: 4 artists discussing methods, inspiration, intention. Read More
"One (1) rider per bug"
June 16, 2017
Insect love.
There weren't a lot of adults on the Bug Carousel. We were reminded of going on a carousel in D.C. a few years ago, all us siblings, a carousel that took off at such a high rate of speed that it scared/nauseated all of us. This one was way more sedate. You can't see it but I'm on a grasshopper & Vee on a, well, some other bug. Read More
Bronx Zoo
June 15, 2017
I'd never been to the Bronx Zoo. Wasn't so sure I wanted to, but my visiting sister did, so up we went. Wow, the best park in New York City. Gorgeous grounds, buildings, exhibits. (Signage, maps, & food choices, not so much.) Definitely going back.
Whew
June 15, 2017
I will catch up but this week was crazy. A couple of really hot days, then tickets to two shows, a visit from my sister, & my office only this minute (noon on Thursday) done with all the work that has kept me from working here undisturbed for 3 weeks, & at all for 3 days.
Good wife
June 11, 2017
Organic eggs with smoked cheddar made by the Amish. From the greenmarket.
Whole grain health toast from Bread Alone.
Asparagus & tomatoes, artfully arranged.
My biennial cooking venture.
Whole grain health toast from Bread Alone.
Asparagus & tomatoes, artfully arranged.
My biennial cooking venture.