I can't stop thinking about this movieI watched last weekend, Mr Hulot's Holiday.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Air Travel: 11
Chapter 81
In fact, upon returning to hovering
over land, he descended and parked
his boat beside a lamppost on the shore.
Chapter 82
He tossed the rope around the pole
and hopped out. Five minutes later,
he returned with a bouquet of daisies,
it was a present for the ghost.
Chapter 83
His house was fluttering all its big
and little sails on the invisible walls.
He could see his rocking chair going,
though by the time he tied his boat to
the tree and turned to look again,
the chair was still as a painting.
Chapter 84
He never had any trouble with the ghost.
He only noticed it passing a few times
in the day. Sometimes he wondered if
it was giving him dreams, when he saw places
from long ago where he had never been.
Chapter 85
He made sort of a big show as he entered.
“Hello!” he called. He walked slowly like a
deep sea diver. “I brought you a present…
I want to say thank you…”
Chapter 86
Albert stopped in the kitchen and listened.
Nothing. He reached into an invisible cupboard
and took down a vase. He reached for the
invisible faucet on the invisible sink and filled
the vase with water.
Chapter 87
The house was still quiet. He settled
the flowers into the invisible water
and held it up to the air.
Chapter 88
“I just wanted to say thanks for scaring off
that fish…I guess it was getting on everyone’s
nerves…” Nothing happened. “I don’t know if
you like flowers, I don’t know what ghosts like.”
Chapter 89
Nearby, someone laughed and someone else,
closer to Albert said, “We’re not ghosts.”
Chapter 90
Albert stood there and listened to them.
“This used to be our house,” another unseen said.
“We didn’t want to leave,” said a girl’s voice.
Chapter 91
“Ohhh,” Albert said, figuring it out,
“You’re from The Invisible City…”
Someone corrected him,
“It’s only invisible to you.”
Chapter 92
“You’re not ghosts?” Albert stumbled on.
A laugh, “That’s what you people call us.”
From the sounds of their voices, there were
four of them. Albert asked, “You’re a family?”
“That’s right.”
Chapter 93
Albert sat in his rocking chair. On the table
where the fish used to be were the flowers.
Outside, which was all around him, leaves
were blowing, falling and swirling on the
jagged grass, rain was hissing, the yellow trees
were bending and waving.
Chapter 94
“I lost my job,” Norman Withers told him.
“We ran into some hard times. We lost
the house. We had nowhere to go.
What were we supposed to do?
So we stayed with the house.”
Chapter 95
“We didn’t think you would notice us,”
said Doris. “We tried to be quiet.”
Her children were near her, Albert
could hear them too.
Chapter 96
So there was an invisible family
in his invisible house. Now that he knew,
it was better. He let them have their rooms back.
They could live the way they were used to.
Chapter 97
He tried to give them space.
He had a little room in the attic,
a bed and a light, creaking floorboards…
basically Albert Roselli became a ghost.
to be continued...Next, Part 3: The Bees
Drawings by Rustle
'listen, talk, walk
every tries
out of this world'
Photos of birch trees taken at my job
Annotated Air Travel:
1. If you drive across Lake Washington,
you may notice the floating bridge is
named after governor Albert Rosellini.
2. Here is Rustle's complete
knock-knock joke:
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Air Travel: 10
Chapter 71
He had been aware of this sound in the house,
a sound without a visible source, he could only
assume it was a ghost. His invisible house
was haunted.
Chapter 72
After sharing the house with Albert for
weeks (relaxing like a television image
in a pool of clear sea water that Albert replaced
twice a day, with gourmet minced kelp to eat)
it took this quiet October morning for the fish
to finally notice the ghost too.
Chapter 73
“Albert!”
He opened his eyes.
“What’s that noise?”
Albert sat and listened to the ghost
turning pages.
Chapter 74
“There’s a spook in your house!”
“Yes,” Albert told the fish. “I know.”
And then something miraculous
occurred. The fish chimed,
“I want out of here!”
Chapter 75
On the journey back to the sea,
the fish went on and on about it.
“That’s one thing we don’t have to
put up with in the ocean. If there’s
any ghosts, the tide takes care of them
and washes them away.”
Chapter 76
The October wind was picking up
and it was hard rowing but even
the cold blowing couldn’t drown out
that fish’s talking.
Chapter 77
Albert stopped in the same place
that used to be lucky for him,
the bed of brown kelp leaves.
Chapter 78
The sea parrot was back in the bucket
waving its fins. It took its own little white
cast off—that’s how much a hurry it was in.
Albert lifted the bucket by rope and began
to lower it hand over hand.
Chapter 79
The sea parrot was going in reverse,
taking the exact opposite journey
on a line back to the water, hopefully
for forever.
Chapter 80
He let the bucket sink into a wave,
he could see the fish flap out and
blur away into the murkiness, then
he pulled the fresh weight of water
back up again. It was heavy but to
Albert it felt so much lighter.
to be continued...
(Ghost with Fish picture by Rustle)
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Air Travel: 9
Chapter 62
Waking up was rough.
As soon as the night began to fade
into dawn, the sea parrot’s voice
would turn on like an alarm.
Chapter 63
“Albert…Mister Roselli…” He could
hear his name being thrown at him.
He was a floor away but it didn’t matter.
Chapter 64
He opened his eyes. The day was
a dull colored clay. He had to get up.
Chapter 65
Yes, he thought of draping a cloth
over the fish tank, the way people do
with their canaries at night,
but the sea parrot wouldn’t allow it.
It wanted natural light. It was an
early bird.
Chapter 66
And as long as it stayed in his house,
slowly mending, Albert couldn’t go fishing.
He had to take another job to make ends
meet. He made origami. He got paid
by the swan.
Chapter 67
Albert had been making them for years.
It wasn’t difficult work. He could make them
in his sleep. And it paid. Believe it or not,
there was always a demand.
Chapter 68
So he was lucky to have this job.
After all, there couldn’t be too many
people making an origami living.
Chapter 69
After he fed the sea parrot, Albert sat down
in the rocking chair. He pulled the blanket
over his legs and closed his eyes. Sometimes
the fish let him sleep for a while. Listen to
the popping sound of the fish eating and
the creaking of the slow rocking chair
levitated in the middle of a dark early morning.
Chapter 70
While he was half awake, Albert also heard
the movement of something else. It was
prickly, like a ball of newspaper blown
gently across the floor.
to be continued...
(Photo of fake origami taken today
in woods where this novel ended.
The leaf below is also from there.)
unmurked display
Regarding W.W.U library's Special Collections displayfeaturing a selection of my publications, a certain
prominent Seattle composer of horror films found
the photo on the previous post to be "murky"
so here's a better look:
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Air Travel: 8
Chapter 54
Anyway, a year ago or so
he bought a house there
and towed it back to the yard
where he parked his boat.
Chapter 55
Back then, when the house
settled down, crushing a big square
into the grass, he was a little worried.
Chapter 56
With a ladder, he went all around
the invisible corners of it, wrapping it
with a rope. It did look weird to see
a lasso in the air holding nothing.
Chapter 57
Then he hung flags, clothes and rags
so nobody would run into the house.
That also gave the house a sound,
when there was wind.
Chapter 58
He didn’t have to worry about
animals running into the house.
They seemed to know it was there.
Chapter 59
Birds would fly around it,
bees would veer on their paths
to flowers.
Chapter 60
For him, there were some things
to get used to—knowing the rooms,
doorways and invisible stairs…
Chapter 61
Sleeping was easy though.
High off the ground, being in bed
it was just like floating along in his boat.
to be continued...(House pictures by Rustle)
library displays
Western Washington University's
Wilson Library is featuring
a selection of my donated books
in Special Collections Display Case #1:
"Allen is the author of five published books.
Meanwhile in the shroudy world of self publishing
he has 32 novels, 50 poem/story collections,
a book of essays and a partridge in a pear tree."
Special Collections is privileged to be home to most
of these one-of-a-kind specimens.
Meanwhile, I made a display for
one of my favorite authors Philip K. Dick:
Monday, November 14, 2011
Air Travel: 7
Part 2: INVISIBLE SPACE
Chapter 48
About a year ago he went to
The Invisible City. It wasn’t much
to look at, you might not know
it was there.
Chapter 49
From his boat in the air
it was trees and gardens
planted in lines and squares
with patches of dirt where
buildings were. Streets were
scratched into the soil.
Chapter 50
When he lingered over
a baseball diamond, the ball
hit his boat.
Chapter 51
You could hear things happening.
Maybe that was a better name for it,
The City of Sound.
Chapter 52
He went there for bargains,
things he couldn’t afford back home.
They had a different rate of exchange.
Chapter 53
Strange that he never tried fishing
in their lakes, rivers or streams.
Then again, what would he do
with an invisible fish?
to be continued...
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Air Travel: 6
Chapter 36
“Okay!” the man said. “I’ll take you
back to my house and repair your
broken fin.” He lifted the sea parrot
and put it into the bucket, pulling
some seaweed over to protect it
from the overcast light of day.
Chapter 37
“Wait a minute!” the fish brayed.
“Someone’s already in here!”
Chapter 38
“Oh yeah…I forgot,” the man said.
The mackerel gave a cough and rasped,
“Don’t mind me, I’m just a forgotten fish,
left in here to die…”
Chapter 39
The sea parrot leaned out of the bucket
and shrieked at the man, “What is the
matter with you? You’ve got to get this
poor fellow back in water right away!”
Chapter 40
It was no surprise really
all the fish noise had attracted
a seagull. It landed on the bow
on the little triangle of wood.
It blinked yellow eyes,
dipped its smooth white head
towards the bucket.
Chapter 41
“That was supposed to be my lunch,”
said the man. The sea parrot choked,
“Lunch!?!” sweeping the weeds clear
from the wilting mackerel, “This fellow
probably has a family to support.”
Chapter 42
“I do,” the mackerel wheezed.
“Oh come on…” the man said.
The sea parrot wagged a fin at him,
“Imagine not being able to see your
loved ones because some barbarian
fed you a steel hook. It’s criminal!”
Chapter 43
“Don’t I know it,” sobbed the mackerel.
He gave a feeble twitch. The sea parrot
commanded, “Go on, return him!”
Chapter 44
As the mackerel flipped and glittered
through the air, the seagull yelled
and dove after the splash.
Chapter 45
“There goes my lunch,” said the man.
The sea parrot shrugged. He was
philosophical about it.
Chapter 46
There wasn’t much point lingering
in the air. The man knew it.
He stowed his fishing rod and
pushed the oars out to row
the way he had come.
Chapter 47
The water waved goodbye.
The town was awake by now,
little fires smoked out chimneys.
A dog barked up at him. He was
coming back with a broken fish.
to be continued...
Part 2: INVISIBLE SPACE
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Air Travel: 5
Chapter 30
“You’re a maniac!” the fish screeched.
“I can’t use this!” It paddled the air lamely.
“You broke my fin!”
Chapter 31
The man pictured the ocean listening.
“Just keep it down,” he said. “Don’t yell.”
“Don’t yell!” The fish sat up and gaped.
“You’re trying to kill me!”
Chapter 32
“No,” he said, flustered. “Look…
I’ll put you back.” The man moved
to scoop the sea parrot off the bench.
Chapter 33
“Oh no you don’t! I can’t return
like this! You have to fix my fin!”
Chapter 34
It was true, the man knew it.
A sea parrot could ruin him.
In no time at all, the sea would be
a newspaper. Every shrimp, crab
and whale would know the story.
Chapter 35
If that happened, he would have to
row his boat to a desert somewhere
and make a living sifting sand.
to be continued...
Air Travel: 4
Chapter 20
Sea parrots wouldn’t try
for hooks. It was bad luck that
caught it and bad luck for those
who caught them.
Chapter 21
Talk about talk!
It was like a radio
on the end of a hook.
Chapter 22
Back in the old day
before animals could talk
it was easy to kill a fish.
Just hit it with a stick.
Chapter 23
Now you had to listen
to their sad life story
some of them could really
lay it on thick. Still, if he
let them all go, he wouldn’t eat.
It was a predicament.
Chapter 24
He contemplated cutting the line
letting the sea parrot go free.
But even that could bring trouble.
Word got around.
Chapter 25
A sea parrot could carry a grudge,
track you down in the shallows
bringing along some friends
to get you back. Being a fisherman
meant accepting certain risks.
Chapter 26
The sea parrot didn’t waste any time.
The man knew it wouldn’t.
The moment he got it aboard,
the fish wagged its fin, showing him
the hook pinned to it.
Chapter 27
“Do you have any idea how this feels!”
The man sighed. He didn’t want that fish.
Anyway, they weren’t good eating.
They were all mouth.
Chapter 28
Some people kept them for companions.
Maybe he could try selling it in town.
He had seen them in jars and pans
playing the water like calliopes.
Chapter 29
He didn’t want to start a conversation,
he lay the fish on the bench and
kept it flat and took hold of the hook.
to be continued...
Air Travel: 3
Chapter 13
He caught a mackerel.
It was like a bar of silver
with green and black stripes.
He pulled it twenty feet
from the water to the boat.
Chapter 14
“Oh great…” the fish said to him.
Chapter 15
This part was never easy.
Since animals started talking
everything had changed.
Chapter 16
He took the hook out,
telling the fish, “Look…
I hate to do this to you…”
“Sure you do,” the fish said.
You hate it. How do you
think I feel?”
Chapter 17
The fish was in a bucket
with seaweed packed around.
He griped for a while, until
it became hard to breathe.
Chapter 18
About five minutes later
the man caught something else.
It looked like a handkerchief.
A flapping striped yellow and black
umbrella reeled towards him.
Chapter 19
He knew what it was.
Anyone who fished these waters
day after day, once in a while
caught a sea parrot.
to be continued...
Air Travel: 2
Chapter 8
When the land gave way to water
he rowed a little further over waves
then pulled in the oars.
Chapter 9
He looked over the edge to see
the spot where the kelp fanned out.
Motoring in and out of there
like birds in trees were salmon.
Chapter 10
Sooner or later one of them would see
the silver spark of light in the water
not knowing it was a sharp hook
connected to a line traveling up
forty feet into the sky.
Chapter 11
He watched his reflection
that other him leaning over
in an upside down boat
fishing at the sky.
Connected by the same line
he was fishing for himself.
Chapter 12
Then the line twitched.
His reflection caught something
in the deep blue sky.
to be continued...
Friday, November 11, 2011
Air Travel: 1
Part 1: THE BROKEN FISH
Chapter 1
A boat stood on end, bow pointed at the sky.
Of course, this is how it gets around, cast off
the line from the oak tree it leans against
and up it goes.
Chapter 2
The man who rows rides it like a rocket,
vertical at first, then, past the electric wires
and above the rooftops, he levels off,
scooping the oars hard into the air.
Chapter 3
Now he can look down peacefully
on the backyards and streets and trees.
Chapter 4
It all depends on what you’re looking for.
This early morning, an old aluminum sky
before the sun shines, he rows to the sea
to go fishing.
Chapter 5
Following the road fifty feet below
it flows leading the way. The oarlocks
creak with each pull. A rooster crows
a few blocks away.
Chapter 6
Oh, sometimes he stops rowing
lets the boat drift. There’s no hurry,
holding the oars out flat like wings
nailed to a wooden bird.
Chapter 7
A chestnut tree brushes its leaves
along the smooth planks underneath,
a sigh as hushing as a seaweed bed.
to be continued...
ghoststores
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
coming soon
In spite of all the hours against me,the full time job that wakes me at 6
until 4 back to home commotion
before going to bed at 9, I will write for you!
This time it's a novel in 150 chapters.
Begun October 20, 2011
on the 7 A.M bus ride to job
until November 2, 2011
finishing in the woods at job.
Chapter 1 arrives soon!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
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