Tuesday, November 29, 2011

movie time

I can't stop thinking about this movie
I watched last weekend, Mr Hulot's Holiday.

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 display
featuring 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

Driving around in the rain
on this day that used to be
called Armistice Day
(honoring Peace)
see what's probably happening
in your town too (the wars
are wearing us down)
stores are closing,
the ghosts are appearing






And our grocery store
where we get our food
is soon becoming gone


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

Heads of Ayr

Wednesday, November 2, 2011