Wednesday, May 30, 2012

1975 Diary #2






more adventures from 1975
on location in Pioneer Square,
starring J.R (he was always 
getting into trouble),
'Mysterious Island' with 
monsters by Ray Harryhausen
(who I later met, see blog
entry from April 9, 2012.)

Jim Copp & Ed Brown Fan!

Actually, author/artist James Flora
reminds me of two other favorites
Jim Copp and Ed Brown.
Long ago, Margaret gave me a casette
collection of their wonderful records
which I soon tracked down.
Their fantastic LPs fold out into games!
Here are some of their other titles:
Fable Forest (1959)
East of Flumdiddle (1961)
Gumdrop Follies (1965)
The Sea of Glup (1971)

James Flora Fan!

I've become a fan of James Flora
after reading My Friend Charlie (1964).
Who couldn't be with titles like this:
The Joking Man
The Day the Cow Sneezed
The Fabulous Fireworks Family
Charlie Yup and his Snip-Snap Boys
Leopold, the See-Through Crumbpicker
Kangaroo for Christmas

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Il Posto

Saw this beautiful movie 
for the first time yesterday, 
by Ermanno Olmi (1961)

stories

My daughter inspired 
this title. We were trying to get her 
to go for a walk in the woods, 
promising her a good yarn. 
She replied, "Your stories 
ain't worth the walk." 



The Kid

a little parable
I drew on Memorial Day

Monday, May 28, 2012

The American Museum

The town has been so long gone
there at the side of the quiet river
the factory wears rust. Sidewalks empty.
A dead bird turned to a skeleton.
Uncle Sam’s Gas is on the skids.
The weeds are growing over.
A heron walked long legs in the plot.
So many houses have broken windows
where people whispered out.
A car scrapes by, taped together.

That was when they swept in. Like a dream
in their white limousines. They got out and
started to unwind tape measures.

A couple men watched from the doorway
in the Avalon. All the windows above are dark
along the block but a few eyes looked out.
It was hard to tell, there were reflections.

They walked their yellow tape round the blocks
past houses, boarded shops, the cracked gray stream
of mainstreet. Then they got back in their long cars
to retreat.

After some silence, the doors opened and those eyes
came out. The tape rattled like a snake in the wind.
It had words on it. You had to get close to read.
Sold, in black letters, Sold, spelled every three feet.

For the next couple days the rumors grew and flew
inflated as a zeppelin tied down to the town.
Still, nobody knew what the strangers would do
until the barges arrived on the river. Then,
it was as if Noah himself had returned, peeling
away from the land in ones and twos everything
that had value to The American Museum.


This poem is from Bowl of Water
(Bottom Dog Press, 2004)
photos from our garden this morning

Sunday, May 27, 2012

movies

Watching Antonioni's 
L'Avventura (1960)
a little over halfway
I switch to Strange Cargo (1940)

Friday, May 25, 2012

Walk in the Woods 2


These are photos from 
my walk at lunch today
up on the tower
where in my book
The Mermaid Translation
the gondola strings down.
Looking around the bay.
Back on the ground
I discovered a mysterious
new species of metal spider