Mike Update

 

My friend Mike Paulus who designed the amazing cover for

THE WONDERFUL STUPID MAN has been hard at work

hand-painting this wallpaper design on a wall in Portland.

ah well

 

Well, I received a yellow envelope in the mail

the other day. My short story was rejected. 

Of course this comes with the trade

but it's very hard to take. When I told 

poet Knute Skinner that my Robert Huff 

essay had been rejected, he replied:

"I'm sorry your Huff article got a rejection.

A friend of mine, each time he got a 

rejection, used to say, 'Fools!'

Best wishes for your next submission."

So on we go, try and try again,

I'm sending them a new story tomorrow. 

2 murals

 

I've been putting together a new book

and suddenly realized there are two murals

painted on buildings here in town that 

relate to the happenings in my novel.

Soon you'll see what I mean.

Perry's letter

Yesterday I mailed off my latest short story to a magazine. 

The story came from an urgent dream that woke me up 

at 2 AM. We’ll see what happens. The main character 

in it is based on two professors who taught at WWU, 

Robert Huff (who I have mentioned before and written 

a 40 page essay on) and Perry Mills. Perry used to 

visit me at the library every week and was always 

entertaining. I gave him a copy of my book HOME 

RECORDINGS and he wrote this review:

The poem he liked so much is this:

The Witch of East Maple

Unfortunately, she didn’t get very far

on the last sunny day of winter.

Her broom swooped down the incline

from her shuttered house on the hill

and veered into the car wash bay.

Caught in hot water evaporation

only the weight of her stick

made it through to the other end.

The broom hit the pavement

like a dead branch.

Marsamerica

I’m reading THE MAN WHOSE TEETH WERE 

ALL EXACTLY ALIKE, one of Philip K. Dick’s 

non-science fiction books that he had trouble getting 

published during his lifetime. I find these so-called 

mainstream books of his very interesting, especially 

CONFESSIONS OF A CRAP ARTIST, which 

I’ll have to reread next. Accounts of America that 

make it seem like some Martian colony…Even 

though it’s set in West Marin County, California 

(as described by his wife in her book, THE 

SEARCH FOR PHILIP K. DICK) it’s not a 

far jump to THE CLANS OF THE ALPHANE 

MOON or MARTIAN TIMESLIP. Philip’s wife 

Anne details his writing of this book, how he 

mirrored their life in his fiction. It’s good inspiration. 

I’m having similar fun with the novel I’m writing 

now, turning autobiography into science fiction. 

more books

I finished reading THE SEARCH FOR PHILIP

K. DICK. It was interesting to see his story from 

Anne Dick’s perspective: “Women are usually 

small atomic-energy machines for their special 

man, who may not even perceive this.” 

It reminded me of DOOR WIDE OPEN, 

Joyce Johnson’s story of her time with 

Jack Kerouac.

Now I’m going back to rereading some P.K. Dick, 

starting with WHAT IF OUR WORLD IS THEIR 

HEAVEN? an amazing interview book in which 

he talks about the novel he was working on just 

before he died. The world of light meets the 

world of sound. 

 

The Mummy's Hound

Thanks to the outpouring of world concern

for our humble hare-chasing hound.

She's showing signs of recovery 

and no doubt will soon be back 

on the trail.

Hasenpfeffered!

 

Well, that innocent looking rabbit 

from Saturday really managed to

take our dog out of commission.

She's still going about on 3 legs. 

Ahh, what a world...

3 legged race

I took the dog for our morning walk

stopped to look at the purple columbine

and then we saw this rabbit just past 

the wild roses. That's as close as I got

before she ran at the rabbit who leaped

freely into those weeds. Unfortunately

our nimble hound slipped on the gravel

and ended up limping home on three legs.