Friday, June 28, 2013

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.


Thursday, June 27, 2013

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. 

Friday, June 21, 2013

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.




Thursday, June 13, 2013

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.



Wednesday, June 12, 2013

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. 

Thursday, June 6, 2013

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. 



Wednesday, June 5, 2013

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.

Monday, June 3, 2013

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...

Saturday, June 1, 2013

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.