other patches of the sky

(Here's a 1994 era short story from PIE IN THE SKY #77):

OTHER PATCHES OF THE SKY

She lay on her back, to point a camera at the sky. 

Through the lens, all the clouds in the blue paddled by. 

While she waited for the moment to arrive…

When a bird flew across the glass, she would capture it 

in a photograph. She would take it home inside the camera 

and in the red lights of the darkroom, she would release it 

to the world again. Swirled in the water and chemicals, 

the bird would reemerge slowly. Dripping, becoming real, 

then pinned to dry on a singing rope with other patches 

of the sky.

pie in the skies

With time off from work, I've been going through
my old magazine PIE IN THE SKY:
http://pieintheskymagazine.blogspot.com
Some of the stories and poems from
the many issues have reappeared in my
published books.
This next year I plan on publishing
a new book of short stories.
The majority will be seen by you for the
first time, but I've also been polishing up
some of the old PIE classics.

hope book

I've been enjoying the new Bob Hope
biography by Richard Zoglin.
Way back when my daughter was born
I wrote to Bob and told him the news
and he sent her a signed photo.

stonehouse

I'm just about finished reading
THE ZEN WORKS OF STONEHOUSE
translated by Red Pine. This is such a great
book, I highly recommend. Stonehouse
is my new favorite poet. What a relief to
read on the bus and at work whenever
I get a chance to read.

bellingham poems

If you live in Bellingham or own a pegasus
I recommend you go to Village Books for
the reading of this new book Bellingham Poems.
The authors of this great collection, Tim Pilgrim,
Paul Piper and Chuck Luckmann, will be there
this Sunday at 4 PM. Now that I've read
the book, I can't wait to hear them.

winter books

These are the books I've been reading lately:

A Drifting Boat, Chinese Zen Poetry edited by J.P Seaton

The Clouds Should Know Me By Now: 

Buddhist Poet Monks of China, translated by Red Pine

Basho: The Complete Haiku, translated by Jane Reichhold

Four Huts: Asian Writings on the Simple Life, 

translated by Burton Watson

Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom, 

translated by Red Pine

Mountain Poems of Stonehouse, translated by Red Pine

started typesetting new book

Finally started typesetting
my next book for publishing.
And it began its life written
in one of these notebooks.
See April and May posts
from last summer.

movie time

Watched one of my favorite movies again
MY MAN GODFREY (1936). Might be time
to watch the Thin Man movies again too.

 

Also showed the kids that famous scene in 

SAFETY LAST (1923) with Harold Lloyd climbing.

I love this picture of him on the Space Needle. 

october haiku

Inspired by one of my favorite haiku poets
Santoka Taneda, I just wrote a collection of
135 or so haiku during this last month
of October, the time of the railroad earth.
Hopefully you'll get a chance to read them
soon. I need a good Japanese publisher
to take an interest.

dream machine

october reading

I'm almost done reading an excellent
recent biography of Jack Kerouac
called THE VOICE IS ALL, by
Joyce Johnson.

insomnia haiku

 

at 3 A.M
the haunted past
living on TV

SNOW WHITE MOTH

Since this strange summer began
I've been compiling a little book
of new poems and stories.
Here's the line-up so far:

OVER MILKWEED

ED STOREY, THE 2 STORY MAN

PLASTIC JOBS

THE 5 MILE SMILE

A DUCK

A CAT

SNOW WHITE MOTH

MORE THAN ONE BLUE MOON

THE GREAT COMPOSERS

200 ZOOS

THE SPECTACULAR FAILURE OF GASTON LeFLUE, 1891

THE GIRL WHO IS THE RIVER

HUCKLEBERRIES

A SILENT MOVIE

BATTLESHIP

NEW SHOES

SMILE REPAIR

A BAT

A RABBIT

THE PIANO TUNER

A COYOTE

THE BLACKTOP SON

TWO CROWS

THAT FLOWER

CROWS

DOUBLE TAPPED HORN

BLACKBERRIES

PEACH

GRAPEFRUITS

THE OLD PLAYGROUND

RICHARD IS GONE

THE REDDISH DOG

SUMMERTIME IS GONE

THE DARK BOAT

4 BOUQUETS

THE LOCAL AUTHOR

aloha!

15 years at Western Washington University Library
farewell and thanks for the memories

last day at library

Today's my last day at the library.
Will be moving to the Art Department
on Monday. Bon Voyage! Aloha!
This is what a library looked like
in the 1600s. Fun!

improved

elephant book

Here's another hint to
my forthcoming book
for Good Deed Rain...
hmmm...something to do
with an elephant...

the card catalog

With only three days left at this job

I’ve been worried about the fate of

the last card catalog in the library,

the only remaining passenger pigeon,

the lone buffalo. Twice it’s been

condemned to the junk heap by

the ruling powers of the library.

And twice it’s been saved, once

by Claire, and most recently by me.

I’m utterly baffled why a library

wouldn’t want to keep such a part

of their past, but that seems to be

the approach of certain libraries.

I tried all over to find someone here

to care for it and fortunately,

at the last cliff-hanger minute

an office has been found for it!

This beautiful card catalog can

remain in the library where

for many years into the future

people will be glad it’s still here.

One of my first jobs when I started

at my college library in 1984 was

typing the cards and putting them in 

the catalog. Good memories of that.

and how...

nash metropolitan

In 2012, I self-published a little book called TRAVEL

featuring poems of Ohio. (Most of these were collected

in my new poetry book, PLAYGROUND available 

from Amazon.com.) The TRAVEL book featured 

a photo of an old Nash Metropolitan that was sitting

in a weedy lot near Sandusky, Ohio. It's such a great little

relic of a car, like a Richard Scarry bathtub on wheels. 

This week, Larry Smith sent me a photo of the car

and it's still there, waiting for someone. 

2 weeks

This comic is from the October, 1979
School Library Journal. I just gave
my two weeks notice at the library
where I've worked for 15 years.
Moving to the Art Department!

Chandler stories

I'm still rereading Raymond Chandler's short stories.

I love these night desk house detectives who end up 

in deep. Just came across a great description of a dark

drive in the detective's 1925 Marmon touring car:

"I let the Buick lead me away from the straggling 

lights of Las Olindas, through a series of small beach 

towns with little houses built on sandlots close to the 

ocean, and bigger ones built on the slopes of the hills

behind. A window was lit here and there. The tires

sang on the moist concrete and the little amber lights

on the Buick's fenders peeped back at me from the 

curves."

The Reddish Dog

A hundred or so homeless are outside the window of the lodge.

They sort of form together to get food, but first they must listen

while the mayor or someone tells them a lesson. I look away.

On the ledge above the window are a bunch of Salish crows

or maybe they’re children, it’s hard to tell. Some of them

wear cedar masks. I speak to them in a crow imitation

that comes out, “Hah.” I have the sound right but there’s

no meaning to it. I don’t seem to know that crow language

has words hidden inside the sound. One of the children

up there looks at the others and says, “Hah.” I leave there

and cross a street running like a river to a parking lot

on the other side. There’s an opened-up abandoned car.

Something is moving in a paper bag. At first it’s a cat

but it becomes a reddish dog. It looks so hopeless

and forgotten and hungry. I pet the sad eyed dog

and comfort it and tell it I’ll be right back

as I wake up.