Finnish Lines

I'm enjoying reading Tove Jansson's
book Sculptor's Daughter. I also love
her Moomin comics.

The SUGAR ANTS

Another new thing from the new book
I'm working on:


The SUGAR ANTS


They're no bigger than a punctuation mark
but if you let them gather into a word or two,
like EAT or STEAL PIE, you'll see what they
can do.

Letter from Tom Robbins

I sent esteemed author Tom Robbins
two Good Deed Rain books, Walt
Amherst is Awake and Go With the
Flow. (Tom appears in both these
books). The gorilla star from Walt
is based partially on remembrance
of Seattle ape, Bobo, who we all
recall fondly. I was glad I could
share these books with Tom and
I hope you get a chance to read
them too!

A Snail in a Plaid Shell

A SNAIL in a PLAID SHELL

The carpet has not been mowed for weeks and the pile has grown long and furred. A snail in a plaid shell is selling lots. The sound of blades will clack away until the floor is cut in rows. When that’s done the sprinkler comes on and covers the room with dew.

The Russ Morgan Record

Friend Rob sent a photo from Okinawa

where the cult of Russ Morgan still blooms.

Here's a poem from "Another Life"

:

THE RUSS MORGAN RECORD

That Russ Morgan record

carried with such care

in the bicycle basket

fell out when I bumped

into the garden lane

Not to be dismayed

it could still be played

only a bite was taken out

like a fruit too ripe

to bring home without a bite

BLUE ANTHEM WAILING

Now for the big news. Just sent the next book

to the printer, BLUE ANTHEM WAILING:

 

"Allen Frost’s first novel written in the mid-1980s

while still in college is an apocalyptic, Old Testament

travel through 1960s America in a Cadillac with a

stained-glass windshield. You will go deep into this

country’s violent shadows to get to the other side.

The moon, Vietnam, reservations and segregations,

myths, murder, money, guns and Russians, hot dogs

and holocaust, saints and dreamers, a haunted road

where war is ever real but Amelia Earhart is flying

overhead. This is a heck of a book to start a writing

career!"

July 4th publication date is fitting. 232 pages.

I asked artist Fred Sodt to make the book look like

a Bible and he came through with a beautiful cover:

A Row of Watermelons

Here's another new story. They're starting to gather.
They all seem to be about work and animals...


A ROW of WATERMELONS


After all the talk about it in daily meetings, they finally
manifested the elephant in the room. I can barely get
around it to my desk. It’s got one foot firmly lodged in
the wastepaper basket. What we need now is a row of
watermelons leading out the door to the parking lot.
When it gets hungry again it will be somebody else’s
problem.

The Two Horses

(This from a new collection I'm working on)


The TWO HORSES

I stopped my bicycle for the traffic light and two horses walked over to talk to me. They saw me sitting in the air on a saddle that wasn’t on them. Of course it looked funny and I tried not to listen to their jokes at my expense. Then one of them tossed me a long yellow flower and told me to feed my poor metal horse, it was looking a little thin. Hilarious. Those horses should be booked on the Tonight Show. America could use a laugh.

what's new?

Hello loyal readers. Just letting you know that

Good Deed Rain is busy, busy. My first novel

written in college years will be published to

tumultuous salutes on July 4. Florida is available

to pre-order on Amazon. I'm real excited about

that book, it's a fun sunny read for you. Also just

completed writing a new novel set in Bellingham

that I've been at work on since last October.

Stay tuned for that. I can let you know it stars

a character named Haiku, an overdue library book

and a haunted spoon. In addition I've been working

on a new book of stories/poems. I'll share one

of those in next post.