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An Angel Shy of a Christmas Tree

December 12, 2013
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The tree looks great for the most part:

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But it lacks something at the top. “Why don’t I do a ceramic angel?” I asked my angelic girlfriend. She seemed skeptical that I could, especially since it would have to be done well before the 23rd, when her kin from all over will gather.

Today I’ve taken the first step, the “concept rough.” I want the angel to be friendly, accessible, celestial, and playful. I want the wings to look as if they will grab air and move it forcibly. I want her gesture to be beneficent and dynamic.

She’ll be either Sedona Red or Dave’s Porcelain or a marbled mix of both. She’ll have to be ready for bisque fire by the end of the weekend, and glaze-if-any (though she might look fine unglazed) by the 19th.

Will it happen? If it does, I’ll show and tell. If not, I’ll hang my head in shame.

no where but this is this/you sure?

December 12, 2013
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Here is an image of two drawings that, overlapping, pose a philosophical question. What are the boundaries of Where? And what’s This, and is This subject to change without notice? When then, does This become That and then subside back into This?

All of that may seem like a lot of nonsense, but strong evidence suggests that everything real is, on the subatomic level, constantly winking in and out of existence–except that “winking in and out of existence” is an inherent failure of our language to even come close to describing this phenomenon. A particle found somewhere in a zone of probability is un-pin-downable, and instruments of detection themselves interfere with attempts to do so.

Have a good breakfast is my advice. [Innocent smile]

Small Mouth Grunt Rocks

December 11, 2013
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My superb friend Karen and her superb boyfriend Ed capture sea life on camera when they scuba-dive. Karen took the photo from which my drawing was derived. I have her gracious permission to use it; and it will get further use below in its reproduction to illustrate the difference between Art and Life:

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wigthaw

December 10, 2013
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slumber rose off him like cold steam
he muttering “wig…thaw
wig.thaw
wig,”
and fluttering eyes made the muttering stop

she beside him propped on elbow leaned over him
and sight met sight and she asked him:
“what’s wigthaw, love?”

briefly he puzzled
then the browfurrow smoothed

“i said that? –it’s acronymical
comical really…”

they kissed and he continued,
“‘whatever is going to happen
has already happened.’ that’s spelled
dubya eye gee tee aitch
aitch ay aitch
and is pronounced ‘wigthaw.'”

they kissed again.

“you are odd-minded,” she opined.

“you had to say that,” he returned,
and kissed her again
as he must.

The Census-Shattering Rabbit-Man

December 9, 2013
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Stan Lee, like many of the superheroes he wrote comic-book continuity for, has feet of clay. He’s hyberbolic, a credit hog, and an attention craver. But any kid who grew up during the Silver Age of Marvel Comics could not help but be influenced by him. My sometime tendency toward wisecracking and alliteration may reflect this influence. So I devoted 73 seconds to doing his portrait.

Last I heard he was still alive. Excelsior, Stan! ‘Nuff Said! Except…as the pirate said to the Q-Tips: “Avast, ye swabs!”

the funniest man on earth

December 8, 2013
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Four years ago I kicked off my “Lives of the Eminent Poets of Greater Phoenix” with two of my favorite Valley Poets. One was Victoria Hoyt, with whom I’m co-featuring at the April 2014 edition of Balboa House Poetry. The other is the man I depicted above, Mr. Bill Campana, who, since George Carlin has passed, I am reasonably certain is the Funniest Man on Earth. Today is Bill’s birthday, and I wish him all the best.

Words:

Bluff, and stand-up-comical, and full of manic manna
It’s a wonder he’s still local–catch him if you can
Laudably SELF-AMPLIFIED: you will hear from this man
Las Vegas @ the Palace or perhaps the Tropicana

Bill commissioned a coffee mug from me, and says of my posted birthday wish for him, “thanks, gary. it’s muggier when i drink out of your coffee mug.” He uses lower case in his online communications, so as further tribute to him the title of this post is in lower case.

Last time I saw Bill was at the home of Julie Elefante and Robert Lee, and I took this picture of him:

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Again–Happy Birthday, Bill!

When Truth and Beauty Got Married

December 7, 2013
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When Truth and Beauty Got Married: a Febrile Fable

Once upon a time he said Wow are you Beauteous and she replied That’s me and us. He was taken and thus was she, and before Friend Time had much of himself to muse, Truth said I do even if sometimes harshly and Beauty said What the hell, count me in. They lived in a house called Upward, mixed it up in the Upward attic, and nine non-months later Rosie Roseglass was born a half hour in advance of her twin brother Duck F. Yuno-Wadsgudforyu. In no Time at all the twins divvied up the world, inadvertently separating their parents, and a good thing: they no longer got along, despite poetic propaganda to the contrary. The world was puzzled as to why half of it was just fine with horrendous conditions, while the other half was constantly creating and enhancing horrendous conditions. And they lived happily ever after, except for them. The And.

Afterword

1. Grateful acknowledgment is given to Joseph Arechavala for the what-if that prompted this Fable.

2. Grateful acknowledgment is given to the creators of Fractured Fairy Tales, a feature of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, for influencing my child’s mind in the mid-60s. Without that influence this Febrile Fable would never have been written.

3. The illustrative sketch was done on a piece of cut-up scratch paper during my shift at the Village Gallery today. That is why there is faded reversed lettering on the image; it is from the other side of the paper.

4. After I did the sketch I looked at it and realized that I must have subconsciously modeled Truth after Arthur Miller and Beauty after Marilyn Monroe. Funny how the mind works…

SWG II: Edgy Metal

December 6, 2013
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Ansel Adams once said that were he confined to his house for the rest of his life, he’d still find rich and endless subject matter for his photography. Your humble narrator says that were he confined to the subject matter Spoon, Water, Glass, he’d find endless ways to beat a dead horse to the ground and beyond with those three elements alone. Luckily, this need never be put to the test, and shall not; and this day’s Evocation of the Three has a special guest with the reflectivity of glass, the fluidity of water and the wieldiness of a spoon.

Words, which may make more and more sense on successive rereadings:

Sipping’s an S-WORD that ends with a G
Parsing BANANAs divests them of peel
Ousting a despot brings more from the sea
Owning that Ownership has its rewards
Note that our s-words may morph into swords

Laziness Defended/Laziness Deplored

December 5, 2013
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When you look in the mirror, do you see a lazy person, or do you see a person who hates laziness? Do you see both?

These two “digitally remastered” Blasts from the Past address the yin and yang of laziness. The design for “Laziness Deplored” was put on a T-Shirt and light-use worn for four years–it went well with a Hawaiian shirt. I also made a transfer of “Laziness Defended” but, fittingly, found myself too lazy to do the ironing. When I get around to it–2014 probably–I’ll wear that T-shirt to the ground, and maybe beneath it, if they bury me in it. But I hope to be too lazy to die.

On the other hand, I hope to be too unlazy to cease doing these pages, into which, to be melodramatic, I am putting my very soul. Please note that with “Laziness Deplored” I took the effort to make the double acrostic exact as to line length, meeting that criterion of a “true” acrostic. To find out how unlazy you have to be to do that, I cheerfully invite you to try it sometime..