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Monthly Archives: July 2014

Sissy & Bubba, Anti-Terrorists

July 12, 2014
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Yesterday I showed Denise’s grandchildren a drawing in progress of a terrifying bug in extreme closeup. With their coaching I was able to de-terrorize the bug a great deal. Before we were done the bug was smoking a cig, wearing a beret and cop-sunglasses, wielding an ineffectual gun, and gaining a sidekick scorpion singing to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot.” Reflected in the cop-sunglasses were Sissy and Bubba’s faces, Bubba mock-scared and Sissy mocking-grinning. All of the enhancements helped make a going-nowhere faked-up study become a showcase of the bravery of children in the face of the unknown. Bless the Beast and the Children! [smiles]

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awash (to b kabchef and g lumbert)

July 11, 2014
Nature
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awash

the tide of human feelings comes in
the kelp of annoyance the salt water tears the foam of compassion
sand crabs of denial burrow quickly into the mushy sand of secrecy
and it all makes a brew a melange a wash
to be a human ebbing and flowing with and without companions
to breathe with the ocean of the indifferent world

it is still a world that gave and gives us life
that moves us
sometimes lifts us on that seventh wave
sometimes grinds us into the grit with remorseless undertow
and we may wallow and bob
we may drift and be particle-polished
we may surf for the thrill and the transportation
we may drown and become flotsam

we may even become the tide
wash over lives and beat on rocks
dissolving their minerals into ourselves
we may drag souvenirs away at ebb
and say hello at flow

Get Your Portraits HERE! Five Minutes, Five Dollars

July 10, 2014
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On the glorious 4th of July, as a special event of the Village Gallery for First Friday, I sat at a table by the south entrance and offered to exchange 5 minutes of portraiture, graphite on deckle-edged 8″ x 10″ 90-pound Stonehenge paper, for $5 a pop. There were only a handful of pops, it being the 4th of July and dramatically cloudy to boot. But here is a nice passage of moments, photography courtesy of my gallery colleague Lenore, modeling courtesy of Pat, a sweet lady I met through my job.

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If I do it again, I’ll offer 10 minutes for $10. Five minutes goes by too fast!

I Am a Ghost Riding the Nose of Life

July 8, 2014
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Here I fulfill a commitment to Denise’s granddaughter. Here is how I acquired the commitment: On canvas was a painting that said, clearly to anyone wearing glasses, “A Ghost Riding the Wave of Life.” Not wearing glasses, I misread it as “A Ghost Riding the Nose of Life.” She thought it was funny; I thought I should make up for my goof, so I told her I’d write a poem entitled “I Am a Ghost Riding the Nose of Life.”

Here is the poem transcribed:

Life is a weird man with
   a white beard and
   a surprised look

And I am the ghost
   of a girl
   on a skateboard

Riding on Life’s
   N  O  S  E

Beyond his nose is the great
   B  E  Y  O  N  D

Staying on his nose
   is tricky
But I am up to it

And I am up
   to unghosting
   myself

and coming back to my
mom and my bubba and my
uncle sean and my ninny–
REAL Life!

Happy Birthday, Shawn L. Bird

July 6, 2014
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Three unique souls share a birthday today. One is my late grandfather, Paul L. Householder. One is my Sweetheart, Denise. The third is my partner in pun-ditry (see “The Pun Exchange” some posts back), Shawn L. Bird. Here is a page I did today that both celebrates Shawn’s birthday and fulfills a commitment to Try, Try Again to do Shawn justice with a portrait.

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This effort is better than the first one. The next one will be better yet, if and when. Meanwhile, you’ll find Shawn in the WordPress blogosphere, and her book Grace Awakening, referred to in the acrostic, available here and there. Seek and ye shall find–and please with me wish Shawn a very Happy Birthday!

 

glory? hallelujah? lazarus come fourth

July 4, 2014
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Friends, today is the 238th anniversary of the presentation of my country’s Declaration of Independence to the world. I feel compelled to write something for the occasion, so here goes.

glory? hallelujah? lazarus come fourth

columbus took slaves
& killed innocents

andrew jackson presided over the genocidal “trail of tears”
flogging the aptly named “indian removal act”

nixon carpetbombed cambodia
he’d barely been inaugurated

reagan mined nicaraguan waters
and even barry goldwater acknowledged that that was a war crime

hillary clinton has a good shot at the presidency
but she lost me when she championed the patriot act

america america man sheds his waste on thee
said george carlin to applauders who were horrendous wasters themselves

america the practice flies in the face of america the theory
in so many heartbreaking ways

but america has the songs of katharine bates and pete seeger and jackson browne
and bob dylan and janis ian and brian wilson and carole king and carly simon and paul simon

america has the poetry of langston hughes and maya angelou
and the musings of ralph ellison and james baldwin–descendants of slaves all

and walt whitman heard america singing long before them
and listen and you will hear her singing still

nonvengeful amish
freewheeling brilliant feynman pohl asimov greg bear poul anderson

thirty-one years ago i declared independence from a sedentary lifestyle
ran a mile in under nine minutes and would continue to do so daily for 420 days
that first mile of the streak began on 19th & indian school
& ended a mile north
& as i turned south to walk home & faced the phoenix downtown
as if on cue the fireworks started telling me i was on a true path
and i a molecule of america received a mandate to renew restore and become

that fourth of july 1983 was more than half my life ago
terrible things have happened since inside my life and out
sweet amazing things have happened as well
i cannot but think that america is wounded perhaps direly
but she still has a spark and a heart
and regenerable tissue
and a mind for the better

Geek-A-Rama

July 3, 2014
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The Urban Dictionary’s #1 definition of Geek is “The people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult.” The kids I drew on this page are still being picked on, but they know they rock.

Here are the words to the triple acrostic:

Good LORD–feel that enthusiasm–each a superstar
Enjoy our radiation: safe enough for Gramp & Gamma
EnDANGERment is mocked–we use a Death’s-head-grin alarm
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar holds court within our diorama

Note also the hidden message via blacked-up letters: “THUS–ugh–Death holds our wit.”

Speaking of the awesome, starring-in-AIRPLANE! Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who just wrote a guest column about racism in a major publication, long ago I made up this riddle about him:

Q: What should you sing if Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has his thumb in your coffee cup as he’s handing it to you?

A: “You’re the Kareem in my Coffee…”

Yes, I’m a Joke Geek. And vice versa.

Picasso was a Jerk

July 2, 2014
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Recently TIME Magazine profiled a retrospective of Jeff Koons. Mr. Koons is a good four months younger than I am, yet he’s seen work of his sold for a cool 58.4 million dollars. Once I sold a piece of mine for $250.00, but then the gallery took its 20%. Sigh.

It reminded me of this page, of a pioneer of not only Art but of an artist’s self-promotion:

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Here are the words to the acrostic sonnet, with apologies for the clumsiness of Line 5:

What Picasso Had

Well, Pablo had a round head–that’s for starters;
His Bald and Bulbous Noggin was a Moon;
A gorgeous Harem–Demoiselles & Martyrs;
The cheek to make a napkin-drawn cartoon

Pay for three demoiselles’ Euro-Vacation;
Intensity of Focus . . . FEAR of Death . . .
Chicago’s streets to sculpt a Big Sensation;
A knack for Marketing with Every Breath.
Some envy his long life, his wealth, his Women,
Success like that some Art aspirants strive for;
Oh, nothing’s wrong with Fame to smile & swim in,

However, it’s unseemly to connive for.
Ahhh–I’ll not judge him. ART’ll; FATE’ll; GOD’ll;
Don’t know–but I won’t use him as a Model.

(Of behavior, that is. He was a real and true Jerk. See SURVIVING PICASSO for a taste of his Jerkiness, not to mention a stellar performance by Sir Anthony Hopkins. Quoth Wikipedia: “Picasso is shown as often not caring about other people’s feelings, firing his driver after a long period of service, and as a womanizer, saying that he can sleep with whomever he wants.”)

 

boys of summer (for socorro olsen)

July 1, 2014
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A dear and as yet unmet in person friend of mine, Socorro Olsen, created and conducts a poetry group in Facebook. Every Tuesday I contribute a thread called “Title Tuesday.” I offer five titles for fellow poets to hang their poems on. I also invite more titles. Today, this Tuesday, Socorro offered “Boys of Summer.” She thus catalyzed my poem below.

boys of summer

some boys of summer are gloved and batted and capped
on fields of dirt and grass
chasing a hidecovered stitchedup ball
and their gloves and the dirt and the wood of the bats
mix spoors with the sweet smell of cutgrass
and the smell is pure baseball

some boys of summer are after girls
and yet not being dorkily shy
and they sidle and longingly eye
the pretty gigglers
the breathtakingly mousy librarianesques
the stately tall ones the smiley plump ones
and the boys wish for fate to intervene
and get them the hand of a girl to hold
and yet no need on their part
to put their boy-egos on the line
to profess like much less love
the boys dream
though they walk awake

some boys of summer build en garage
some boys of summer hike and camp
some read and read and read
and some alas throw bricks through windows

but
when summer winks out with the equinox
it leaves a little firefly in some of the boys
and some of the girls
and some of the grownups