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t.r.o.c.t. & d.f.v.

March 27, 2021
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2021 0327 tallhead

Here’s an odd experiment. I started on my sketchpad with a small rectangle.It seemed to want a guitarist, his upper body breaking through the boundary of the rectangle with his head and strumming hand and guitar. Another rectangle below had his right leg break that rectangle’s border. His name would be Tallhead, and he was playing so well he was warping space/time around him. But his bandmate, one Clarissa Pealing, provided vocals so transcendent they attracted the attention of a Goddess in another firmament.

So I would describe this extraordinary event with bizarre, variable calligraphing. At first I thought this was a new wrinkle, but then I remembered my teenage read of Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination, wherein Gully Foyle’s kinesthetic sense made hybrid sensations jump off the page. I now tip my hat to sf grandmaster Bester. His friends called him Alfie.

The entire text, transcribed:

t.r.o.c.t. & d.f.v.

the riffing of Conrad Tallhead made local space/time subdivide

BUT it was the DIVINE foreground vocals of Tallhead’s bandmate
c l a r i s s a p e a l i n g
that BURST THRough
our very Firmament
& got a Goddess’s
attention!!!!

Some life events, rock concerts included, seem worthy of the note of celestial beings. At least they do to this humble human.

a.i.t.w.s.a.b.s.

March 25, 2021
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2021 0325 aitwsabs

Stands for “and in time we shall all be stars.” Remembering a nice moment from the movie Fame, which I saw many years ago. They may have sung that we WILL all be stars, but these are my people and they are expressing Shallness.

P is for Petunia

March 24, 2021
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20210324_101830

My friend Patt Montgomery saw my “B is for Begonia” post and suggested P for Petunia. Patt is one of the most prolific members of our Poets all Call group on Facebook, and she has written a lot of fine poetry using my Title Tuesday titles, so I am glad to have a way to express my appreciation via the use of her suggestion. And what’s not to love about Petunias?

feat o clay

March 16, 2021
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IMG_20210315_185700_592

feat o clay

storebought clay comes in 25lb bags
two bags fit within a 50lb box
forty boxes make a one-ton pallet
and it is cheaper by the ton
but let’s start with what one bag can do

20210315_202546

a quarter of a bag yields an exotic heretofore nonexistent bird
a tenth of a bag might give you a cereal bowl or a small teapot
devoting all 25lb of the bag to one shape might be the life-sized head and shoulders
of a couple of human beings
the same 25lb might depict a village in ultraminiature

2021 0316 vase

“feet of clay” is idiomatic for fallible
but perform a feat o clay
and you become upliftable

2021 0316 closed form

commune
attune
become
one
with
clay

B is for Begonia

March 11, 2021
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2021 0311 begonia

Today I learned that, as sent red roses signify Passion, and yellow roses Friendship, sent begonias are a way of saying “Be cautious,” and that plus empathy means “Stay Safe,” which is a mild way of saying “I love you and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” For this special, dire time, it makes sense to send begonias to loved ones.

Have some Begonias, Friends. ❤

Winner: Bobbi Wells!

March 10, 2021
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2021 0310 bobbi wells

My latest Bad Pun Brain Teaser Contest was won by Bobbi Wells, a fellow member of the Facebook poet’s group Poets All Call. I had the unique pleasure of meeting Bobbi in person WAY back in the day, when she happened to be in Sedona at the same time that I and my then-sweetheart Denise were also there, and we rendezvoused at the Wildflower Bread Company. She was and is full of bubbly cheer and life, and a bit of magicky mischief. Remembering that visit, I crafted her promised acrostic-portrait prize with a reference to her Eons username anyafairlight, which is so Her that I often still call her Anya.

Bobbi Wells

Bucketize some morning dew
Overpay what’s overdue
Burst the seams of Laughter’s shawl
Bingoize that coverall
In a place where Why-Not dwells
It’s our Anya casting spells

two from quite a bit ago

March 3, 2021
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20210303_090112

The ceramic piece with the triangle cutouts was made by me in 2007. The chapbook was made by me, with help from my friends Steve Boyle and Genny Edge, in 2008. I gave both of these creations to my mother soon after they were made, but and they were hers till she died on December 11, 2020, and now they are mine again.

I don’t even remember making the vessel, though I do remember that i did a whole series of cutout pieces back in the day. One of them graced my deceased friend Karen Wilkinson’s front-room table for several years. As for the chapbook, it was a labor of love and I remembered it well, and am grateful that this copy yet exists.

Both works now make me feel strange, and strangely hopeful.

The Poem Exchange: Joseph A and Gary B

February 26, 2021
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A fellow member of my Poets All Call group, a bright and imaginative man named Joseph Arechavala, wrote a poem and posted it to our group yesterday. I found the poem contained a metaphor for Truth that was apt . . . and I also felt compelled to respond. So I wrote a poem too. I have Joe’s kind permission to post our exchange for all the Blogoverse to see, and that will come soon, but first I want to share a drawing I just made, based on the fact that Joe is using a Groucho Marx headshot for his avatar. I thought it would be cute to draw Groucho and one of my own personal heroes, Kurt Vonnegut, shoulder to shoulder and smoking their tobacco products of choice, thus:

2021 0225 grouch kurt

JOE:

Truth is elusive
Like a woman
Standing in the distance
The sun outlining
Her beauty
A woman who
You know will
Never walk towards you
But will remain
A vaguely fair form
In the far away field
And you will
Walk towards her
But never
Come close to her
And you will weep

****

GARY:

Let me be your wingman Joe
Truth’s elusive this I know
She knows EVERYTHING you’ve done
Stuff for spite and some for fun

She has more than one big sister
I suggest you date one mister
Luscious Evidence will show you
Family pics of Truth–you know you

Could do worse than date Deduce Me
More plot twists than I Love Lucy
You’ll be challenged to decide
If you want Truth by your side
Or for a bride
With Lies denied

One more sister makes things clearer
That is Truth’s twin sister Mirror
Gaze deep DEEP into her glass–
TRUTH–she’s HERE!!!
–to Kick your Ass.

Whoops.
Sorry.

****
Gary: Joe, you have captured an important aspect of Truth in your poem. I am grateful. And I hope you see, for all my clowning, an important bit of Truth in mine, mainly that showing an interest in phenomena related to Truth does bring us closer to Truth Herself.

Joe: Gary Bowers It just feels good to finally be writing again.

Gary: Joe, I would love to do a blog post on this exchange of ours. May I have your permission?

Joe: Sure. Post the link so I can read it.

Gary: Will do, my friend!
****
A couple of things before I go. First, Joe and many others in our group are suffering from writer’s block. I think the pandemic has something to do with it. So his comment about feeling good to be writing again is a hopeful sign to me.

Second, this is not the first instance in poetic history wherein one poem inspires another. Christopher “Kit” Marlowe wrote “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” in the 16th Century. One year after it was published, none other than Sir Walter Raleigh wrote “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” a fitting response (snub) to the Passionate Shepherd’s overtures (lusty). And in subsequent centuries other poets wrote poems inspired by the original, and in the 20th Century those two sly dogs Ogden Nash and Dorothy Parker both took a whack at it. So History is not by any means being made by Joe and me, but what matters to me is that the creative spark was ignited by Joe, and then I got ignited as well, for a pleasant journey to deeper digging.