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uncle paul shows up unexpectedly

January 23, 2019
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Part of my morning routine is to work on unfinished poetry and drawings while having my first cup of coffee. Today I was picking at two Acrostics, ODD HIS SEA and TAPE PEST STRY, I’d started long ago. The lower third of the paper I had them on was blank, so I bookended it with PUSH BACK, which had been nagging at me for some weeks. (“Pushback” is a term used to describe a reaction of a political faction’s forces when their opposition has said, or accomplished, something that seems to have done some damage to their cause. Here and now, government shutdown, tweetstorms, and propaganda blizzards are Trump Administration’s pushback against opposition to the Trump Wall, the Mueller Russian investigation, and miscellaneous callings-to-account.)

My acrostic-composing reverie was interrupted when my gaze fell on a corner of paper. I recognized it as the printed material that was given to mourners at my Uncle Paul’s funeral last February 23rd. It was wildly improbable that it should be on my dining room table, buried under a pile of stuff, but there it was. And on it was a photo of Paul with humor, grumpiness, and a defiant gleam in his eye. “Draw me NOW, Nephew,” he seemed to be saying.

So I did, and I did a better Paul in ten minutes than I’d done in hours a few years ago.

“Sign it, but don’t date it.” I did.

“You’re done.”

The Hideous Idiocy of the WALL

January 22, 2019
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Decades ago, Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev–TEAR DOWN THAT WALL.” Many cheered, and behold, some time after the Wall came down.

Decades later, a candidate for President of the United States said, over and over again, in many different ways, “We’re gonna build a big, beautiful Wall–and WE’RE GONNA GET MEXICO TO PAY FOR IT.” Many cheered, and helped elect him. I was not one of them.

Here is something I published on Facebook on January 20.

It has occurred to me, as I am sure it has occurred to the enemies of America, that the Wall if built will make the US more, not less, vulnerable. Because anyone with enough money to buy some cheap explosives, and a radio-controlled airplane ( cheaper than a drone), will be able to make the Wall much more expensive, with a return on the terrorist dollar of at least 100 to 1. Blow a little hole in The Wall and it will cost US many, many more times to repair it than the peanuts it costs for the stuff the bad guys can use. It doesn’t have to be a big hole, either. Just something to get the party started.

Wall supporters, PLEASE tell me I’m wrong, and prove it. If you succeed, we will all sleep better at night. If you don’t, or more likely cannot, then please a) stop supportIng this useless Wall; and b) stop supporting this useless Administration.

Look how vulnerable the Towers were. Do we really want to set ourselves up for more tragedy?

Our fine and fancy US Government has been shut down by a despot who, for reasons of his own, or perhaps those of the ones pulling his puppet strings, wants to throw billions of dollars at a hideous, idiotic project. I am protesting with the non-violent means available to me here. I hope my voice is heard.

Night Light

January 20, 2019
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night light 2019 0120

What with the total eclipse of the Moon coming in scant hours, and my recent acquisition of black paper and white chalk, it seemed time to draw with light.

Here are the words to the double acrostic:

Night Light

Now we were wombed in waters warm and still
In peaceful amniotic near-lanai
Go down where water gives you Zero G
Henceforth let velvet DIMNESS see us through
To be by loving Darknesses enwrapt

This is a non-rhyming poem, so I didn’t begin composing it with the end-words. Instead, and since I wanted to wrap my spot illustration of mother and child with a sort of uterus of words, I wrote the last line, “To be by loving Darknesses enwrapt,” first. And so, curiously, the poem also makes sense from the last line up, if we just change one word on the new last line:

To be by loving Darknesses enwrapt
Henceforth let velvet DIMNESS see us through
Go down where water gives you Zero G
In peaceful amniotic near-Lanai
Now we are wombed in waters warm and still

Writing poetry last-line-first is just like the way Mickey Spillane wrote his Mike Hammer mysteries. He claimed he always started with the ending, then figured out how to get there. Poets, if you ever find yourself running dry, you might do worse than to give the Spillane method a whirl!

self-portrait with feather and arrogance

January 17, 2019
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Long ago my dear deceased friend Karen W gave me a book. I think it was called Owning Your Shadow but I don’t know for sure.  The book was about facing down your dark side and making of it a tool for your betterment.

So, Karen, if you’re still interacting with the living, and checking in on your friends from time to time, this one is for you. The aspect of my dark side I wrestle with today is Arrogance. Arrogance manifests itself in being parental and dismissive of people who don’t meet up with my sometimes-arbitrary standards.

I do this today by taking one of the worst things I ever wrote, a mansplaining essay on how to be a better poet, and overlaying it with a self-portrait. (Arrogant artists do lots of self-portraits. Picasso did dozens and dozens.)

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I also stuck a feather in there, a feather long discarded, as a reminder that even miracles of Nature get discarded for obsolescence.

The cure for arrogance is humbling experiences. The older we get, the more they occur.

I feel another Mansplanation coming on, so I will close with best wishes and humble thanks to you who read this.

Another Spin on the Wheel

January 8, 2019
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Today, at my first “Beyond Basic Wheel Throwing” class, I did these:

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Jon Higuchi, the regular instructor, was not there, but Luis Baiz, whom I’ve known for decades from Phoenix College, was filling in. He let me take this selfie:

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My mouth is open like that because Louie said, “Say ‘Cerveza.'” I usually do what Louie says. He’s kind of like Yoda.

During cleanup Lou asked me lightheartedly, “Did it feel good?”

It did. I need this.

Last-Minute Charlie Strikes Again

January 4, 2019
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Every year the Glendale Arts Council presents a juried art show in Glendale, Arizona’s Sahuaro Ranch Park. For the past few years, due to my frequent changes in residence, I haven’t received the application and notice for the show, though I’ve been in the show in every single decade since the 70s, and a few times brought home ribbons, and twice cash.

But this post is about Procrastination, not Bragging. Even when I did receive ample notice I would put off the selection and preparation of two show pieces till the last minute. I had a few day’s notice this year, and produced two pieces in advance of deadline, but due to work and reliance on public transportation was not able to get them to the receiving point in time.

So let’s have a little two-piece art show right here, Friends:

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“Appeal,” armature wire, 9″ x 7″ x 4″. Category: Sculpture.

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“Diptych in Black, White and Gray,” 11″ x 17″. Category: Mixed Media.

Critiques are welcome, Friends, and the more clinically honest, the better.

But we can’t sign off on this post yet. If I want to stop being a Last-Minute Charlie, and believe me I do, there must be an end to this dysfunctional method of preparation. One thing I could do is enter a LOT of Art Shows, not just one a year. The other possibility that comes to mind is having more of these private, blog-posted shows–say one a month. Then there is that which has not occurred to me yet. But that can wait–or can it?

 

Life & Chess

January 3, 2019
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I have not played chess for a long time. At my best I wasn’t very good. But Chess is great subject matter, 2D or 3D. When I was heavily into ceramic sculpture I made several chess pieces with human heads and sometimes limbs; and I made at least two chess sets. I’ve wanted for a long time to draw or paint all the moves of a chess match in comic-book panel continuity, warping the board and pieces with each move to show the drama that was going on. But that is a MAJOR project and will have to wait.

Life and Chess overlap in the realms of Conflict, Positioning, Caste, and Planning. With chess AI proving sufficiently good to defeat chess grandmasters, it has become apparent that the ability to exhaustively review all possible moves “checkmates” ingenuity and intuition. Perhaps we will be humbled enough to move on to endeavors that are not combative. Therein lies Peace On Earth, my friends.

Life & Chess

Loose astringents may be styptic
Tight dual portraits form a diptych
Friend turned foe may grip may seize
Even with bewobbled knees
& find looseness holds the keys

Notice the mistake I made in line 2. I forgot the second letter was an I, and looking at it thought it was an T, the base of the L doing double-duty as a crossbar. It’s an easy fix–change “Tight” to “Inked” and it even makes more sense, although we lose the dichotomy from line 1’s “Loose”–but let’s let it be. It’s Human.

urban vegan beans

January 1, 2019
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It is a new year. What better way to start a healthy culinary journey than at the all-Vegan café Urban Beans?

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Here is Pumpkin Curry with a side of brown rice. The urban-beaned Coffee is laced with almond milk and plain granulated sugar. The book is by world-renowned health guy Andrew Weil, M.D., and I intend to live, breathe, and, yes, Eat it until I know it backwards and forwards.

I could not remember if I’d done a double-acrostic Urban Beans before, but was sure I’ve never done “urban vegan beans,” so

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urban vegan beans

unbound flavor comes to b
renaissanced to taste & see
boosting pepperminted tea
absent sausage veal prawn
nutrients and RUSH°LeMans

Happy New Year, Friends!