Snapshots, November 10, 2005
I intended to send the below but found myself in hospital Monday to Friday -
after the fever which took me in passed I began a long verse letter about
the experience - on an unfamiliar lap-top - and trying to 'save' lost over
50 lines, unlikely to be fished back up from it or me, I fear. To think I
might have used paper and pen.
Two Dogs
My ex-wife¹s dog nearly bit
my wife¹s dog! Not that
the women themselves
were there to witness it.
No, only my daughter and me,
both leaning back on their leashes,
while Bella lurched
from the car and lunged
for Lolita¹s leg.
Bad girl! back in the car!
Lolita - left
in charge of the street,
whimpering - not with pain but
at losing a possible friend.
So much for the intended
shared family walk
for some off-leash time
in the park, and back.
Bella is driven away.
Lolita laments her lack.
2nd week of Nov 2004
Max Richards at Cooee,
North Balwyn, Melbourne
***
FILM, MIKA K(aurismaki)
For one thing
I thought,
"La Vie de Boheme"
Mayan Theatre.
Miserable
(I) (eye) love the movies.
Kind of dream of being
and bloody tired of it,
kidding about any of it.
Barry Alpert / Silver Spring, MD US / 11-11-04 (1:46 AM)
I decided to attend a triple-threat Finnish extravaganza at the American
Film Institute in Silver Spring, featuring a screening of Mika Kaurismaki's
1999 film L.A. WITHOUT A MAP plus live sets by 2 Finnish rock & roll bands,
one of which (LAIKA & THE COSMONAUTS) contributed songs to the soundtrack
of the Kaurismaki film. The leader of the other band, THE LATEBIRDS, was
responsible for the curatorial idea, and the cultural attache of the
embassy supported the program, which toured to a few other cities. The
attendance was ten times that of earlier AFI screenings of films by Mika's
better-known brother, Aki, and although Quentin Tarantino & Dick Dale are
known fans of LAIKA's music, I believe it was simply the fact of the live
r&r sets in front of the big screen which radically increased the public.
What I knew in advance about the director & this film didn't suggest that
it would be a likely occasion for writing, but I thought I'd try anyway.
Finally, let me clarify that lines 3-4 reference Kaurismaki's visual
allusion to his brother Aki's 1992 film LA VIE DE BOHEME, which Mika
implies was being revived on the screen at the historic Mayan Theatre in
Los Angeles.
***
Night Walk
must be a flood of hundreds
here (in no way Biblical:
vulgar, that would
be husbands of thousands)
so to put out the urge
to intertext of
a mind
I
tell myself
along sidewalk :
s
l
o
p
e
on the pull
of seasons of this Texas
oily street runoff
red sand
of almost
well, Emily comes
to mind
but to the physical world
a skid across the roll of ripe acorns --
things shiny
as animal eyes
though hard & loud, congenial
as ancients, beetles (hey,
they mutter:
wanna little antenna?
sure, I say:
you can¹t be spam
must be in
with the stars
so generous
you are!)
each given its hat of tree
threads woven tighter
than door mats
to perfect
melded
caps, oh: machine
beings would love
to ego such replicants
who, alas, have fallen
off, turning to dust
my night eyes say--
unadorned
the acorns send up
mere shells
with resounding
crrrrr.aaaaccc.kkksss
chris murray, Dallas, TX, 10 Nov 04 10:49 pm
***
"I AND THE VILLAGE"
The readings curator of the Cornelia Street Cafe
is a rather good poet named Angelo Verga.
I ate lunch with him, an accident of seating,
three weeks ago, and we talked about 9/11
because he lives downtown and I worked there.
He was slightly vague and I was not pressing.
No need: he saw what he saw and so did I.
The Cornelia Street Cafe is next door
to what used to be the Cafe Cino.
The Cino gave birth to Sam Shepard,
Lanford Wilson, Tom Eyen, and John Guare.
It didn't give birth to me.
Indeed, I was born once and that was enough.
In 1964 I got a small part in Wilson's
"Rimers of Eldritch" and I really sucked,
so "Lance" called me up to fire my ass.
Not very brave of him, but he wasn't wrong,
and I can't remember minding.
I submitted a play to Cino's dramaturg,
his name was Neil Flanagan, a fine actor,
nice guy and doomed, for I read in the Times
back in the early '80s
that Neil had died of AIDS.
As for the play, whatever it was,
it didn't make the cut so I did not
become Shepard or Wilson or anyone Famous,
but for no reason I can name, I wasn't resentful,
and back then I resented everything
and hated everyone.
My history with the Cafe Cino is cut with nastiness.
These were my young psycho days forty years ago,
and I stalked an actress who played there.
She wasn't appreciative, and I got the message.
She was gorgeous in 1964 but today
I'll bet she looks like crap.
Hey, it's middle age, nobody's friend.
I on the other hand have was never
so gorgeous that I had much to lose.
Joe Cino, the guy who owned the cafe,
shot himself in 1967, and the place shut down.
In October 2004 I ate lunch the way I do
everything, by accident, with Angelo Verga,
who writes poetry, and who survived Hell by accident,
two things we have in common.
Kenneth Wolman
***
take away
heresy then hearsay
evidence becomes a
wandering gesture
away with words
yes to say
ought to / go
figure what
time to get to
heaven I'm in
even token
war renders the
overlord beyond
reform / laying down
law lawlessly
denies the ground stood upon
Douglas Barbour
***
Political Groupies
As a child, I gave up the American dream
just before the Kennedy years
I argued with my father
for screaming at the television
and calling democrats "commies"
I asked my mother
why she dressed like Jackie O
Don't get me wrong
I love this country-but
I don't like clowns
and never developed
a taste for the circus
I voted for God, pressed "write in"
a keyboard menu came up
(touched the letters G - O - D)
Evidently a wild gang of head-banging,
mosh pitting, political groupies
kicked my vote to the curb
Deborah Russell, 10-11-04, 8:44 am
Baltimore, Maryland
***
Snapshot
1
it's a pers-
pective class
2
rose bush
standard white
one metre high
white rose
standard
white right
outside my
door is
losing it
s petals
w i e r s
i r
h t
o e
3
it's how
you see
things
ie, now
you see
things
Andrew Burke
Mt Lawley, Western Australia
***
Įrni
snapshot
this week
has a hole
a big hole
gaping wide
waiting to hear
will Įrni make it
wishing him well
come back soon
I see a volcano
has blown up
under a glacier
in chilly Iceland
maybe it's him
on his way
back to us
but I shall
light some more
candles anyway
warm cheery.
Patrekur 7-41
raynesparkuk
***
The way the top of the white garbage truck brushes under
The Weeping Willow¹s thin branches & soft green leaves:
³Take away the woe; take away the woe.²
Stephen Vincent
***
syllables fall on the green rust
they¹re cold and have breathed through
the grey cumulus in time
for some reason an ibis
hangs for a second split
the little sky above the path
nothing exact as place moves
ficus and eucalypt
someone is measuring the wind
somewhere
north of here
phrases gather round brown points
the black and grey asphalt grounds
and concrete marts
making known rather than advertise
the pressure drops
and there are no new sentences
today they all are new
but not explaining where the temperature went
or why some days small birds arrive
with rusty breasts and that story
of movement
where nothing or no-one
is a stranger
Jill Jones
Marrickville 8.50 am 10 November
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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