|
|
 |
|
...and they lived happily ever after. Smith & Lady: poets, artists, photographers & adventurers.
Our relationship was forged to the soundtrack of Yoko Ono's magic,
frenetic, love-laden song, "Walking On Thin Ice." ( play song )
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Archive for May, 2008
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
graffiti – foto by smiththe artist who was supposed to deliver our pre-paid clay sculpture wednesday night rang our buzzer at 8 friday morning – without the sculpture. his car wouldn’t start, and the sculpture has since been damaged. but he salvaged part of it in a new piece and will give us that sunday at the poetry reading. i wasn’t surprised to see him – i felt all along he would show up eventually. there is an honesty about him in spite of his hustler ways. he sang some of his songs and talked of the three of us getting an art show or musical event or whatnot.
this poem is from 2003, one of the poems which helped me catch Lady’s attention, and the second of three poems included in this year’s Cleveland Poetry Scenes – A Panorama and Anthology:
Dear Occupants, Accidents and Occidentals
Just yesterday it was yesterday
Now it’s already today
Confuse not mercy with weakness
Confuse weakness not with an upset liver
And confuse not an upset liver with love
It is the shape of the silence
Which defines the sound
Like winter rubbing against summer
Each refines the other
Only certain curtains can be drawn
The rest must be endured
The souring sermons
The centered self serving
The lion den Christians in Coliseum stands
Twixt ape and angel wandering
Torn between the knowledge
And the need
Do I worship the moon or sun
Or yet the blooded one?
I bloat and smell
Decay in age
The focus runs
political graffiti – foto by smith |
Posted in Mexico | No Comments »
Friday, May 30th, 2008
political graffiti – foto by smiththis is from 1993, and is perhaps my most poetic poem – the sounds slither. one of three poems of mine included in this year’s Cleveland Poetry Scenes – A Panorama and Anthology
Alone This Train
I look to pain to gain
Sleep devoid of sheep
And master’s muster walk
Or talk of tinkers’ conforming will
Alone this train
I see you born
To breed
To die
Infected meat
You teach to cheat
Your fly from famine
Shallow matter
Decayed in safety’s slumber
You briefcased fellows
Bellow farts to follow
Hollow smells
Of high topped fashion
Passion fish not flesh
But flounder
Hurried waters sleek in sinning
Shower lies and cry forgetting
Licking compulsion’s flesh
This land is long, and lost in shadow
Her sweets succinctly sour
striking teachers tent – foto by smith |
Posted in Poetry | 2 Comments »
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
one of our plants – foto by smithblogging is an ego-driven phenomenon. why would anyone think another human would be interested in their daily thoughts and actions? we all have lives, so why would we need to spend ours reading of another’s?
considering the time most folk spend in front of a tv, it would seem they’re trying to escape their own lives, live vicariously through others – sort of like parents often do with their children. so if it’s escape they want and need, i’ve done things most folk won’t, am living my present life as most folk don’t. so there’s a lot of entertainment value.
people also examine other’s lives for clues on what to do – or most often, what not to do. again, my life is a fine example of both.
however, nobody’s life is worth a daily public on-line entry. no one’s thoughts are worth daily jottings. no one is interesting all the time.
that said, let’s see – what’s new for escape or learning today? hmmmmmm, my heart is skipping beats again. sometimes 3 beats and a skip, sometimes 14 and a skip. think a salty restaurant meal initiated it. my heart started skipping december 2006 in croatia due to not enough water and waaaaaaay too much strong coffee – plus every meal we ate in a croatian restaurant came wrapped in a salt blanket. i changed my diet and ways and finally got it working right again in france in early 2007.
it is worrisome when your heart stops and your brain keeps going, pondering it – causes a wee bit of worry. logically my skipped heartbeats mean less oxygen is being sent to my cells, and fewer toxins removed from my blood. of course since i’m using fewer beats per day than required, that leaves extra unused beats down the line to keep me going after i otherwise wouldn’t be. figure this is my screen-saver heart mode.
anyway, drop my 2 cups of coffee a week, cut down my salt, drink more water, and i should be fine. again. “fine again” could describe my life – hop in trouble, wiggle and work my way out of trouble. been doing it 62 years now. you’d think after awhile i’d get it right.
local pigeon – foto by smith |
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
graffiti – foto by smith43 pages and 25,000 words of our book are gone, deleted, tossed out the window because Lady decided they impeded our story flow. and she’s right. the missing stuff also made me look meaner, shallower, and weaker as well.
been a good culture week – read an excellent book in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (much much better than the movie), and watched a fine film titled There Will Be Blood starring Daniel Day-Lewis based on an Upton Sinclair novel. both are about obsession. the book ends happily, the movie in madness. we also bought a used copy of Neil Gaiman’s underground novel American Gods for $3. been wanting to re-read that one for a couple years. kulchur oozing out all over the place.
more culture – a dreadlocked artist tried to sell us a 20″ red clay free standing sculpture of the head of Pacal the Great who ruled Mayans from 615 to 683 A.D. wanted $20 for the original sculpture. it was too big to take with us, so we gave him 200 pesos and a note with our address and asked him to bring it by tonight. if he shows up, we’ll get stoned, show him our art, talk. if he disappears, then he needed the twenty dollars more than we did.
later – dreadlocks did not show. he may still turn up. lots of possible reasons he didn’t show. he knows where our poetry reading is sunday. still, if he doesn’t show, that’s how it goes. he’s an artist living out of his car, so if we don’t ever see him or our sculpture again, then we’ve still done some good. we were only buying the mayan head to help in the first place.
political graffiti – foto by smith |
Posted in Mexico | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
street wall shrine – foto by smithi’ve two as yet unfulfilled travel adventure desires – 1) cross the equator, and 2) view the aurora borealis or the aurora australis (the northern lights or the southern lights). we can head down south america at the equinox and do both – maybe september. that would add a 4th continent to my resume – Lady already has 4 continents to my 3 since she visited Suriname when she was 5.
she asked if i missed the united states. told her i miss the drug stores where you can get most anything 24/7, missed the hamburgers, the big cheap breakfasts, and the cleveland poetry scene. she said she missed the breakfasts and her car. i don’t miss the past because now is so much more than then.
but of all the marvels on our 2 year journey, the things i think most often and fondly of are the five daily muslim prayers broadcast from the minarets of the mosques in morocco. the first prayer was pre-dawn, near 4. heard it many a morning. it’s been 11 months since i heard them and they’re still in my mind.
another powerful memory is standing on the roof in marrakech watching an 8 foot stork fly directly at us, passing 20 foot over our heads. a bird with an 8 foot wing-span is bloody huge. i kept looking for engines.
Lady working – foto by smith |
Posted in Mexico | No Comments »
|
|
|
 |
|
