Chicago Poem

sunday night, october 7

jazz and makers mark
at the hungry brain
smoke-filled and dark

time-warped the previous fifty years
a light touch on the back
to let me know you are near

as my anger subsides
and my good mood returns
here and then i'll reside

and the cigar i am smoking
and the bourbon i am sipping
while the band plays, "Shamokin."

i do not want to come back home
drinking and writing here
happy both with you and all alone.

McCain and Obama Surging....Can They Get Out the Votes?

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Barack Obama (D-IL) are surging in the polls right now. McCain is now tied, according to some polls in NH with Gov. Romney. Obama is either in a lead or tied with Senator Clinton in IA and SC and only slightly behind in NH.

This country would be best served if it ended up having a presidential race between these two gentlemen. It would be a tough race, for sure, but it would be tough on the issues and not the mudfest that I would anticipate with either Giuliani or Clinton or both in the race.

Americans need a good election, on the issues.

So, best of luck to both of them, and to us.

Reminder of Reading by Marcelle Manhattan Tonight!

Just a reminder to my NYC readers (if you are out there) that my friend Marcelle, author of the blog Sexegesis, will be reading at the Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street in Chinatown, NYC, beginning at 8 pm (Note: this is an erotica reading. 21 and older, please).

I don't just post any old blogger's public readings on this site, so the fact that I share this is a credit to my friend. As a reader of my site, Marcelle has also been consistent in her support of my painting efforts. So I am also grateful for that.

In addition to being a great writer with a Great American Novel somewhere within her, Marcelle is a great lady and a sweetheart!

Good luck tonight! My hat is off to you!

January 4, 2008 - My Public Debut as a Painter!

I just got an e-mail notifying me that the piece below, "The Philogynist," has been accepted for the Upstate Artist Guild show, Bedroom Community.

I post it here below for those who live far away and those who cannot make it.

This is actually thrilling! And I think very special in that this is the first piece that I started.



Last month, on December 7, I contributed a piece, along with many others, to the Sharpie Show, an interactive event at the UAG reception. Mine is the volcano in the tropics piece (just below the light, with my "fpr" and a date),a concept that was fully formed in the painting below.

Scenes from a Studio

The Painter (or is it poet? pornographer? politician?)




The Studio in the Cloister





Volcano, painted for a muse!



Sunrise with Cigar, Coffee, and Lucky Bamboo, painted for a friend with metta!



Dunes...inspired by the poem from "Antietam."

Progress with the Painting...and Plugs

So far, I have been able to get down on canvas two of the four "characters/roles," that are described in the post below: painter and poet. Both are different stylistically, but share the same pose, complete with drink and cigar. Started sketcing out "pornographer," and don't know what I want to do yet with "psychiatric."

Additionally, I have begun to paint a scene from The Moon and Sixpence, which simply has the stockbroker-turned-painter, Charles Strickland sitting at a table playing a game of chess.

It was a nice weekend, too. On Friday, a friend came up and visited, and we did a little bar hopping. Saturday, I hung out with little girl for the day, then went home and painted some, but I was in bed by 9:30 p.m. Of course, I was up until 3:30 a.m. the night before. Sunday, I hung out with my daughter and stayed over, because of the weather.

Plug for Marcelle's reading this Thursday

Also need to plug my friend, Marcelle's blog, as she will be reading at an event this Thursday, in NYC, off Broome Street, I think. Lately, she's been getting a bit philosophical about the nature of kink and "perversion," and to her credit, throwing in a good word about the need for sexual ethics. Her blog is not for the feint at heart or the close-minded. I find it fun, her funny and quite endearing. And I think she is a pretty good writer. Regretfully, I will miss the reading. So, my best wishes to her.

Plug for DeeAnne Gorman

I also want to link to my friend DeeAnne Gorman, a fellow GWU classmate, lived on the same floor of Guthridge Hall as me. We didn't know each other well in the 1980's, but I've gotten to spend some quality time with her and have read her poetry and have heard her sing. I think this Sunday, she'll be at Cafe Prudence (18th Street, between 7th and 8th), around 1 p.m.