Robert Frank's Rolling Stones Video

Smoke - Curtains

From The Dhammapada

"Let him live in love. Let his work be well done. Then in a fulness of joy he will see the end of sorrow."

One of my favorite passages from The Odyssey (two translations)

Oh Brave Odysseus!






















"Endure my heart, you endured worse than this
on that day when the invincible Cyclops
ate our comrades. You bore it until your cunning
got you out of the cave where you thought you would die."

from book 20, Translated by Stanley Lombardo

"Bear up, old heart! You've borne worse, far worse,
that day when Cyclops, man mountain, bolted
your hardy comrades down. But you held fast--
Nobody but your cunning pulled you through
the monster's cave you thought would be your death."

from book 20, Translated by Robert Fagles

John Coltrane Quartet - Live 1965 - Vigil

Damn.

Morning Poem #252

Lifting my head,
breathing from my belly, eating a bit,
drinking coffee, reading the paper,
dozing almost, going for a run,
breathing more, saying hello to three
people in the park, in the dark!
Now home again with
a certain tinkle of the piano
somewhere not far way.
OK, here we go into Monday.
Good luck everyone.

Sunday Top 11

1) Brooklyn, early morning Sunday. My favorite.

2) Talking with Greg Hamilton last night and witnessing his courage while battling cancer. I honor him here.

3) All this Christmas stuff is kind of bumming me out.

4) The sound of a seagull outside my window right now.

5) Frank O'Hara: "I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love."

6) The view of the city on 56th Street from the 43rd floor last night: Sparkle City.

7) Walking home from the train and having a momentary feeling of peace and calm on Baltic Street, but it didn't last long.

8) My bed, now festooned with books.

9) There is something about the silence of this room that I find adorable.

10) I'm okay. I just miss someone, a lot. Bear with me.

11) So, a bear walks into a bar, see?

Julianna Barwick

Julianna will be perfroming at The Cameo Gallery on Thursday, December 17th. If you've never seen her, you should. I'll be there!

Saturday Top 10

1) Cold outside, warm in here.

2) A clementine and a banana.

3) Hum and whoosh of traffic: it sounds like the ocean from my bed.

4) How tender Brooklyn feels this morning.

5) This new skin I have is very supple.

6) Whenever I feel like dancing, I dance.

7) What would you do if I sang out of tune? Wait, don't tell me.

8) The scallops, the beets, the squash, the home, the company. Thank you J.K.

9) Lifting my hands above my head and clapping them.

10) Thelonius Monk.

Friday Top 5

1) Running in the wind and cold is just not fun, not even with a really good soundtrack. But Prospect Park looks gorgeous and barren, so there was something to smile about. There's your poem right there.

2) "Don't despair, not even over the fact that you don't despair. Just when everything seems over with, new forces come marching up, and precisely that means that you are alive. And if they don't then everything is over with here, once and for all." Franz Kafka, July 21, 1913 from Diaries

3) Reading, writing, and taking naps on Fridays is what it's all about for me.

4) The smell of the Christmas trees on the corner of Kane and Clinton made me cry today. I'm such a dork.

5) So many friends sending texts and emails. Hey friends: I love you all.

Allen Ginsberg's Advice (again)

"My advice to you is as follows:
one, learn meditation practice;
two, empower yourself with your own emotions -
don’t be afraid of grief, or heartthrob;
three, be willing to expose yourself and be a fool,
to not be intimidated in the presence of presidents
and rock stars, but come on as a gentle, living
flesh and blood human being."

Morning Poem

Whatever else could be said is done.
It's so cold outside that some birds have come
into my room to sleep. They flutter and coo
in the warmth and doze on my t-shirts.
I am naming them later today and feeding
them walnuts that were left behind.
All night I dreamt of brave Odysseus
and his disguise at the banquet making
them think he was a tramp a lesser man
some big trick but he got it right in the end
and shot the arrow through the axe heads.
When it's like this I am all that I can take
watching steam curl from rooftops
golden light in windows as people
prepare for ordinary days.
I remember ordinary days: getting ready to do
something and doing it without this strange new
heavy coat I have to wear around now. I bump into things
I drop dishes I limp around like I've
been kicked in the heart.
Hello birds, flutter above me as I rise
I will not abandon you.

3

1) "I can't wish anything or I will die of it." Alice Notley, "March 25th" from At Night the States

2) "And then I start getting this feeling of exaltation." John Ashbery, "A Blessing in Disguise" from Rivers and Mountains

3) "I'm infused with the day I'm out in it." John Wieners, "A Poem for Early Risers" from The Hotel Wentley Poems

Good Night Poem

I hope the bedroom makes me sleepy tonight
and not a frayed electric wire popping sparks off the bed.

Cold Weather Top 3

1) Jazz!
2) Smartwool Socks!
3) Green Tea (2 bags).

Thanks for stopping by.

Shifting

Let the sky hold you upright
like a crisp blue crutch. Long light
over Brooklyn in winter.
Let the memory of all that
lull itself to sleep so you can
be awake. Why just look
at all the things waiting
for you to embrace them.

Thursday Top 8

1) "We run heedlessly into the abyss after putting something in front of us to stop us from seeing it." Blaise Pascal, Pensees, #166

2) "This is the first schooling in spirituality: not to react immediately to a stimulus but to get a hold on those instincts that stall and inhibit." Robert Musil, Diaries 1899-1942

3) "Marius' earhole smells." Martial, The Epigrams

4) "If you can't find anyone who can stand you, you can't find anyone who believes you've got anything they want." Adam Phillips, Equals

5) "Don't hand yourself over like a wrapped package. Laugh while you howl. Howl with laughter." Henri Michaux, Tent Posts

6) "Their catalogues of loss are also records of survival." Adam Phillips, Darwin's Worms

7) "Human nature, essentially changeable, unstable as the dust, can endure no restraint; if it binds itself it soon begins to tear madly at its wounds, until it rends everything asunder, the wall, the bounds, and its very self." Franz Kafka, "The Great Wall of China"

8) "One has carefully scented a robe and then forgotten about it for several days. When finally one comes to wear it, the aroma is even more delicious than on freshly scented clothes." Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book

!

To Everyone

A relaxing night
full of fabulous stuff.

Top 12 Wednesday

1) Listening to the cold rain while reading under a down blanket.

2) Just feeling total love for Joe Brainard and how much he's made me smile over the years whenever I've been sad.

3) Remembering how much I bring to the table of love.

4) Sweet Jane.

5) A warm shower can change your point of view.

6) Patti Smith and Alice Notley. How strong and creative they've both been in the face of enormous grief. They are my heroes and I salute them.

7) Realizing how much I don't need.

8) Peanut butter and jelly on toasted Ezekiel Bread washed down with ice cold milk while reading the NY Times (breakfast and dinner).

9) The simple basic stuff like being kind to myself and others everyday.

10) Bob Dylan, you've been there every single time my heart has been broken. Thanks Bob!

11) Riding my bike home at night. Thank you for setting me free, bike!

12) Dancing, even when it hurts to breathe.