If I Died at 55: 315 Experiment Poem 8/12/05
August 12, 2005 315am
Today’s my mom’s birthday.
She was born in 1937.
That makes her almost 70.
She seems much younger than that.
70 seems so old
and she’s not.
I used to think
55 was old.
My mother-in- law
she died at 54 and
I used to think
she lived a long life
that 54 was a good number of years.
It’s not. If I died at 55 Read more…
how i became the art predator 2: an obit for the ojai & ventucky voice’s jeff san marchi
i was doing a little arts writing for the ojai and ventucky voice , mostly promoting sculpture shows at art city, but also published the first article there about Burning Man in 1995 or 96, and the editor, jeff san marchi, wanted my writing, my perspective to become a regular part of the paper–he wanted me to write a Read more…
Winter Solstice/NYE Party: Fishbon Wonderland
On New Year’s Eve from 9pm-3am, Burners and friends in the Santa Barbara area are gathering to put on an extravangaza to honor the winter solstice and celebrate and welcome the New Year at the Fishbon Pescadrome. Wear white! My friend Jenessa will be performing and she says there will be stilt bars (!), and all kinds of wild and groovy activities plus dancing to 6 DJs.
THEY SAY: Fishbon Wonderland is a fantasy environment that celebrates the return of the light at Winter Solstice. In Celtic countries (Ireland, Scotland, Northern France) this time has been celebrated with Mumming Plays which follow a common death and resurrection theme. In traditional mumming events, the protagonist is St. George who is killed by the current villain (during the conflict with the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, it was the Turkey Champion). In this version, based loosely on the Snow White story, it is the wicked Queen mother who slays the innocent Snow White. Thanks to the intervention of the Huntsman/Prince, she is revived and all is well in the world.
Another theme that Fishbon Wonderland explores is seduction and the island of the Sirens. Seven beautiful maidens replace the dwarfs in our tale. They are both protectors and destroyers..welcoming Snow White into their circle of protection and repelling invasion of opportunistic, libidinous woodsmen.
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favorite t-shirt 2008: Ventucky
someone found my blog looking for ventucky t-shirts: wild planet on main street in ventucky has posters and long time burners Peter, Christy, Jeff and crew would be the folks to ask about t-shirts. in fact, was it Jeff Burroughs or musician Jeff Kaiser who first used the term ventucky with me?
giving back 2: Art City
an open letter from the Fundraising Arm for Art City…
Dear Friends:
Please join as a community in taking a stand for the preservation and renovation of Ventura’s Art City and to assist its founder Paul Lindhard. http://www.artcitystudios.com/contact.htm
Art City is at a critical stage and there are immediate funding needs of $25,000 to legalize the structures that have not been torn down and building the ADA compliance bathroom which would include architectural and engineering fees, permit fees, materials & electrical. These are costs that Paul is facing right now, 2007.
We are making this appeal today because the end is upon us for anyone who needs to make donations this year and would consider taking a stand for Art City. The enthusiasm is there for building this project and fundraising will make that possible. But there isn’t time for fundraising for these immediate needs.
Art City has applied and awaiting the stamp of approval from the State for its 1053C status, the San Buenaventura Artists Union Gallery has arranged to accept checks payable to Art City:
http://www.venturaartistsunion.org/contact.htm
or mail directly to: Art City @ 197 Dubbers Street
Ventura, CA 93001 805-648-1690 805-653-6380
It takes a community!
Joy and Peace to you and yours,
If you would like to be part of making Ventura’s Art City thrive and flourish by donating services, labor, laughter, communication, ideas, donuts, coffee, everyone and everything makes a difference. Please contact me.
let it snow: giving back
Matt at WordPress wrote this cool code to make snow on my blog–here until Jan 2 so enjoy!
This snow falling is just one example of giving back…
more on this topic soon…
Shells: 3:15 Experiment Poem 8/2/02
In keeping with the season, for this week’s Poetry Train I submit this poem from the 2002 3:15 Experiment(where you wake up at 3:15am every night in August and write poetry believe it or not…there’s even 2 poetry collections of work written at 3:15am!).
BTW, it’s a lovely warm day here in Ventucky: clear and you can see the Channel Islands, a light breeze wafts the ocean air our way, the hills around Two Trees are finally starting to green after recent rains. I scrubbed out the hot tub and it’s filling with water. Be too cold tonight but should be great tomorrow! The sunset may even look like the one in the Sean Kirkpatrick painting above; this painting was on the poster for the Hillsides Conservancy Music Festival a year or two ago…
I produced the Broadside below. If you’d like a copy of it, let me know and we’ll make arrangements! Thanks!
We hike up to Two Trees
fossilized shells under feet
one spiral whole in my hand.
When I was five maybe seven or eight
my grandpa and I walked up
the steep dirt hill
walked on seashells.
Why Grandpa how Grandpa–
my mind trying to wrap itself around
someone carrying these shells
up here to leave behind–
did they live here?
I knew the Chumash
left piles of shells in their middens
shells as trash
shells as beads
shells as money
the shells deep in the dirt.
I kneel and want to pick up the pieces:
there are more shells here
than I have ever found on the beach.
My grandpa tells me
these are ancient seabeds we walk on
high now above the shore.
The mountain used to be underwater.
The mountain used to be the beach.
This is sand.
I would be swimming.
I would be underwater.
It was very different then he says.
The shells I have found
he holds in his hand.
He may have named them.
He knew these things.
He was a tough man, a sharp man
funny sometimes but not friendly
to children always.
I knew he put a caterpillar in his mouth
telling a child they were tasty.
The child didn’t believe him.
My grandpa rolled the caterpillar
under his tongue but the child
saw it—so he swallowed.
Was I too being fooled?
They tell you so many things
these adults and they expect
you to believe them:
dinosaurs, planets, Santa Claus.
From the 315 Experiment: August 2, 2002
(Note: this was submitted October 2008 for Read Write Poem‘s prompt to write about dinosaurs, fossils or monsters.)
favorite winter solstice gift: Tidelog
More daylight–yippee! The sun is getting higher above the horizon–yippee!
So listen up, those on the west and east coasts, and find out a wonderful way to keep track of the moon, the sun, the skies and the tides! The link is:
Tidelog (Pacific Publishers)
I received my first Tidelog as a winter solstice gift in 1993. I love how it SHOWs the phases of the moon, how it SHOWs when the sun rises and how many hours of daylight, that it SHOWs the high and low tides. It even tells dawn and dusk and talks about various astronomical events of interest including meteor showers and eclipses.
When planning a camping trip I can see what’s going on, like whether we will have much moon and when to fix dinner before it’s too dark. It’s been awesome for Burning Man too, even though my Tidelog is for SoCal these days instead of NoCal, because I can get a pretty good idea how much moon and how much sun we will have and when. (BTW, this year the night of the Burn is a NEW MOON…uh, oh, newbies, better get planning! It’ll be a lot different from last year!)
Tidelog can even help with depression! That’s right, according to yoga teacher Johangir Palklova (brother of Aadil), taking a sunset walk fills you with the warmth you need to heal the dark within. Tidelog can help you keep track of when to walk!
My Tidelog is indispensible; I check it almost every day. Let me know what you think!
BTW, if you’re a moon person like me, be sure to scroll down a bit to see NASA moon image and the post about the gloriously bright moon we’ve been enjoying this solstice.
winter solstice ritual
winter solstice: blue moon, red planet
| Winter Solstice Eve Sky Show | 12.20.2007 | ||
| a found poem from NASA NASA says this just might be the brightest moon you’ve ever seen. That’s because it’s the highest-riding full moon until the year 2023.
Above: The Moon photographed by P-M Heden of Vallentuna, Sweden. Not far from the moon glows fireplace-red Mars. This Winter Solstice, Mars is at its closest to Earth for the next NINE years. Mars is also “at opposition” astronomy-lingo for “directly opposite the sun.” It means Mars is up whenever the sun is down: tonight the Red Planet will be visible all night long.
Gliding in formation across the sky, the moon and Mars seem so close you could almost reach up, grab the pair and bounce them down the street.
NASA says maybe some future Solstice Eve, one of us will step outside of our cozy lunar cabin and walk our space-suited dog with long, floating steps down some dusty lunar road. We’ll look up and say, “There’s a pretty full Earth tonight!” BTW, highest riding means it’s the highest in the sky–like straight overhead instead of low on the horizon (like the sun is around here these days). Happens about every 18 or so years. May we live to see and enjoy this again. |
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