Portal
Portal
Step through the door
between two worlds,
one to be departed
and one to be explored,
one comfortable
and one is unknown.
Threatening. Necessary.
Fall asleep and awaken.
Waking and sleeping
are different worlds.
I flee from troubling vision,
sweating, out of breath,
flying not as well as before.
Awake, escaped, relieved.
Sex. Orgasm, “La petite mort,”
the little death, release that comes.
Dissolve into the universe,
indistinguishable for the moment.
Go from particular to oceanic,
a self to non-identity.
Surrender and then return.
Old Guitars
Old guitars lean on chairs.
Sound boxes curve
like bodies of women.
Blank music paper scatters
to catch notes which fall
from long fingers
with blue knuckles.
Tantric mandalas
of guitar chord spin
for a moment in the air.
Cigarette smoke settles in waves
around un-barbered heads–
islands in a phantom sea.
Music played urgently
pushes back the void.
The world shaped by it
can be photographed
but not the sound itself.
Shrimp and Arugula
Sun Dried Tomatoes chopped up
Texas Gulf Coast Brown Shrimp
Lemon Zest
Vermouth
Sauvignon Blanc
Simmering
Served up
I got this recipe from The Framed Table which is a wonderful blog done by Andrea and Paul Bartholomew. Visit their site here for the detailed recipe
Young men who chase after ghosts amuse me
Young men who chase after ghosts
amuse me,
when I fight through haunted night
to keep them at bay.
I want to say, “Just give them time;
they’ll arrive,”
but I don’t want to spoil their fun.
Tissue frays; sharp becomes fuzzy.
Night falls.
Look straight ahead, not side to side.
Shades gather.
Don’t make eye contact or answer,
or they will never leave.
There is no hope in their words, no joy.
“Do you remember me?”
they mouth the words.
They have no breath to make the sound,
no heat to warm the room.
I need a warm touch, not ghost words.
I need a throbbing pulse,
Not the rustling of dead leaves.
Fisherman’s Wharf Sundown, San Francisco 1982
The camera was a Nikon FM with a Kiron 28-85 varifocal lens. The film was Plus-X, and I’m not sure of the developer, but it was probably Microdol. Click on photos for larger view.
Captions/Thoughtscapes #2
Rain paints Louisville with a silver sheen.
The town smells like a fish hatchery
when rain settles in for days.
Green algae grows on sidewalks
and shoes will rot unless you dry them.
Strangers in raincoats hurry across streets,
dodge the spray of cars with squints.
Stop action: a tidal wave of water
thrown up by a bus,
frozen in mid-air
above soaked pedestrian
who meets the muddy baptism
with a grimace.
Apartments stack in squares
the private places
between diseased trees
and wire poles.
A half million private universes
hatch ecstasy and nightmare.
Victorian porches
please the eye with a fantasy
of walking the ribcage
of a titanic sea serpent,
bleached by time
to a palisade of bones.
The Guns of Fort Pulaski
Fort Pulaski National Monument is located between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. It preserves Fort Pulaski, where in 1862 during the American Civil War the Union Army successfully tested a rifled cannon, the success of which rendered brick fortifications obsolete. The fort was also used as a prisoner-of-war camp. The National Monument includes most of Cockspur Island (containing the fort) and all of adjacent McQueens Island.
These are not happy places. This place saw destruction, suffering and defeat. Blood was spilled on these floorboards. It is all very distant to us now, 151 years ago. This was not a place you wanted to be with a war going on.
Click on photos for larger view.
Patriots Point, Sullivan Island, South Carolina
Patriots Point is a naval museum, and especially naval aviation. Patriots Point is the home of the USS Yorktown, CV-10, a legendary aircraft carrier. The hangar deck is packed with WWII war birds and carrier warfare displays, and the Apollo 8 space capsule which the Yorktown recovered. This is a place worth seeing. You walk these decks with reverence. Patriots Point is also home to the submarine USS Clamagore (SS-343) and the destroyer USS Laffey (DD-724). I could have stayed there for a week. Click on photos for larger view.
Corsair
Avenger
Wildcat
Dauntless
Stearman
The bridge, USS Yorktown
Corsair II on the catapult
USS Laffey
Engine room, USS Clamagore
Dive controls, USS Clamagore
Skyraider