Monday, November 18, 2024

LOVE, JOE

 

I haven't posted much since the election, mostly because I feel like anything I say comes from such a place of privilege(s) that other voices should take precedent, but I also think all our voices should take part in shaping some solutions, so here's mine:

On the day after the election I got this in the mail, LOVE, JOE: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard, who, for those who don't know, was a uniquely original artist/writer/poet/collaborator and also one of the loves, and lovers, of my life. It helped my mood immensely.

Ever since I was a child in the 1940s, during and after WWII, I have found my solace in the arts, where the creative endeavors of others, as well as my own, have found ways to open my heart to the infinite possibilities of life. Everything Joe Brainard created, did that for me. And still does.

I remember (the title of Joe's autobiographical masterpiece) the thrill of seeing an envelope in the mail with Joe's distinct all caps lettering (see the cover of the book). His sometimes rambling thoughts and observations and enclosed drawings or magazine photos (and in the case of me and a few others, his sexual fantasies (I know, you're shocked)) always seemed like rare treats to me.

Daniel Kane has done a fantastic job of editing, choosing to group letters by addressee chronologically, so that you get the scope of each relationship amid echoes of events and gossip, which is like a full immersion into Joe's life and work and world (and wisdom), and his triumphs and struggles with it all.

Not everyone's "cup of tea" (as Joe might put it, i.e. in quotes), but if you already love Joe's work (if unfamiliar, read I REMEMBER) I think you'll love LOVE, JOE. And for me, love is always the answer.

Monday, November 11, 2024

VETERANS DAY

 

Me and my buddy, Murph, in basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, outside San Antonio, Texas, in February or March of 1962. I was 19. To read about my adventures, get my most recent book: SAY IT  AGAIN.



Friday, November 8, 2024

A LONGTIME FAVORITE QUOTE

"While looking for the light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness and find the true light."  —Jack Kerouac (from The Scripture of the Golden Eternity)

Friday, November 1, 2024

NEW YEAR

 HAPPY SAMHAIN

(pronounced SOW-IN)

AKA CELTIC NEW YEAR

AKA IRISH NEW YEAR

Monday, October 28, 2024

LOVE, JOE

[I'll only be there on video, and my reading includes graphic sex  so be forewarned] 

Love, Joe – an evening celebrating the publication of Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard
Wednesday | 10/30 | 7:30pm reception, 8pm event | The Parish Hall @ St Mark's Church

Please join us for an evening celebrating the publication of Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard, edited by Daniel Kane.

Joe Brainard was one of the most distinctive figures on New York City’s vibrant cultural scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Widely known for his influential experimental memoir, I Remember, Brainard worked in a variety of forms, from New-York-School-aligned poetry to Pop-Art-adjacent artworks, including wild riffs on the comic strip character Nancy. Love, Joe presents a selection of Brainard’s letters that stretch from 1959 to 1993 addressed to artists and friends such as John Ashbery, Ted Berrigan, Alice Notley, Fairfield Porter, Bernadette Mayer, James Schuyler, Alex Katz, and Andy Warhol. The letters, edited and annotated by Daniel Kane, allow readers to witness an extraordinarily fertile moment in New York’s history, when literary and visual arts intersected with happenings, proto-punk and psychedelic rock concerts, and experimental music and dance performances. The evening will include readings by Tyhe CooperKyle DacuyanHeather DentonMike FunkBrad GoochVincent KatzMichael LallyAnn LauterbachKeith McDermottRon PadgettAnne Waldman, and Nicole Wallace.

We hope you can join us at 7:30pm for a reception before the event.

This event will also be livestreamed for free on The Poetry Project's YouTube channel.

TICKETS

Daniel Kane's publications include All Poets Welcome: the Lower East Side Poetry Scene in the 1960s (2003), We Saw the Light: Conversations between the New American Cinema and Poetry (2009), and Do You Have a Band? Poetry and Punk Rock in New York City (2017). He lives in Copenhagen and teaches American literature at Uppsala University in Sweden.


Monday, October 21, 2024

FYI THIS SATURDAY

 

Can't get this announcement to scale correctly
but if you hit on the LINK part this Saturday
the 26th at 5pm eastern, it should connect
you to a poetry reading I'll be doing via zoom
with 3 other poets, could be interesting. 
 LiVE MAG! & Lit Balm Present


    EYES LEFT  
 
 A Needed Dose of Hip


  Michael Lally  

 Brendan Lorber 
  Elinor Nauen 
  Larry Sawyer  

Please join us for a recital of legends.   

 Saturday, October 26       5pm EST set.EST 

 

 Link to join Zoom 
  https://us04web.zoom.us/j/461603228


 


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