Saturday, January 22, 2011

The Unheard Poet



No, not me.  This guy installed himself at the Sunday morning farmers' market, with a beach chair, half a guitar case, and an Olivetti manual typewriter.  He offered to write a poem, on the spot, free (donations accepted), on a prompt/topic of your choice.  I suggested unseasonably warm January weather, and he got right on it.  Of course we gave him a buck.  I wrote one back for him, which I am sending out.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

SHOTS wants The Body



SHOTS is requesting submissions for its issue The Body.   I wonder what they are looking for, or hoping for.  Makes me wish I had been into photography when my ITP was acute--now *there's* a new view of the body. Anyhow, I am certainly no Robert Mapplethorpe, nor Edward Weston nor Tina Modotti (see link below for a good look at some of her photos).  I'm thinking of photos about how people manage their bodies in relation to society (sounds pretentious, doesn't look it), looks and fashion and hopes, like those statues whose certain part has been rubbed shiny by women hoping to conceive. 

I took this pic one morning at the Paris/Montparnasse cafe Cafe Odessa. As we were finishing our coffee and tartines, a delivery truck pulled up.  Six men and one woman in traditional butchers' outfits jumped out and proceeded to unload a nice fresh carcass of a fine pig.  They trundled it over to the tables on the terrace, set it up so that it looked pleasant (considering).  Our favorite waiter seemed to be expecting them:  he provided them with glasses of white wine and orange juice, and brought a glass for the pig as well, then a table cloth so that the pig looked ready to partake.  The butchers provided the cigarette (definitely a French pig).  I suggested a fork, but we couldn't get it to stand upright in the trotter.  Everyone, and I mean everyone, sprouted cameras and stood there snapping away.  All the while, a professional photographer with three cameras with enviable lenses photographed us, and a young woman sat with a notebook quietly writing down what people were saying.  It was quite a stunt.  I still wonder what the set-up was:  performance art? feature for a magazine? thesis project?  This particular photo appeared in Superficial Flesh in their Fall 2007 issue.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=AMO&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=modotti+photos&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=kcwtTZrAAYL2tgPHq5HDBg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDUQsAQwAA&biw=791&bih=478

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Moving on from 2010


Found reflection of the sky and a redwood in a quiet arm of the creek running along the Ewolsen trail in Big Sur.  A good and productive New Year to us all, I hope.