Saturday, July 10, 2010

Consequences

My clumsy feet and long sturdy shoelaces
stumbling for that place in life

One elusive place that finds me
falling nose-long for the ground

One heartbeat
One Breath
One lifetime as I blink:

One blink.
One thought.

So missing the ground beneath my feet,
the things I see and smell

appointed and filed
for later recollection.

Broken Pieces of Everyone

What is the hurried life?

Time,
perception,
Relative

The ability
to hurl one self through it
without reward or pain

We become triviality:
Stupid crap on a Facebook page.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Summer of The Said Salamander


Shapes of trees,
negative Space
in the light of fire.

--Fireflies
like dying stars flicker
before the torn fabric of space,
a dim blu hum of sky
move to the foreground.

Curious
little minds,
timid cautious creatures

Peering into the depth

Wind falls

from ridge-line-peaks
dusting a Woodpecker
beating coarse and tender bark.

Bug-bitten feet shuffle in the shallows
while salamanders slither
like wriggling rays of sunshine
or great dragons gliding
over golden grains of sand.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Crosseyed, Looking Through Screens

through the open yard
dog at my feet
eyes somewhere
Gazing
between that mocking bird

and blue grass shadows
falling from trees
fixed everything in peripheral

My thoughts form lines, one
at a time passing
with each passing breath

until my chest kicks me
back to blue grass.
I forgot to breathe.

It’s funny how thought comes
much differently for crows
or woodpeckers drumming
through
tattered sunlight.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Cycles In Season

It’s Autumn.
Songs play in the wind
in gusts blowing down
from trees
Soon comes the ice.

December
the moon is high
and full
and I can feel the day
strain in my back.
Nothing keeps the stars from looking any less
vivid in the crisp night air.

Spring is on me again
Winter holding its beauty
beneath lingering
ice and snow
I’m tired, dragging,
in a good frame of mind.
There is only what I am
at any given moment.
I am these things about myself
I see as a constant
throughout my life

June
sneaks in like a cloud
bright
and drifting
along the edges,
calling me to gaze
as a darkened swirling vortex
opens in my mind.

Songs of Autumn wait for me
like embryonic leaves
frozen in sap.

Monday, August 3, 2009

The Old Stompin' Ground

Once upon a time I lived and worked in Brockton, MA, but it has been five years since my last visit. I was there when my daughter was issued her drivers license at the same place I got mine. Before that I hadn't spent any significant time in the city for another five years, when I spent several months in moving transition staying at my brother's place on Hovendon Ave. I owned a house on marion St. back in the late 80's/early 90's. So here I am years later on August 1st Standing inside a stadium I was unaware existed.

I was there with RoadKill as a guest of an old friend from High School who I bumped into on Facebook. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was smack in the middle of an evening of MMA cage fighting! Mark's fight against an opponent half his age was promoted to raise funds to help fight Duschane Muscular Dystrophy, a disease his two sons battle.

It was a great evening for everyone concerned. The fighters conducted themselves professionally, the crowd maintained a friendly atmosphere, and I was glad to see the fighting tradition was alive and well in Brockton MA. There was a strong sense of camaraderie in the air, and after having no idea what to expect of the night, it was an honor to be invited to this event for an up close look inside the ring! Thank You Mark Chauppetta of On the Mark for an inspiring night!
To see the entire photo gallery from this event click on the slide show (upper right)



Saturday, July 25, 2009

The Making of RoadKill Post Production #1

It seems odd that fifteen years to the day of "the accident" I was mailing the RoadKill Manuscript to be published. Its path to production began December 08, when Beth lost her job to a layoff. We decided to start a business, but we needed a product. My manuscript had been collecting dust for a year, and we decided that maybe it was time to work on getting it published. Six months later production was complete. The project seemed to be propelling itself.
I self published through a company I'd rather not plug, but the book is available and in circulation, so they were a means to my end. If Beth had not lost her job and if we hadn't needed a "product line" for our fallback business, RoadKill would still be collecting dust.
I look back on what was learned from the process from start to finish and realize it was better to fall back on what was already started rather than to relentlessly pursue something new destined to be, or not to be the next great achievement for my portfolio. Of course, I now realize it will never be "finished." I'm finding it's as much of a full time job as I want to make it, publicizing, marketing, putting it out there. It's my understanding that publishing companies often pull from self published titles when they have generated enough interest in the market. That's my only plan for the book at the moment, eliminate the risk for potential investors. Until I do that I'm just hoping I can recover my own investment.
I attended my first book signing today at ToadStool Bookstore in Milford NH. I told myself that if I signed just one book it would be worth the effort. I sat there at a table in a seemingly huge chair looking out at 10 empty chairs. I doodled and free wrote on a scrap piece of paper. A man with two little girls in tow approached me, and we spoke about the book for a moment, and I autographed a copy for him, and Suddenly the entire day was a success! I moved one book which was all I wanted to accomplish, success! I figure that even if I sell only one, I never know who that person might be and where my book will travel!
So now I begin to ponder the places my books will travel and to where they may scatter, but I will save that rant for another day.
Thank you again Tammy (ToadStool Bookstore's event coordinator) for a memorable day!