A Tiny Cell
All that you have
they do not want.
Suspected
schemed
intended to renounce the world
to ask for protection,
Scattering on the earth
giving shelter
a tiny cell
a shrine to the martyrs,
Like others before and since,
Obligations
all the heavier
because they were so often denied.
I’ve tried a few times to teach Harriet to sit in the spinny chair, but she’s wanted no part of it. No way, no how, won’t even put her front paws on it. Today, I gave it another shot, and we achieved dog-in-spinny-chairness. Yay!
She now knows how to get up and off on command (she knew both commands, but she thought the spinny chair should be excepted), even when it’s not being held steady for her. She also learned how to sit on it long enough to have her picture taken.
Good girl!
The Departed & The Chosen
collage (altered Polaroid, map, anatomical illustration, and child’s dress pattern) with Neocolors II in altered book
9 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches
The Departed (a found poem)
Our departure
cost nothing less
and offered freedom
from entanglement.
The Chosen (a found poem)
The chosen
arranged
according to the measure
of influence and power.
I’m cat sitting over the holidays, and my first stop was tonight. The owners received Harry and David fruit boxes, and had extras, so they left some for me and the sitter who’s taking the second shift.
Oh. My. I thought I didn’t like red delicious apples. I periodically try them, but they are always mealy and dry, and without fail, they taste like a wad of old newspaper. Not these, though. I just had the crispest, juiciest, most flavorful apple ever. EVAR!1!eleventy!!!
Harry and David, I LOVE YOU IN ALL CAPS!
There are several pieces that I’ve been meaning to re-shoot, because the original photos I took were total crap. I did a couple this afternoon. I did both straight-up versions as well as tarting them up in Photoshop. It’s kind of interesting when a piece can have two lives, both as an artwork and as a photograph.
Remembering Beatrice Stone
I got an e-mail a couple of years ago from a guy who was looking for genealogical information on Beatrice Stone. I hated to break it to him that the name was made up. Using an old college yearbook, I took a first name from column A and a last name from column B.
Epitaph for Eula Strange
Epitaph for Eula Strange
I dread for me
living one mute day every time
an allusive and subtle communication
an ever present affliction
clutching to me
an old thought to gnaw on.
I am afraid
out of worth
without words
caught and reduced and disorganized
like dreaming of sleep
and the taste of dry bones.
Two more found poems.
The Departed
Our departure
cost nothing less
and offered freedom
from entanglement.
The Chosen
The chosen
arranged
according to the measure
of influence and power.
Paint Brushes
Fairy
Lipton Tea Pot
I think the failure message I keep getting has nothing to do with the camera itself. I tried restarting my computer, with the camera powered on and connected, and it worked just fine. The same thing happens with my scanner (if I turn it on after the computer is powered up, the scanner isn’t recognized). This is a recent-ish issue that coincided with the installation of Zone Alarm. I suspect ZA is interfering with my USB ports, which is annoying as all hell but makes a certain amount of sense.
I came across one of my old toy digital cameras the other day. I set it aside, assuming I wouldn’t be able to find the cable, and if I did, I wouldn’t be able to find the drivers disc, and if I did, the camera for sure wouldn’t work. Well, I found the cable, and I found the drivers disc, and I’ll be damned if the camera didn’t work just fine when I put fresh batteries in it.
December Landscape
Foo Dog and Duck
Planter
Patio Light
Electrical Box
It’s just as hard to compose close-ups as I remember. There is a ginormous amount of parallax between the lens and the viewfinder. That explains some of the wonkiness. It’s definitely a shoot from the hip sort of camera.
These were just some quick test shots taken on my patio. It was sort of beastly trying to get the drivers set up properly. I kept getting a failure message whenever I’d try to download images from the camera. I thought, at first, that it might have something to do with a bit of rust on one end of the USB cord, but the camera streamed video just fine, so I don’t think that’s the problem. I’ll just have to enjoy it as the toy it is, and keep in mind that it could croak on me at any moment.
I’m not going to pretend to be brimful of holiday spirit, but neither am I going to pee on anyone’s Festivus parade. So, I check my e-mail, and there’s a message to the alt.books list. An international list with 7276 members, mind you. It says:
A bah humbug to all!
To all who don’t celebrate this season in any way ;-)
Now, doesn’t that strike you as just a bit obnoxious? And please to be noting the passive aggressive use of emoticons. There should be a law against that sort of thing.
What the hell is wrong with people?
red paper boat 