Tuesday, August 8, 2017

SONG OF COMPLAINT ~









HANDMADE HOUSES ~





Add this slim and handy volume to the stacks and stacks of books
 already devoted to the subject, John May ranges the Earth seeking
 out the world of vernacular architecture, of which you may be 
residing in one! 
( I am ) 
Tastefully illustrated with plenty of on-site color photographs
 of buildings tucked in with May's lively and informative
 commentary, we cover the globe in search of those
 grasping handsaws, mixing wattle or 
standing on stone.

[ BA ]

Thames & Hudson, 2010











Monday, August 7, 2017

BILLY BOY ARNOLD ~











BOOKS BY BOB ARNOLD, A Selection ~



A Selection of Books by Bob Arnold ~







Museum by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2016





Darling Companion by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2016




The Woodcutter Talks by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2015





Cup by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2016






Rain Bear by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2015





Duo
Bird Poems by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2015





Start With The Tree by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2015






Go West by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2014





My Sweetest Friend by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2014





Sapline by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2014





Stone Hut, 
25th Anniversary Edition by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2014





Beautiful Days by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2014






I'm In Love With You Who Is In Love With Me by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2012





Yokel,
 a long Green Mountain poem,  by Bob Arnold
Longhouse, 2011



Dream Come True, Sanndroymd, by Bob Arnold
Nordsjoforlaget, 2009. Illustrated by Laurie Clark. 
Translated into the Norwegian by Lars Amund Vaage.




Sunswumthru A Building by Bob Arnold
with illustrations by Laurie Clark
Origin, 2006





Once In Vermont by Bob Arnold
Gnomon, 1999





American Train Letters by Bob Arnold
UNY/Buffalo, Coyote, 1996





Where Rivers Meet by Bob Arnold
Mad River Press, 1990














Saturday, August 5, 2017

For Bob!


For Bob ! 























for you on August 5th, love sweetheart




photo by two-hands, 2015

I GOT A SWEET TOOTH ~










Wednesday, August 2, 2017

THOREAU ~





I spent part of July finishing up building a mountain road
a half-mile long and while building read Laura Dassow Walls
masterpiece biography on Thoreau. Don't take my word for it,
read Robert D. Richardson, author of Henry Thoreau:
A Life of the Mind, maybe the finest study of Thoreau until 
the Walls biography showed up, and how humbling is
his back dust jacket quote:

"Laura Dassow Walls has written a grand, big-hearted biography, as
compulsively readable as a great nineteenth-century novel, chock full
of new and fascinating detail about Thoreau, his family, his friends,
and his town. Walls's magnificent — landmark — achievement is the
best all-around biography of Thoreau ever written. It not only brings
Thoreau vividly back to life, it will fundamentally change how we see
him. We will hear no more about the 'hermit of Walden Pond.' Walls
has given us a new socially engaged Thoreau for a new era, a freedom
fighter for John Brown and America, and a necessary prophet and
spokesman for Concord Mass. and Planet Earth."

Beautiful.

It shares the back cover with gobbledygook from
Publishers Weekly which would have done better
being left off, and center the Richardson quote
on the frame of the book all alone.







Tuesday, August 1, 2017

SAM SHEPARD ~





S a m     S h e p a r d

[ November 5, 1943 – July 27, 2017 ]








Monday, July 31, 2017

JEANNE MOREAU ~





J e a n n e     M o r e a u
[1928 ~ Paris ~ 2017]










Sunday, July 30, 2017

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

VERA PAVLOVA ~







The Hand Organ Man





Mommy bathed her girl,

Daddy dried her off,

Grandpa hurried with

a nightie for her,

Grandma smoothed the sheets,

brother fluffed the pad,

Mommy laid her down,

Grandpa tucked her in.





[ Pain ]




Pain, you are the sole proof

that my body exists.

You have made your point;

now cease. But I

will never believe

the body is all

there is to me.








[ Crossing ]



Crossing a meadow of daisies,

pushing the pram along

a jolty path (a tiller

behind the plow),

singing peasant-style,

I pluck a daisy: Look!

From the pram a pair

of wide-open eyes

stare back at me.









[ ever ]



ever so gently

the cradle rocks

a bumblebee naps

inside a rosebud

in a puddle the rain

fell asleep like a drunk

where is she loafing

that daughter of ours









[ Making ]



Making love as much as we wish,

skinny-dippy whenever we feel . . .

How is life, naked kids?

Life teems in every cell!

All alone, as in an Eden,

no laws, as in dreams . . .

I spread my skirt on the grass:

life of mine, come to me.









[ I am ]



I am

a nail

being driven in

while I try

to keep

straight

hoping

the carpenter

will get tired

or the hammer

will break

or the board

will crack and I

will roll

into a cozy nook

and will find you there

my love

my love









[ Remember ]



Remember me the way I am

this very instant: brusque and absent,

with a word beating against my cheek

like a butterfly caught in a curtain.









[ at twenty ]



at twenty

to fuck



at thirty

to love



what will I do at forty?



will look lively

will work

will be prod:

see, straight As!



will hope

to be pardoned

at fifty









[ I got ]




tanned all over

on a nameless island:

not a spot omitted,

not a single defect,

I am all like chocolate,

of fresh-brewed tea

from Sri Lanka, but

for one pale streak

under the wedding band.








[ lots ]



lots of knives

but only one cuts

lots of pens

but only one writes

lots of men

but I love only you

maybe at last you will

sharpen the knives?



——————————————

Vera Pavlova
Album for the Young (and Old)
Knopf 2017
translated from the Russian by Steven Seymour
















Monday, July 24, 2017

COULD BE ~









Lasting





What a beautiful day

No matter how trite that sounds —

After days on end of heat and foul weather

Rain, storms, even tornadoes south of us

Which brought us hail here in the woods

Sounding off the steel roof like sparks!

Today the breezes are back cool across my face

Along my ears, on the cheeks, over the brow, to the hands

I imagine this happening to anyone close by

I’ll read a few more poems by Santoka before I head

Off to the woods with splitting maul & wedges

An old apple tree fallen to the ground awaits

In short lengths I cut it into last week with that heat

The bugs, the mud, the last of the blossoms on the tree

Which I waited to fully blossom and die before I returned

With the breezes, my saw, the faintest aroma of the bloom







Hurricane






It isn’t right

to have the sea

come to us from

the sky but on

Sunday that’s what

it did and every

one and every thing

that was once born

paid for it whether

there or not which

is the real message and

shape of this earth






Could Be





This has to be love —

she could be anywhere else



she could be under soft quilts asleep

she could be in a warm kitchen stirring



she could be in a playground watching what she loves

she could be in the garden dreaming



she could be walking the dog, petting the cat, singing with a bird

she could be by the ocean with all the day ahead



she could be in another's arms but no

she could be and is in my arms



beneath the driftwood of huge trees brought down with a flood

this little cave we've made under horizontal trees



it looks possibly dangerous and if it all collapsed

we would be crushed



and she has joined me there

while it rains






Garbage







The ugliest house

on the road

has all the butterflies



————————————— 

Bob Arnold
BEAUTIFUL   DAYS
Longhouse







— End of the book, see you in a few weeks with more