FOR KEN

It was her voice that made
The sky acutest at its vanishing.
She measured to the hour its solitude.
She was the single artificer of the world
In which she sang. And when she sang, the sea,
Whatever self it had, became the self
That was her song, for she was the maker. Then we,
As we beheld her striding there alone,
Knew that there never was a world for her
Except the one she sang and, singing, made.

Ramon Fernandez, tell me, if you know,
Why, when the singing ended and we turned
Toward the town, tell why the glassy lights,
The lights in the fishing boats at anchor there,
As the night descended, tilting in the air,
Mastered the night and portioned out the sea,
Fixing emblazoned zones and fiery poles,
Arranging, deepening, enchanting night.

Oh! Blessed rage for order, pale Ramon,
The maker's rage to order words of the sea,
Words of the fragrant portals, dimly-starred,
And of ourselves and of our origins,
In ghostlier demarcations, keener sounds.

from THE IDEA OF ORDER AT KEY WEST---WALLACE STEVENS

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

EZRA POUND b OCT 3O 1885

there came new subtlety of eyes into my tent,/
whether of spirit or hypostasis,/
but what the blindfold hides/
or at carneval/
nor any pair showed anger/
Saw but the eyes and stance between the eyes,/
colour, diastasis,/
careless or unaware it had not the /
whole tent's room/
nor was place for the full interpass'/
penetrate casting but shade/ beyond the other lights sky's clear night's sea green of the mountain pool/
shone from the unmasked eyes/
in half-mask's space.
What thou lovest well remains, the rest is dross/
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee/
What thou lov'st well is thy true heritage/
Whose world, or mine or theirs/
or is it of none?/
First came the seen, then thus the palpable/
Elysium, though it were in the halls of hell,/
What thou lovest well is thy true heritage/
What thou lov'st well shall not be reft from thee

The ant's a centaur in his dragon world.
Pull down thy vanity, it is not man Made/
courage, or made order, or made grace,/
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down./
Learn of the green world what can be thy place/
In scaled invention or true artistry,/
Pull down thy vanity, Paquin pull down!
The green casque has outdone your elegance.

"Master thyself, then others shall thee beare"
Pull down thy vanity/
Thou art a beaten dog beneath the hail, A swollen magpie in a fitful sun,/
Half black half white/
Nor knowst'ou wing from tail/
Pull down thy vanity/
How mean thy hates/
Fostered in falsity, Pull down thy vanity,/
Rathe to destroy, niggard in charity,/
Pull down thy vanity, I say pull down.

But to have done/
instead of not doing/
This is not vanity/
To have, with decency, knocked/
That a Blunt should open/ To have gathered from the air a live tradition/
or from a fine old eye the unconquered flame/
this is not vanity./
Here error is all in the not done, all in the diffidence that faltered . . .

"you got a heart that's made of ice..."

pickett released "fire & water" in 1971. i'd just met philip & was trying to wean him off grand funk railroad. he showed great promise by being a die-hard bee-gees & led zeppelin fan. when we heard the pickett single, we both went ape-shit. cathecting to it & then presley's "burning love" the next year cemented our music friendship. i forgave him grand funk railroad.

rock music has such an odd history. defining moments, like otis at monterrey or cohen at isle of wight, happened totally out of context or expectation. weird moments of collaboration(the white guys at muscle shoals, sun records, the brill building )happened simply by happenstance & serendipity. what adds to the strangeness is that in retrospect it all seems to make sense.

this pic makes perfect sense to me. white folks sure tried to carry hendrix over into THEIR history of rock music but hendrix was firmly based in r&b & blues WAY before he got to the psychedelic stuff. there's a good chance his psychedelia was simply the result of his fast learning curve & his ability to form it all into a new but vaguely recognizable expression. in the pic, he seems to just be grooving on pickett's inimitable soul shouting. beyond that, i have to say i cathected to the pic when i first saw it in much the same way i did when i heard "fire & water" way back when. luckily, some things never change & we have pics to prove it.

SPORTS WEDNESDAY

ok, well, we know the cardinals choked. to top that off, they announced they're bringing back big mac to be their batting coach next year. he has a lifetime .263 batting average. in 16 major league seasons, big mac struck out 1596 times. the cardinals lost to the dodgers because they couldn't muster any offense & their superior pitching faltered. big mac is the solution? i don't think so. tony larussa, god bless him, has a great animal rescue program here in the bay area. i admire his effort here to save this dog but mac won't help save the cardinals next season. keeping holiday around & getting one more bat will do that.

so...no cardinals. i did pick the yankees. i was never convinced that last year's phillies were the real thing(even as they won the series)& couldn't bring myself to pick them at the start of the season or as the playoffs began. i can't do it now either. there's a good chance the yankees will win this thing in 5 games. i just don't see it going to 7 games. however...that being said:

if the phillies get to cc in game one & win it, that changes everything. if a-rod disappears again, as he's done the last few years in the playoffs, that changes everything. if burnett blows up in game two, that changes everything. if the yankee bullpen leading up to rivera(the great weakness exposed during the playoffs)continues to be erratic, that changes everything. if the phillies come out swinging & connecting, that changes everything. if cole hammels pitches like he did last year in the series, that changes everything.

but...i don't see any of this happening except, maybe, cc not being sharp in game one & cliff lee being dominant. it could just as easily be the opposite scenario. that's why we watch. despite the nyt's whore-homer article yesterday, the yankees don't make this series anymore exciting JUST BY BEING IN IT(except for whore nyt's sports writers). the yankees could sweep this just as easily as boston did a few years ago. vegas odds makers are saying a yankee 4-1 or 4-2 series victory is the likeliest scenario. unless...

yankees in 5 w/them winning the first two games in dominant fashion. i don't think it'll be a thrilling series. it WILL have some great stories, especially for nyt whore sports writers.

PER FRETUM FEBRIS

my mother wouldn't drive under the 17th ave train overpass. she wouldn't be driven under the 17th ave train overpass either. for 30 years, bobo was compelled to drive "the long way" into downtown p'cola from east hill. mother had decided that at any moment a train could come tumbling down off that overpass & crush any & all cars passing underneath. in matters such as these, my mother was possessed by an apocalyptic viewpoint that was unwavering & totally resolute in its demands. in matters such as these, i believed & still do that my mother was utterly socio-pathic.
after 35 years, a train did in fact tumble down off the overpass & crush a car that was passing underneath. as far as my mother was concerned, this event elevated her visions to the level of a jean dixon or nostradamus. this event swept away all the other myriad crazy or unlikely assertions & predictions she'd made over the years. if you're right once, her thinking went, then regardless of being wrong any other time, you are right THIS time. it can not be denied. in that simple equation is the source of a kind of mulish self-satisfaction.

if i were looking at this as a "glass half full" scenario, i'd say that my mother's looniness prepared me for similiar, tho less adamant, ideas. my gypsy gf in college, diane, took what i called the "scattershot" approach to cheating accusations. basically, she thought i was fucking everyone so that was how she approached those wonderful moments of unhinged accusation i've known throughout my life. the idea seemed to be that if you suspected everyone, someone was probably guilty. for the most part, it worked but caused endless denials & explanations & wasted energy. hell, under those conditions, everyone IS guilty soon or later, eventually, even diane herself.

so when ann got off the plane from back east complaining about the woman w/the cold sitting next to her the entire flight, i just shrugged. i'm not saying ann is a hypochondriac but i will say she's had most every disease known to man in her mind. she's just cute that way. it's true, she had a horrifyingly painful bladder infection early on in our relationship but for the most part, she's been sickness-free as i've stumbled along w/crippling bone problems & gall bladder issues & cold after cold after cold. i didn't expect anything to come of it.

naturally, ann got the cold &, just as naturally, gave it to me. this was nothing like her brush w/the swine flu but it was just debilitating enough to be a real drag for her & now for me. i was able to make the cure-all chicken soup for her before i went under. she ate it morning, noon, & night & got over the main symptoms of the cold in 3 days. me? i get take-out & i'm still fighting the damn thing after 5 days. we have discussed karma here, haven't we?

PICASSO b OCTOBER 25 1881

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso

the master painting in space the same year pollock threw his first splatters onto the ground. i've said it before & i'll say it again: picasso & duchamp divide the first 50 years of the 20th century in the same way that pollock & warhol divide the last 50 years.