Tag Archives: art

POETS Day! Percy Wyndham Lewis

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Illustration by Rene Sears

[This entry is cross posted at ordinary-times.com]

I’ve been in Italy, so I missed a few POETS Day Fridays, or “Fridays” as the Italians call them, but with an accent (everybody over there except one Salerno cab driver speaks English, and I have my suspicions about him.)

Anyway, Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday. Cut out of work while the sun’s still out and enjoy a heat-staving scoop or two of gelato at any one of whatever block’s you happen to be on many gelaterias. Gather a few friends and put your heads together to figure out why you’re encouraged to touch this Coliseum wall but get snipped at by security if you touch that identical one. Hold up a lemon bigger than your head. Swim in ridiculously blue seas while staying determinedly out of any body called a canal. Very refreshing.

First, a little verse.

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Augustus John’s portraits tell stories. Frightful stories on occasion. I read somewhere some time ago, so forgive the lack of attribution, that he could be so insightful – and equally capable of conveying his insights – as to be “cruel.” His Roy Campbell adorns the cover of Peter Alexander’s biography of the poet. Campbell, pre-paunch and balding, looks impressionable in his Spanish countryman get-up. John’s painting sets the stage for Alexander’s telling of a man of immense talents swayed by passions he mostly grasped. It’s a great book, but I judge the cover better.

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POETS Day! The Transcendent Shades Cahaba

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The Transcendent Shades Cahaba

[This entry is cross posted at ordinary-times.com]

We spent the last two weekends clearing bramble and mischievous growth. After a miserable bout of mimosa stump clearing, I asked a horticulturalist neighbor about tilling to make way for a flower bed. He warned me off it. There are some seeds—monkey grass was the pertinent one—that lay dormant for years or decades just waiting for an earnest attempt at rose bed preparation and once awakened are up for a drawn-out fight. He recommended we forgo the tilling workout and lay down cardboard, cover it with landscaping fabric, and then toss on mulch in lieu of laboring with a hand tool for untold hours in Alabama heat and humidity.

It’s as if he told me he had a failsafe, side effect free, weight loss miracle and handed me a box of Chips Ahoy. We did what he said.

Gardening turns out to be fun. In addition to our new rose plants (two Chicago, a Tropicana, and one with a missing label but we think it was De la Soul or something), an assortment of bright things inhabiting a broken Big Green Egg that’s now a planter, and some promissory edible flowers from Idaho, we have Lane, my Fresno Chili plant. If you’ve had children you know what it’s like welcoming a Fresno Chili plant into your life. Suddenly there are Epsom salts, 5-10-10 NPK orders, spray bottles, and sitters. It’s intensive, but there are only so many daylight hours.

Do the right thing. Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday. Give your chili plant (or lesser garden thing) proper care. Slip out of work and start the weekend off a few hours before The Man’s scheduled time. Permission? You don’t need that. Not when there are crops to plant. Here’s a little verse to kick start things for you.

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POETS Day! A Bit of Light Verse

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[This entry is cross posted at ordinary-times.com]

The school year is coming to a close and that means rough duty for POETS Day. The last couple weeks of students’ time is usually cordoned off for exam review and preparation, final essays, and such projects. That creates a bottleneck of extracurricular events now. Playoffs, tournaments, recitals, and plays need completion before testing. Such things require an audience and if you’re a parent or relative of a student in any end of term activity, you’re an expected attendee.

I’m joining the theater set for the foreseeable future. I’ve got a nephew in Legally Blonde tonight and then my son’s on stage for a three night run of Mamma Mia! I love this sort of thing even though they frown on leaving after your kid’s scenes are done (America, explain!), but I know others see these as slogs to suffer through. They’re a drain on weekend free time no matter which way you look at it, so do the right thing and Piss Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday. A perfect day is the name of the game, and that starts with ducking out of work and indulging your wants and needs – after a little verse.

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