"paper moon nocturne"

paper moon nocturne

white picket fence without belief attached, mere fact in this 
landscape with parked cars, three stars just past reach of
city lights between backlit clouds blowing north-south

so I asked you where the moon will come up—“above
the weeping cherry”—just now weeping without benefit of
blossoms in an evening fraught with gusts

as if weather were changing into something it’s not—camellia
buds clenched into green fists, bamboo on Mississippi Ave
green all winter, lissome, long-haired, green leaves

beyond belief, groaning bus at the light on Skidmore—me
walking into the future past that sushi place we ate ramen an-
other winter evening the fish tank brimming orange & blue, in-

tangible in yellow light—walking into: orange lights a-
long river's indigo current, streetlight’s glow above an alley
the moon assumes its place beyond

A.K. Barkley
© 2014

Image is from Wiki Commons: Bamboo Yards, Kyōbashi Bridge - Hirgoshige (from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo); published 1856-1859. Public domain

"that day"

that day


here in the last days
things are beautiful
we still know pain
but things are beautiful

pray that the end does not come on the Sabbath
because that day
i will be baking
sweet butter sugar smell
permeating heated household air
and cinnamon, and rum

and my lovers
will be making love
knowing each other's body
like i know the curves of the crucifix
the prayer in my mouth
the road to the city

she arches back
pushing closer
and i imagine her
as full
as the blue glass bowl
where red dye fruit
strong liquour
and dough
are coming together
into the bread of life

and my lovers
making love
will be coming together
and my children
frosting cookies
do not know
they have not taken the fruit
they do not know
the soundless sighs
the nails he digs into her skin
rendering red across her back
the spasm shaking of the earth
the labour pains of the world
the tight contractions of her around him

they do not know
all this will be washed away
long before they themselves
know lovers

but pray the end does not come
on the Sabbath.
that day,
i will be baking

Mairi Graham-Shaw
© 2013

Image from Wiki Commons:  
Sebastian Stoskppff: Nature morte aux fruits, fromage et pain (Still Life with fruit, cheese and bread) - mid 17th century

Public domain 

"BFF the series"

Happy February, friends!

Hey, how about this internet? There sure are lots of maddening things about it, right? But you know one thing I will always appreciate about the ‘net is the way it enables creative folk to network & support each other. I’d like to think that Robert Frost’s Banjo, in its own small way, has contributed to this—& so I’m really excited to let you all know about a project being developed by some close friends of mine!

So let me introduce Jen Ralston, my good pal & a creative dynamo—she has worked in Hollywood for the past 20 years as a sound editor on such successful shows as Treme & The Wire; she won a 2009 Emmy in “Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special” for her work on Generation Kill, & also won a Golden Reel Award for her sound editing on the same miniseries. In addition to her noteworthy & extensive television work, Jen has worked on a number of films, including such notables as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon & O Brother, Where Art Thou? Jen Ralston is also an accomplished writer & contributed the teleplay for the 2012 Treme episode “I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say.” You can find her full resume here at IMDB. 

In conjunction with producer Leslie Valentino—whose list of credits include Sin City & two of the Pirates of the Caribbean films—& a host of talented folks (including a few musicians who have appeared on this blog), Jen Ralston is putting together a new webseries called BFF the series.  Now that we’re all acquainted, let’s have Jen tell us about the background to this series in her own words:

When widower Mike Brady married the (mysteriously single) Carol and redefined what family looked like for a generation of TV viewers, I was an only child being raised by a single parent in rural Pennsylvania. And while Ellen was coming out of the closet on her sitcom, I was proudly watching in a room full of already-out film school friends in New York City.

As invaluable as these examples of otherness were for me and many others, I have yet to see characters on television that accurately reflect the full range of diversity I experience in my everyday life. Sixteen years after Ellen’s famous “Puppy Episode,” there are many more gay protagonists, but most are shallow, sassy stereotypes. And transpeople are rarely represented as anything other than victims of violence or punchlines to tasteless jokes.

I have had to learn to empathize with, root for, and even love all kinds of characters who, on the surface, bore very little resemblance to me. In my experience, we all have more in common than not. Anyone can be a victim or a punchline. Or beautiful. Or even heroic. By telling stories that remind audiences of that, I hope to help fill this void.

Intrigued? I know I am, & I hope you are too. On the project’s Indiegogo page (use the link here or at the top of the blog’s sidebar) Jen goes on to underline that the success of BFF the series will be one way of demonstrating to the powers that be how many viewers want real stories about real people—characters that reflect the people who populate our everyday lives, not the stereotypes television has so often wheeled out a rotating collection of stock characters. It’s a great thing for the LGBT community & its allies; it's a great thing for tolerance & inclusion in a culture desperately in need of same. Just a while back I blogged a photo of Pete Seeger’s banjo with the motto “This machine surrounds hate & forces it to surrender”—I believe BFF the series has the potential to be the same kind of machine!  Here's how Jen encapsulates the storyline:

John and Alex just moved to SF from Pittsburgh. He's in publishing and she's in tech. When the series starts, they're engaged to be married but very quickly those plans change. Alex realizes she is gay. And John needs to move out and move on.

Alex soon discovers that there is more to being gay than coming out of the closet. Her "girl meets girl" quest is compounded by the maze of identity politics that is the SF queer community. Meanwhile, John ends up in an apartment share in the Mission with Hunter (a transman) and Lindsay (his lesbian-identified girlfriend).

As (straight) John and (straight-laced) Alex find equilibrium in their progressive new home, the humor in the show will come from the situations the characters find themselves in, rather than at the expense of the characters differences.

& hey, it’s the internet that makes this possible, not just in terms of facilitating the fund raising, but also in distributing the finished content—which will be free by the way—yay internet! But in reality it's the internet in conjunction with the amazing creativity of people like Jen Ralston, Leslie Valentino & their many friends, including the friends, virtual & otherwise, who lend a hand in any way they can to get this project off the ground! I feel privileged to be counted as one of them, & I encourage you to support this project in any way you can too. Spreading the word helps—you can “like” the project on Facebook, follow on Twitter @SomeOtherJen, blog about it, tweet about it, or just generally spread the word. & of course, if you’d like to join me in making a donation, I know that will be really appreciated too!

Check out the “teaser” trailer below—great fun! & as Jen says: “It’s about time”! 




All images link to their source at the BFF the series Facebook page

An American Hero

I’m not one for hero worship & I don't have much use for the U.S. cult of celebrity, which makes everyone from newscasters to athletes to movie stars to politicians into larger than life figures, as well as the fascination with celebrities’ deaths that frequently captivate the internet. But I do think heroism is possible, & that a person can indeed hold steadfast to his or her ideals even when all instincts for self-preservation may tell them to do otherwise. & such a man was Pete Seeger, who passed away tonight at the age of 94 years young. & in related news, I believe this man’s passing is worth memorializing.

Pete Seeger taught us many things—the power of song—that is of voices rising up in song, not as a single pop star on the stage singing to his audience, but as a singer who believed every song was an opportunity for a sing-along. Of course, the real lesson here is cooperation—working together toward a common goal & a common good, not in a zero sum game of winners & losers.

Along the way, Pete Seeger faced the HUAC, a blacklist, FBI investigations, & maintained his course. He said in an interview once that he always believed things would be set right, because he always believed in America. Remarkable that a man could react with equanimity toward a country that was, through the force of its governmental institutions, seeking to destroy him. But that is why no less of an American icon than Johnny Cash, who bucked the blacklist & asked Seeger to appear on his 1960s TV show during the height of the Viet Name war, could call Seeger one of the most patriotic men he ever knew.

Pete Seeger was an optimist—her took the Woody Guthrie slogan of “This Machine Kills Fascists,” taken from machine shops involved in the World War II effort & stamped on his guitar, to the much transformed “This Machine Surrounds Hate & Forces It To Surrender,” lettered around the rim of his banjo. Remarkable. Pete Seeger taught us how to play the banjo, but he taught us so much more, if we are willing to open our hearts & minds to it—simple lessons, because the most basic.

It’s easy to say Pete Seeger will be missed, & of course he will be; what a unique voice & force he has been for so many years, a man who in many ways embodied our best angels in his public persona & also in refusing to be broken. It’s just that he was celebrated in later life by the celebrity musicians of our own day, & it’s to be hoped that he passed on his message to them. But more than that, Seeger’s life is a life to be celebrated—perhaps the best way to do so is to put his lessons to practice in small ways.  It seems to me that Pete Seeger was always singing with a political soul (in the best & etymological sense of the word "political"), whether he was entertaining us with "Skip to My Lou" or lifting our spirits with "We Shall Overcome."



Image of Pete Seeger’s banjo links to its source on the woodshed.  The image is found on many sites across the internet.

"Shoveling"

Shoveling
 

Bescarfed, bemittened
and otherwise bundled and beshoveled,
he stood in the elements, glared heavenward,
and cursed the driving snow for falling.

If but one flake, hearing,
had settled on his nose
and cried itself into oblivion
he’d have been satisfied.

But No!
Ten billion trillion zillion
blew about him unimpressed.
His curses fell on deaf flakes
which gently bore them down,
an added burden for his shovel.

Carmen Leone
© 2014

Image is from Wiki Commons: "A black and white photo of a light snowstorm starting up."  Image by Solstrike, who has made it available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Photos of the Month - 1/16/14

My favorite local Christmas tree, with prayer flags

Those of you who visited this blog regularly before our hiatus no doubt remember the Photo of the Week feature. It was quite a regular thing from January 2010 until April 2013, though by that time it had grown sporadic. Part of that was just the general blog malaise, but it’s also true that in February 2013 I had a moment of butterfingers with the camera, which has left it still operable but a bit temperamental—which is actually better than the fate I initially believed it had suffered. A new camera exists somewhere on my wish list of items both real & imaginary—somewhere between the necessities of food, shelter & guitar strings, not to mention softball league entry fees & tai chi lessons, & the implausibly desired Tone Devil harp guitar.

Very large & tired teddy bear outside a daycare, N. Beech St.

But the camera still takes good pictures, & it has occurred to me that posting photos at some point each month is probably a workable goal. In fact, on occasion I may even post them more frequently. I walk a lot, & having a camera with me makes for a handy pastime, which I’m also happy to share here.

The headless uke player in a shop window on N Mississippi Ave

So here are a few shots of the neighborhood where I live in North Portland, in the area between North Williams Avenue to the east & North Mississippi Avenue to the west; they were taken (along with others that will probably show up here later this month) yesterday during an afternoon walk. A damp, cloudy January day—in other words, typical of Portland this time of year. But there was no rain!

Implausible snowman & unseasonal Christmas mouse atop the Maui bar, N. Williams Ave

& as you can see, the holiday decorations are still out.

“The Path”

A rainy Saturday in Portland—January, as we experience it in the Pacific Northwest, is very much upon us. What better music for this than some cello music by Zoë Keating?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Zoë Keating’s work, she describes her music as being a marriage of “classical music & information architecture.” Coming from the diverse backgrounds of both a classically trained cellist & a technology wiz, Keating has broken ground with her compositions & innovative use of looping technology to create a sound that is fresh, unique, intriguing—& also familiar, in the sense of the music you might hear in a dream being familiar—you can’t place it, but you understand such music existing; it sounds “right.”

“The Path” originally was recorded for Zoë Keating’s 2010 release Into the Trees, which I reviewed previously on the blog; I also had the chance to hear Keating perform live at the Aladdin here in 2012, a show that I also reviewed on Robert Frost’s Banjo. If you get the chance to see Zoë Keating perform, I urge you to take advantage of the opportunity! You can also find her recordings on her website at the link provided above.

Enjoy!





Image of Zoë Keating at eTech in 2009 is from Wiki Commons; its author is Ed Schipul, who makes it available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.