it's the birthday of sister gertrude stein's tender, tender buttons

on the mountains of which my poems often speak.  including the one on this blog.

i'm about to read it.

i wrote this weird little piece, about christmas of all awful subjects for a poem, and was inspired by sister stein.

hope it's something.

if not, it's something.

one of the most important works.

setting off 2013                        from merry christmas chapter 22

was it starry? stilly? were clouds smoky, low, or thick were we breathing burdened air particulates from wood smoke & car exhaust? was a stave of psalmody bouncing between the walls of our mountains, here on the wasatch front, here in our valley of valleys? was our basin filled with a hymn from some solo from some lit bungalow near the lake? were the feet of the soloist beautiful? was it christmas day or right before? were we anticipating or regretting? were we disappointed yet? were we recalling pleasant havens—and glades eternally vernal—fruit & mead?

i recall that it was not altogether unpleasant to be so cold.  deer foraging in grassy starry patches down the meadow of locust lane & children donned velvets & fowls & beasts laid upon the table for us, burnished, roasted            (((flowers were continuing on the mountain and low the valley without our attentions)))                         & the families & bigger families still in the concentric way of families in private beauty places & so on & so on & we thought some one would break us & so on & we searched for a break we never found & so it was as it were                         and all

an amano day & my amazing dead people

(here's probably my favorite hildegard piece.  long, but worth it.)

julie, here are the dead people i'd like to meet:

1. hildegard von bingen

2. gertrude stein

3. jesus

4. sojourner truth

5. charlotte corday

& here's a list of my day:

1.  lunch at black sheep cafe with our former guest blogger and resident GITP bio-ethicist teresa blankmeyer burke.

2. laundry.

3.  ice cream from homemade ice cream stand on the corner, from the amano chocolatier's 12 year-old son, with amano chocolate chips. (he's been out there practically every day this summer.  yesterday he made cinnamon ice cream, today sour cream strawberry and amano chocolate chip.)

4. dinner with visiting pianist keith kirchoff and composer & musicologist michael hicks at pizzeria 712.

5. "more than dessert amano chocolate cake", thus proclaimed by chocolate connoissuer/fanatic m. hicks.

6. late-night chat on front lawn with teresa.

7. just starting american version of girl with the dragon tattoo.  i think i won't make it very far into the film before nodding off. . . .

8. (graded for online class). (wildfires still raging, it seems like it might be the end of the world.  hard to breathe.)

9. thought about, but didn't write, new poem.

10. answered interview questions for a blog i'll be appearing on next week (stay tuned!)

Shake Your Eyes and Devote Them to Your Heart

Hong Young In, b. 1972.  Acrylic, embroidery, scenic fabric

Tonight I had a small job at Carnegie Hall but instead of heading downtown I stayed around in midtown, which I usually avoid if I can. It's way too high rise and corporate and the money is obvious, and it's where tourists with no imagination hang out. Wow, that sounded really mean.

 But there was someone in midtown I wanted to meet up with so I wandered into one of the city's more off-the-radar museums, The Museum of Arts and Design, which happened to be open late (and taking donations for admission).  MAD markets itself as blurring the lines between craft and fine art:  you can see the work of contemporary jewelry artists there, but you can't try anything on.

And it happened to be open late.  And it was pay what you wish!

The exhibit I had been reading about was still being installed, so I saw what was available to be seen and was unexpectedly blown away by the second floor exhibiting the work of Korean artists. I've never thought much about what the contemporary art scene might be in (South) Korea, but it wasn't austere or minimalist, like the Japanese art up on the third-floor of the museum (it was often wry, ironic, and funny--playing with and twisting Asian tropes), and I'm sitting here typing this filled with longing to go to Korea suddenly to find out more--a place that would be usually near the bottom of my list as possible destinations. And there's no good reason for that.

I sat in the lobby, my feet hurting from the brown boots I had chosen to look nice for an earlier event, and leaned my head against the springy wire bars keeping me from tumbling backwards into a stairwell.   Today is Gertrude Stein's birthday, but I'm going to reference and revise one of her hangers-on, Hemingway, when I say that I was grateful to have a free, clean well-lit place to sit.

Other stuff there:  some vintage, downtown arts videos and movies.  They've had all this no wave cinema stuff up here and I didn't even know it.   Midtown's cooler than I thought.  Speaking of which, the review of the Debbie Harry concert will be here tomorrow.   I just have a few things to say.

Add caption

"Handle,"  Lee Dong Wook.  Metal, plastic modeling material

"Shake Your Eyes and Devote Them to Your Heart"  Inbai Kim, b. 1978.  Medium-density fiber board, plaster, wood

10 rad things about provo & happy birthday miss gertrude stein

gertrude stein, who reminds me to strive continously to forsake aesthetic timidity

there are, in reality, more than ten cool things about provo, but here's some stuff that's happening lately--a few that i just discovered:

1)  the provo river delta restoration project.  there are some hardworking environmentalists tenaciously trying to improve our air and water quality.  even resisters are beginning to relent. 

2)  downtown gallery stroll tonight.

3) we have our own sartorialist.  provo fashion isn't as cutting edge as some other places--and julie's street fashion shots are some of my favorite anywhere, but i love that this guy is looking for it.

4) the sundance screening room.  this tiny theatre is where the sundance film festival started.  in the past few months they've featured free screenings of redford films, and they always show sundance best of fest screenings for locals.  oft times you can schmooze with r. redford himself, if he's not having one of his aloof days.

5) muse music and velour.  i don't go to these places often, feeling that it would be a little creepy at my age, but i like knowing they're there, and that provo is developing some homegrown sounds.

6) communal.  i'm gonna go out on a limb and pronounce that a resataurant without interesting vegetable sides is not worth going to.  i sometimes go for dinner here and order just sides.  not that we need the new york times to validate us, but here's a shout-out to communal in the times.  and here's a sample menu.

7)  the walden school.  i'm lucky enough to have been able to send three of my children here, and to get to teach here.  it's a truly progressive public school, and i get to teach rad classes like this food/writing hybrid and last semester's performance art class.

8) the provo orem word.  a lovely online publication showcasing the pretty deep pool of local talent.

9) amano chocolate.  this rad dude is my neighbor.  he has a real chocolate factory with vintage machinery.  he roasts his own beans, trained with jacques torres, and is the only american to win the grand prize at the royal academy of chocolate in london.  not that we need london to tell us that provo is rad.

10) tryst press letter press.  we take the word seriously around here.

i've written about this before, but i'm gonna say it again:  we've got tons of hardworking, brilliant, and talented people in provo, utah.  but we can be aesthetically timid and intellectually repressed.  i say this with all the love in the world, hoping that my people will break out and bring it a little harder.

seriously.  this is my hope and prayer.  amen.

legwear:  jeans and cowboy boots.  a provo winter classic.
inspiration:  mt. timpanogas.
looking forward:  to dinner with my man and gallery stroll tonight.

p.s.--yes.  nicki minaj.  here's what one ph.d has to say about minaj in the ever-so rad crunk feminist collective.  

p.p.s.--happy birthday, miss gertrude stein.  your tender buttons are with me always.