Common Tongue

Wescott's fabulous friends Maugham Porter family intimates relish sparking intelligent sensibility why so isolated my coterie blown apart by sixties history never member anything though I always wanted club lonely exile opposite collective misery ruling Congo Iraq Sudan Americans dashed exemplary happiness uncommon comfort New Yorker New York Review keep up dream wake synthesize common tongue

Calm Day

girls in form-fitting black pussycat costumes sporting red feather boas rush on with brooms congratulate ourselves glockenspiel progress calm day Columbia mouth smashing waves civilized beings home before dark moon sliver gleaming glow blush drawn out sweet summer

Comic Possibilities

If language falsifies, we nevertheless indulge in its consolations and comic possibilities. (Tim Parks) best artist of the 20th century Picasso best writer Beckett finished "Rabbit Is Rich" satisfied gave "On the Black Hill" to Lora Japanese garden Pittock Mansion talked newspapers with Edward long drive home five o'clock traffic steak cherries Google Earth Queen of the Night "We have a flower!"

White Hairs

difficult Mozart entertaining Beethoven white hairs picnicking Reed campus lawn women wheelchairs little boy squinting who needs it so loud high-powered this modern professional market quality difficult board decision is it me who thinks this is against the rules or who we would take care of our own lovingly generous the money is there corporate considerations make me stingy strict break loose of this arbitrary difficult thinking feeling passing on remember George Obern special friend humorous warm gone on ahead best of partners detailed constant relished adventure

Quiet Music

glimpses of what our lives have lost not good enough world burning up Rogoff so dire on Brook our situation desperate indeed history unraveling meanwhile we are having a heat wave stunned indifferent go slow do less my calling private being quiet music powerless accident genes nurture time

Suddenly Summer

Rose Jean brought best Alaska salmon Hinrich made feast sleepy afterwards drove safely home clear warm night clock winding day play finished itself Carol risking read fireworks popping "Days of Heaven" dear ones arriving windows washed silver polished up harpsichord tuned trees lawn watered against record heat suddenly summer

Heroic Ideals

Guy Jackson writes from London: I've been kicking in the back doors of agents and publishers and producers, 'Let me into the lit world, you bastards!' I shout, and gotta get back to that, such a dumb struggle but for the love of art what else is there to do?
 take off shoes air toes lean back refocus eyes far vistas aid receptors let back relax work less stripping floors a no-no Andrew makes choices Richard pursues his art heroic ideals Linda too keeps showing up doing thing Norman faithful ambitious Nancy mows even I commit to future embrace theatrical folly initiative arises despite judgment knows better

Two Beds One

summer sprinklers cloud puffs drifting longest day least hurry weed together unto dusk improve front flower patch fresh bedding guest room parentally luxurious two beds one welcome our offspring best meaning pure reward "White" Kieslowski "Red" exquisite artistry every moment shot pleasing subtle arranged like greatest music my own poor invention grudging extrudes unvalued vague mature alive like dream exhausts analysis

Nothing Better

the historic plight now (Wescott): "the extreme stupidity as to public morality and government, balanced against the extreme intelligence of inventors and manufacturers" now was 1945 what worse no change dinner late stirred up machinery breaking down we serve service nothing better globular blotches I was ten only summers memory heaven lake buzz nose peeling wonder still alive kicking denial

Extra Sheets

eyes ears teeth hips glands organs locus fear know they'll get me if not some sneak arbitrary crossing line fuse blew car radio off easy this time write tomorrow easy let days slide doing trip planning future sleeping stew fighting futile subtle harmony cull extra sheets only so many beds

Two Jobs

what enviable being father know offspring existing selves manifest continuity ars breva love eternal joy Kory three months baby squeezes my finger smiles mouths lapel being father happier working two jobs doing other things thinking there they are unforeseen possibilities unfolding far makes here now credible

Too Much

dream accompany Hinrich beautifully yoga laundry breakfast read shower coffee email Daniel Marya recycling write two pages mow front side yard lunch read nap pack dress lock up drive coast check in dine Blackfish walk love concert Purcell Pergolesi Bermel Mendelssohn Mozart too much Times puzzle one fell swoop

Swim Day

play keeps coming amazes me may work Bloomsday swim day postprandial nap Hinrich here work glockenspiel musics alarming end livelihood long luxury free walk wind creekside trees grow uneaten Carol tractor moving manure I mow lawn read Wescott half hammock remember ART avoid corner seats impatient with "Housekeeping" exaggerated brilliance

Second Law

drive around airport sprawl imagine life outside these little patterns inside others beside mighty river with a boat what would we do hang out who's there no blond children squirm pink green gray stripes brown no velour recliner hobby fuss relatives descend into world of all the same motel room floating individual subject second law

Serious Uglies

Netflix works interlocking systems mature films arrive "Mysterious Skin" true painful cunning structure impressed rewarded learn something play "Beat Heart Skipped" French real estate thug would be pianist touching silliness grows up limits revenge repelled serious uglies more wait follow coffee John swim talk Mark Waren Cino memory dims diverts my fresh imagine

Pulling Thistles

Mr. Reliable returns microphones promptly he knows my name heart warms incoherently strawberries cherries first raspberries blueberries reward weeding Tom crawls through fence interferes I am crawling gloved I stand pulling thistles grass long roots runners easily from deep wood shavings practice Schumann read recover sit at my computer unexpected things happen slowly takes all day

Home Free

night friend again weightless magic foam dream Living Theatre Judith Malina eighty my arm extending more weak but painless day consumed errands aquatics city lunch necessary nap no time for play immersion snow peas pasta salad we record nuns sing compline prayers glockenspiel Hinrich has program fix crackles tomorrow home free

Three Hours

full moon rise hospital hill three hours after Brooklyn all time love blooming wildly empty fills completely enough care chamber music gems Cascade Head fest trusty thrill Purcell L. Couperin Bolcom Mendelssohn Federer missing Nadal wins Rabbit redeemed lame magic more play oozes out inspiration unrequired

Best Writing

this play wants to be written I have plenty of stuff to say dare fiction made up people talk feel express behave act expand my own limited life skimming "Rabbit Redux" I don't care relive that painful confusion he must harangue outrageous this best writing only interested parents wife

They Live

sky light till ten air sweet with flowers my favorite time of year drawn out into the gloaming admire waxing moon bright star home alone again start writing new play idea enough last night car define place people situation bring them on they talk they live

Soon Gone

day night departure attenuated waiting swam again thank sauna physical ground some aches restraint hammering bolts magic show signs almost normal again words for Michael Harris memorializing dad I sent made glockenspiel timeline long carved figures mechanical whirl watering tutorial free time soon gone

Setting Sun

reading rest "Rabbits" never did best books best goes down easy plenty rueful truths splint straps off shower free tight bad smell solid waste pools full ready go warm days monks chant prayer sweet feminine falling phrase lighter Europe heavy assumptions house flowers catch light color queen of the night shoot thwarted ceiling setting sun

Time Off

countdown to something idea out there nothing between strawberries and a nap repair small engines suburban lifestyle chanting salve regina pounding drums creaking wagon wheels barking children writing talking wanting not to go away engaging instrumental mind emotion reserved movies poems tender music unexpected associations controverted time off same happy sad distractable

Pitch In

don't complain pitch in weed mulch fruit trees get strong do more you can only coast downhill hard reawake interest Caffè Cino and all that memoir Coffeehouse Chronicles summed it up but I'll try Mark Warren's movie one more time never my ideal young paranoid great love lost later realer central children deep connection harmony comfort sweet homes music writing summing digging weary sooner longer sex pacific fancy calls for effort will work for art

Blue Ribbons

The act of presence can be learned. All of creativity, especially performance in life and art, is about sending one's inner energy in the right direction. We are energetic beings and it behooves us to learn how to move that energy around. (Jean-Claude van Itallie) read through "Kreisleriana" Schumann mysterious beauty love madness total breakdown weird story write play about Schumann and Clara and Brahms surprise party John 40 choice crowd locally hip my guacamole debate better lose mind before body oldest left first Carol blue ribbons slept in truck

Fish Salad

motion solo impressions fish salad "Tsotsi" dramatic dreaming play ideas emotional saturation tennis webpix errands here and Portland silly movie serious play Sanchez "Clean" strong acting came out fireworks Sibelius Five drive home eyes tired ears ringing reading Coetzee "Slow Man" good

Brave Boys

America lost within my lifetime nothing doing tennis irrelevant brave boys challenge scrutiny hope betrays false assumptions ever better old thirty laughable trajectory greater woes belied I was the optimist smiling sure all working out for the best if desperately unhappy work relations wrack broke through what do reprieve late waste no more time America needs help