Past them

I wear: three shirts with
differing sleeve lengths,
two varieties of undergarments,
a pair of mismatched fuzzy socks,
gray serger-seamed pants with wet cuffs,
an orange elastic,
green and black glasses.
Underneath is: skin, hair, nails, eyes, teeth, tongue, ears, lips.
Soft, dizzy and cold.
Beyond this innermost nothing:
I see my eyes and look deeply
past the green of them,
while speaking I seem comedic,
what's left is a frozen over moment of silence.

Extases

Extases, a photography book by Ron Raffaelli and Nicole Avril (Tchou/Vertigo, Paris, 1975) contains nine visual and textual Free Love stories made by the photographer and his lover.
-http://www.purple-diary.com/

“You, the photographer, you know this : the duality is our house with the open sky. We have to live there. Together we imagine another world. A place full of devastations and secret tenderness. It is not yet the time of great calm, there are storms, turmoils, and nights of clamor. There is who we are now and that which we dream to be, there are also all those we know and who get under our skin. Certain nights our room is overpopulated.”

Before commenting I think I need a cigarette....haha.  I've never seen a photograph like this.  I've never been so stirred by an image portraying a sexual act.  My generation missed out on the free love of the sixties and seventies and are (for most of us) still discovering comfort in our sexuality.  Porn has been so available during my lifetime via cable and internet but also including the outrageously oversexed television programming, movies and pop culture in general.  There is a good girl and then there's a slut.  And while porn can be used as a highly effective tool for arousal it doesn't provide much insight for relating sexually to others in a truly intimate way.  It's no wonder why we are so screwed up.  Sexuality is shown to us lacking a vital element: heart. 

The deer in the picture seem to be strengthening the stereotypes of how women and men respond differently to sexual stimuli.  The buck is watching the couple and the doe is watching the buck.  A sort of, "what are you looking at?"  But in many civilizations the deer represents innocence and a gentle luring to new adventures.  The first place the Buddha preached was in a deer park where he also lived for a time.  So if this understanding is applied to the photo it seems to say, "relaaaaaaaax, come on in!"  It could be that this is the perfect photo for a modern day sexual revolution.  Or I could just be reading way too much into it as an excuse to keep looking at an amazingly erotic piece of art.

Miu Miu 2010 from Paris Fashion Week

Miuccia Prada designer/creator of Miu Miu, an experimental and expressive clothing line, showed her 2010 collection at Paris Fashion week. I like the reviewer's terms, "sweet and sexual, virginal and vamp," because that is what keeps Miu Miu so fresh.

Many of the larger fashion houses have a more singular view, whether it be classic (Calvin Klein), sexy (Versace) or sophisticated (Chanel). This is obviously oversimplified but the point is that other than Mark Jacobs, a younger, edgy look combined with sophistication that only a brilliant designer can impart is very hard to find. Miu Miu flawlessly combines these elements.

Reaching for a contradiction that perfects the line between gaudy and quirky is something this woman does well. Gucci used to be the same way until Frida Giannini was promoted to design director some years ago. Miu Miu fills a need for those of us who didn't grow up brunching formally every Sunday morning or regularly attending benefit galas. We don't need ball gowns or overly formal clothing for going out but we also don't need oversexed attire.

Miuccia gets that women want subtle sexuality in clothing that works well to promote femininity and not trampiness. It's much sexier to be playful in this contradiction, 'virginal & vamp,' than to be overt.  We want expressive pieces to wear with jeans or a killer pair of shoes to offset a more simple outfit. Her work makes such an artistic statement that I always look forward to seeing it.

PS:  the models in this video are SCAREY.  I don't usually have a problem with model's sizes because I can be a little on the small side...but holy cow, watching them is a little uncomfortable.  Maybe I'm just getting old?


 From the Telegraph:

True to form, Miuccia Prada’s collection was a contradiction in terms; sweet and sexual, virginal and vamp.
A sweet cat print and a swallow in flight contrasted with the image of a reclining nude. Bra details across a see-through bodice, with sequinned flames, were set against innocent puffed sleeves.

The youthful charm of smocking, on Victorian-style sleeves, and on yoked necklines, was at odds with sheer, stretch tulle, embellished with silver beading. And while the models had their hair styled in a demure plait over the left shoulder, a voice on the soundtrack was husking “I want you, I need you, I love you.”
The juxtaposition was echoed in the colours, the prints and the fabrics; a prim, schoolgirl collar in a red/cream swallow print on a modestly-cut dress, sleeves in the cat print in blue on black, a bejewelled front, and a plain, cream back.
....continued here

Some of my Creeley Favorites (audio)

At Harvard University, October 27, 1966

A Form of Women

Goodbye

For Love

The Crisis

archive of recordings at PennSound

I've been so strange lately

The only drawings I've done in the past two weeks are for a book project explaining the lack of color on the blog.  Life has been whizzing by!  So i'm in a bit of a funk and while lost in a mental cloud a minute ago something actually cheered me up:  I could probably find Mean Girls on youtube.  lol

here's hoping!

What's happening to publishing?

This is hilarious and probably an author's worst nightmare.  From The New Yorker's, Shouts & Murmurs page.


Subject: Our Marketing Plan
by Ellis Weiner October 19, 2009


Hi, Ellis—

Let me introduce myself. My name is Gineen Klein, and I’ve been brought on as an intern to replace the promotion department here at Propensity Books. First, let me say that I absolutely love “Clancy the Doofus Beagle: A Love Story” and have some excellent ideas for promotion.

To start: Do you blog? If not, get in touch with Kris and Christopher from our online department, although at this point I think only Christopher is left. I’ll be out of the office from tomorrow until Monday, but when I get back I’ll ask him if he spoke to you. We use CopyBuoy via Hoster Broaster, because it streams really easily into a Plaxo/LinkedIn yak-fest meld. When you register, click “Endless,” and under “Contacts” just list everyone you’ve ever met. It would be great if you could post at least six hundred words every day until further notice.

If you already have a blog, make sure you spray-feed your URL in niblets open-face to the skein. We like Reddit bites (they’re better than Delicious), because they max out the wiki snarls of RSS feeds, which means less jamming at the Google scaffold. Then just Digg your uploads in a viral spiral to your social networks via an FB/MS interlink torrent. You may have gotten the blast e-mail from Jason Zepp, your acquiring editor, saying that people who do this sort of thing will go to Hell, but just ignore it.

The vi-spi is cross-platform, but don’t worry if you think you’re not on Facebook, because you actually are. Jason enrolled you when you signed the contract last year, or at least he was supposed to, and he told Sarah Williams he did before he had to retire and Sarah left for nursing school. You currently have 421 Friends, 17 Pending Requests, 8 Pokes, 5 Winks, and 3 Proposals of “Marriage.”

...continued here

The overlook on route 67

A pair of birds watch the sunset from a leaf-blown tree branch.

They both raise a wing and preen, casually glancing up or down at one another.

Outlined in nursery room colors both aviators and perch are one.

White whiskers fanning out from the apex

with the profile of an old fashioned feather duster,

a seed- its dormancy overshadowed by flight.

The birds are still chatting in the skeletal tree

as the stack of clouds change position and hue.

Mountain forests clothed with a cadmium spectrum offset the horizon.

One bird departs positioning closer to the hiding sun.

A veriegated petal, so soft and creamy blue, pink and peach.

The tiny winged seed makes his way to fertility.

John Ashbery and France

It's natural for everyone to want to live in France.  I got a call from my best friend, who is currently in San Fran, saying she and her boyfriend are now on the moving abroad train.  Anyone else want to join?  Our time line is 2-3 years.  We are sharing knowledge, strategy and enthusiasm with anyone interested.  So save your pennies and learn French!




Poets.org has tons of events and is kicking off the Poetry Forum on the 15th of October.

John Ashbery, Jeff Clark, Stuart Krimko

Poets:	Jeff Clark, John Ashbery
Featured Poets:	Stuart Krimko
December 7, 2009, 7 p.m. 11th Street Bar, 510 East 11th Street, New York City, NY
Join us for a special reading by the great poet John Ashbery, whose latest book, Planisphere, we are celebrating. He will be reading with Jeff Clark (author of Music and Suicide and The Little Door Slides Back) and emerging poet Stuart Krimko.
Sponsored by Triptych Readings
Info:	xx kaveh@triptychreading.com http://www.triptychreading.com

Goosebumps

Copy and paste move after move with an almost two decade old car, some oil paint stains in your not favorite colorful jeans.  Hat, scarf, "I pay no rent, I can come for a month."  Darling.  Dating.  Finding only potheads or...  Single.  Broke.  People weighing on me with their no hope, no hope, no hope.  I'm here with you don't make me drag you out to dance.  I might need you to bring me.  All of a sudden the cold breeze reaches me in the corner. 
 

Timbre

An asynchronous only
to explain
with

dull
voice falling
timbre. Work continues.

Little Rachel

According to my mom I was always smiling.  

This is me at 2 1/2

Pretty new pictures

or at least functional direction to the many web sites I seem to keep making.
If you check it out and get the old look, just refresh.  I swear, I updated!


a hub for all things sephyrus

The Second Moment of Recognition

When the smile fades
And the chest warms,

She begins to question
the need for sorrow.

I just needed to make one drawing...

and then I thought about David Sedaris and how funny he is.   So I went to Youtube and started listening to him reading.  Since that began, over an hour ago, the only thing I've accomplished is managing not to pee in my pants.  I love his voice and his sometimes sarcastic but moslty observational comedy.  He's touring now, I think he was just in CT a few weeks ago and makes regular appearances on This American Life on NPR.  (the link attached to his name above contains a full list of links to all of his T.A.L. appearances)


Here are two readings that I found extra funny:






 

The Breakfast Scene

Satisfaction comes from
a stand-in leaving a bar
with no jacket and a will
to fight.  There is a breakfast
of eggs, rye toast and cut-up
seasoned potatoes.  Too much
salt, tan and black pepper flakes
to dazzle the eye before dipping
into yolks with bread.  The
yolk is what satisfies, hearty
and thick.  Nutritionists will
advise against eating egg yolks
but the truth is that the whites
are much more harmful.  Messy
is the way to be.  The stand-in
will order his eggs scrambled
as to avoid the mess. It may
be a more polite way of dining
but it lacks guts, soul and
forward thinking tendencies.