HERE/THERE (Berkeley/Oakland)

 

 

 

 

 

HERE

 

 

 

THERE

 

 

 

 

 

What was the use of my having come from Oakland 

it was not natural to have come from there 

yes write about if I like or anything if I like but not there,

there is no there there

 

Gertrude Stein

in Everybody's Autobioraphy, 1937

 

 

 

An Ambulation

in Oakland

on Mardi Gras

 

 

 

African-American Art Tour

 

 

 

 

 

Looking up at edifice & facade

on a walk uptown

A delivery of Clutter

to the comic book store

 

 

 

 

 Speaks to a bygone way of life

 

 

 

 

I find an amenable bench

in Latham Square

 

 

 

 

Facing me a doleful mural

It sort of grew on me 

I prefer primitive to slick

 

 

 

 

I tend to prefer crude to slick

The BettiOno Foundation

honoring deep-pockets Yoko Ono 

and Betty-Davis funktress

& muse of Bitches Brew

recently deceased

 

 

 

 

Skeptical Youth

 

 

 

 

 Warning

don't get it in your eye

You'll regret it

 

 

 

Paradox

of Androgyny

 

 

Almost home

Broadway and 10th

 

 

 An outdoor gallery

nice but I miss the supermarket

that was there

 

 

 

 Shrine to Betty Davis

"he was a big freak"

 she sang of maybe Miles

 

 

 

 1 March 2022

 

 

 

 

 

Ash Wednesday 

 

 

 

 

 Give it up for Lent

 

 

 

 

Keep a clean nose

 

 

 

 

Blessings on Lou Reed 

Famous Monster of Filmland

would have been 80 today

 

 

 

2 March 2022 

Strawberry Creek 

Campus Tour

 

 

 

Stoned again

Just come from the Apothecarium

 

 

I'm not the only one enjoying

the moist greenery creekside

 

 

 

 Not really a great torrent for early March

We are having some light rain today

oddly enough

 

 

Looking back

a difficult habit to break

 

Untrimmed

we glide back toward Nature

 

 

 

Study plant with an unusual flower

 

 

Irrepressible life

 

 

 

 Redwoods gather by the river

 

 

 Creeks speak

 

 

 

Minimal gardening will suffice

 

 

 
 Ivy will climb the redwood
with infinite patience

regardless 

 

 

 Creek Alley

Looking back 

 

 

 

 

 All I see 

astonishes me

 

 

 

 

 Down the old oaken pathway

toward town

 

 

 

Physiology 

is my major

 

 

 

 With a minor in 

Cultural Morphology

 

 

There was crow activity 

but it didn't concern me

Swooped away before capture

 

 

 

 

 

 Merrily 

we welcome in the Spring

 

 

 True to my 

Lovecraftian roots

Brining it all back home

some nice HOUSEPLANT

from Berkeley

 

 

 

 First Friday in Lent

 

 

 

First Station of the Cross

 

Made damn sure that Pilot

washed his hands and sealed is fate

 

 

 

The Bishop's Seat

facing a throne of my own 

 

 

 

Here I am 

I always am

 

 

 

 

 Making the scene

as one must

 

 

 Crucifix in Antiquity

 

 

 

 

XP

marks the spot

Center aisle to the altar

 

 

 

Holy Water Closet

RAY among The Most High

 

 

 

 

Each is given his path

In the Book of Rules

 

 

 

 

 Outside the Cathedral

a multitude of gulls

park on the waters of a gusty day

 

 

 

4 March 2022

 

 

 

December Countdown

 

 

 

 

 

December's children meet up for

Festivity after dark

 

 

 

 

 

 Alameda

 

 

 

 

Bird watch

 

 

 

 

 

My fond submarine walkway

 

 

 

 

As wise as a crow

 

 

 

 Delicate fisher teaches me

the rewards of patience

 

 

 

Miniscule birds of Winter

so perfect are their methods

 

 

Pelican flash mob holds the rocks

 

 

 

 

Tossing a pebble
Some young wag scatters them all

 

 

Peace to all who  dwell on water

 

 

 

 

Berkeley  

 

 

Love cloudy sunny brisk days

 

 

 

Berkeley Bowl

Even a cow must wear a mask

 

 

 

 

 Second Story of Tupper &Reed

Former music store now vacant

 

 

It was called Beckett's in my day 

Then they assumed the name of Tupper & Reed

& seems to be dormant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another ghostly echo 

of 20th Century Berkeley

 

 

 

 

I'd like them to remove those garish raised letters

 

 

 

 

 The pied piper of all the fun Berkeley used to be

A few doors down was Edie's ice cream and lunch counter

and upstairs from it was the original KPFA studios

ere we started performing and  

guest hosting in 1982

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arcane clergyman sheparding

a lady on the BART train 

 

 

 

 My new sunset view is like a DeChirico painting

Metaphysical

 

 

 

Another night

Downtown Oakland

to BART train back to Berkeley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Resurfacing in downtown Berkeley

in a hurry to get to the movies

 

 

 

 

Epic Noir Remake

 

 

 

 

Seats are ultra-comfortable

but the sound and screen size are

not what they are at my usual venue 

Grand Lake Theater

Two hours and twenty minutes later...

 

 

End credits

Pickled Punk close-up

 

 

 

 

 

 

Te oter side of Xmas

a few fugitive souls pass by

and try to evade the cold night

 

 

 

Oakland

 

 

 

 

Noel Noel 

 

 

 

Virgin of Guadalupe

pray for our protection

from the wind and the cold

 

 

 

 

 Another corporate Xmas tree

 

 

 

Piedmont on a clear crisp day

 

 

 

 

Old Oakland as the first drops fell

 

 

 Green leaves turn yellow-orange

one branch bright red

 

 

 

 

A visit to a fictional part of town

 

 

 

 

 

Wintry vision of downtown

 

 

 

 

 I quit the Village to reconnoiter

the Federal buiding

 

 

 

 

Few enter the rotunda today

rain outside stay at home scary times 

are here again

 

 

 

 

Under my umbrella

I feel safe as a turtle

 

 

 

 

 The proverbial Xmas tree substitute

 

 

 

 

 

Te doomsday clock reminds us 

it's nearly two

 

 

 

 

More cops than people

one swaggers past me 

Can't blame them really, this is were two cops were shot

and one was killed when right-wing extremists

tried to discredit the George Floyd protest

with their own savage crimes

 

 

 

 

 

 But we are in far better hands now

 imperfect as they are

 

 

 

 An unforgiving society 

of steel and glass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Another place you should know

were everything grows

 

 

 

 

 I allow my fancy to take flight with the kites

 

 

 

 And linger in the park until night

 

 

 

 

 

Xmas Presents 

 

And for Xmas buy me a drum

 

 

 

 

Joy at Xmas

 

 

 

Deck all the corridors of your mind

 

 

 

 

 Santa bomb

Yuletide Pomerganate

 

 

 

 

Soviet Xmas card 1983

 trans-mailed from Finland

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 2021

 

 

 

 

 A wish to all

for a traditional 

yet quite cool Yule