Saturday, March 5, 2022

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

 

 

 



Thursday, February 24, 2022

The East Bay Idler

 

 

 

   The East Bay Idler


 

 
Pink Moon Quest

 

 
Trees in Downtown Berkeley Park
on a crystalline day 

 

 
So central and busy
for much of my history in Berkeley
Today it seemed like a forlorn island 
where a few lost souls take refuge


 
Berkeley high school let out
and things livened a bit
skateboards echoed through the park




Down the Campus Pathway


 
 The landscape is more becoming
with less gardening going on
 
 

 
A perfect spot for an idle at 4:20 
The air is cool but the sun is strong
and the wind is deflected
 
 

 
Down through campus
familiar sights steaming away 
Despite everything so
irreversibly altered in the past few years
 

 
Old arboreal acquaintances 

 

 
Among the oakwood trees 
people are still rather scarce
 
 

 
 Iranian restaurant window
glass globe arabesque
 
 

 
Orderly Chinese internet cafe 
Predominant social life in Berkeley
in the 2020s
 
 

 
Score!
Everyone is happy
Everyone is laughing 
Pink Moon Indica 31% thc
from Seth Rogen's operation
Just in time for the 50th anniversary
of the release of Nick Drake's album
Pink Moon




 
 Tiger balming
 
 

 
Doorway in Chinatown
Make-shift cartoons on riot boards 
with a New Year good luck packet attached
Inscrutable
 

 
Enigmatic vacant lot in Chinatown
No campers ever breach the cyclone fence
Never offered for sale
I'd like to visit its hermetic tranquillity
 
 

 
Formerly rumored to have been 
a nefarious cop bar
 
 

 
Admirable building actually
 with blood on the floor perhaps


 
 Maybe is just an ordinary place these days
 

 
 End point is as usual
The Estuary
Back sail & odd new yellow building
on the Alameda side
& tat bizarre tank-like structure
 
 
 
 

 
Cold weather came next day  




Afro-gallery


 
In memory of
Betty Davis
Muse of Miles
 
 

 
 Voodoo Mouse
 
 

 
 Ummagumma

 


First they came for Basquiat
Look out, Jasper Johns!






 

 
Year of the Tiger 
every Chinese person
needs to be one these days
in this fierce locale
 
 
 

 
No takers at the picnic table this chilly day
a welcome smoke spot nonetheless--
sunshine and little wind
 
 

 
It's good old Old Oakland
in late Winter
 
 
 

 
Shadows of bare trees 
on 8th Street 
Solitude & mindfullness
on my afternoon walk



 
Nothing scares me
I live in West Oakland 
(barely West Oakland) 

 

 
Ye old matchstick pile
disappeared over New Year
So as industrial as ever
I resume building my mound
 
 

 
 They say, 
get rich or die tryin 
I opted out
 
 
 
 
Down here again 
dressed for chilly weather
 
 

 
Mount Tamalpais
ever thus
 

 
Shadows lengthen
on the Ferry Landing lawn
the urge for going
makes itself felt


 
 Network of trees and shadows
I move within
 

 
TOKYO!
I'm guessing
 
 
 
 


Bookstore window in passing
always on the road




Cold all week
hail stones even
snow on the elevations




February 2022