Elinor Nauen

I have been doing my patented™ ® © Snow Dance for two weeks & this picture does NOT illustrate the results. Two damn flakes, that's all we've gotten. Poor me. What did I do to deserve this? I'm a nice person, I should have the snow I crave.

I was going to write about the various books I'm reading but then I found an old poem that mentioned Williams's book Pictures from Breughel & I started looking for it. I've upended my house & office to no avail. I did find a pretty good-size stack to get rid of (when the rain stops) but not the Williams. I have his collected, so I can read those poems, but I liked carrying around that ND pb.

I'm reading or half-reading or not-really-reading so many books it's making me sleepy to think about copying out all the titles. Books about fish & Circe & decluttering & WWI poets & by Horace, Angela Thirkell, E.M. Forster & on & on.  Read More 

I got this a couple years back from the tree seller on my block. They used to be in front of the Rite Aid on 5th & 1st for years but not lately, probably because of the endless onstruction on the block. This year I remembered to pick up a branch to refresh its tail & antlers. Do I have to throw it out when I've mastered the Japanese art of tidying? Oh gosh I hope not. It brings me joy!  Read More 

Steve (aka Willis) is someone I've loved since the day we met. I love him & I love our past: we met at the last big anti-Vietnam War demonstration on April 24, 1971, & have been friends ever since. I love knowing someone from such different circumstances: the South, after all these years of visiting him in South Carolina (& defending the state to my northern friends), the South still seems foreign at times. For example, I was down there recently & met a group of people, more or less my age, who remembered colored & white drinking fountains. I'm from a different South indeed.

Anyway, I love this photo, which Steve sent me recently. I could put up photos of old friends for a month & say why each of them is important to me. One of the great pleasures in life is having longtime friends, that's for sure. Read More 

I was already in Brooklyn twice this month, for the WWI documentary & to rehearse at Annabel's place on Avenue I for the Double Yews gig at the Poetry Project on New Year's Day. We have a drummer now, at least for that gig. We're doing poems by Bernadette Mayer (to Streets of Laredo) & Ron Padgett (to Turkey in the Straw).  Read More 

We often meet our destiny on the road we took to avoid it.
~ Jean de La Fontaine

Somehow that seems to be about my relationship with Johnny. I didn't want a husband, I barely wanted a boyfriend. Somehow he caught up with me & convinced me this was a good idea—not by explaining but by being fascinating & lively & handsome.

I guess I don't know how to explain this quote at all... Read More 

I spend my time loving Johnny. It's what I do. It's probably why so much else falls out of my head.

& happy birthday to two friends, Ken K who I've known since high school & Bill McF who I met right after high school.
& now the long slide to Christmas, as another old pal memorably called it, is reversed. No wonder I'm a happy winter baby.
& it rained.

I love busy undramatic days. Today I went to class, stayed after & finally nailed one of my "new" katas + the first 10 (of 55) moves of a second. I told pregnant Mei I'd give her $1,000 if she named her baby (due in April) Galveston; she just laughed. Kyoshi Greg gave me a loaf of delicious rosemary bread as a thank you for assisting him with the kids. I went to B&H to say happy birthday to Mike & have a grilled cheese sandwich. I bought 2 books at the used bookstore on St Marks & 3 pounds of coffee (beans, baby!) at Porto Rico. I took 2 books back to the library & checked out 3. I took a bath. A satisfying day & if that's the entirety of my life, I'm OK with it.  Read More 

What was especially striking in the WWI documentary was how awful most of the men’s teeth were. Men: a lot of them were teenage boys, yet had many black or missing teeth. Very few had all of their teeth. My grandma had full dentures, which she kept at night in a glass of water. I thought they were hilarious & always begged her to take them out & put them back in. Dentists used to tell people they’d be better off without the trouble of maintaining their teeth. F Scott Fitzgerald told Sheilah Graham she had good teeth for an English girl. I guess my mom does too: She’s 95 & has most or all of her teeth & they’re in great shape. I remember when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan the first time, my mother came into the den to see what the fuss was about, took one look, said “they all have terrible teeth” & that was the end of the Beatles for her.  Read More