Elinor Nauen

Hardest working artist! She had a daily drawing practice as well as crocheting (as it were) wire sculptures & so much more. Big show at MoMA ~ glad to be a member because I plan to go several times, absorb everything, read everything. I have a dual membership: come with me! 

I have an unopened (since Monday) bag of candy corn sitting on my desk. It's not entirely willpower that accounts for it still being there but that Maggie has a bag of Harvest Mix. We plan to combine & share them. 

I notice Brach's calls this "classic" candy corn. 

Part of the label shows three large pieces "enlarged to show detail," although there's a transparent window & really, you can see all the detail there is in a actual-size kernel. 

Wow, the first 6 ingredients are all sugar of one sort or another, with colors & artificial flavors bringing up the rear & adding up to blissful deliciousness. 

Johnny & Tara & I were in Richmond for 24 hours over the weekend for a family thing. We had a little extra time before we had to be at the airport, & we drove idly around: mansions; decorative colonial homes; tiny brick shacks set askew, as though they'd been dropped from a height; competitive Halloween decorations; ugly business district with no character at all. We had no route or destination, turning as Tara felt it ~ something we both like very much. She made a left at a V intersection & the car behind us honked sharply. Why is it you can always tell when a honk is directed at you? Fuck that, don't you be honking at no New York driver! Yeah! and then all the traffic was not only coming towards us but not yielding so we could get out of the way. Tara swerved across two lanes to pull onto a quiet street we were pretty sure wasn't one-way. What the hell! No sign! No indication except for the warning! 

And then the taxi driver got us home from LaGuardia in something like 12 minutes. It has to be a record. His driving was not reckless but competent. I was exhilarated. Johnny wasn't so sure. I told the driver how great he was & he lit up, thrilled that I appreciated his excellence. In 10 years, never been stopped, he told me. Johnny liked my joy but not the ride. 

Not sure what I think: the guys at the 99c store know my preferences in toilet paper. I walked in when they'd finally restocked it (OK, Charmin, formerly Panda) & they both instantly pulled out a package for me. I like my close-knit neighborhood but this might be a bit too close. I will add that one of them finally started to return my greetings after a solid year of politeness, so perhaps I brought this on myself. 

You can do a lot with diplomacy, but with diplomacy backed up by force you can get a lot more done.
~ Kofi Annan

Speak softly & carry a big stick. 

~ Theodore Roosevelt 

Same thing, right? 

... United Nations Day! (or maybe it's Untied Nations?)

... birthday, Kevin & Toshi! 

... world poetry! (that's every day, duh)

... National Food Day! (OK, now I'm googling) 

... Black Thursday! In 1929, the beginning of the stock market crash.

Is there a single day on the calendar that doesn't commemorate something? A saint at the very least, no? The young Chabadniks were always very reverent about the fact that my birthday is the rebbetzin's yahrzeit (don't ask).

The perfect chill in the air, the leaves doing their autumn dance, even in NYC. 

Go outside! Look up! 

A month or so ago, the pigeons did get a little out of hand. There were three roosting pairs down in our little space outside my studio. The most interesting was an extraordinary little guy who showed up one day, no idea from where, & adopted himself into one of the nests. My Personality! My neighbor & I marveled at his moxie, & the generosity of the pigeon parents who took him in. Then came the great purge & most of the pigeons were evicted. The last few days, the fostered pigeon was back, full grown but still with his big confident personality. He totally engaged with me, like I have never seen a pigeon do before. I can't explain this, but he was clearly reminding me of who he was & wanting me to know he was thriving. I wondered for a minute if he was a crow rather than a pigeon, not only because he was all black but because of his fearlessness. He's gone now but I hope he comes back. 

It is weirdly satisfying to get to the bottom of little grammatical mysteries. Here's one I semi-comprehend:

Jeg tar alltid toget, for jeg liker ikke å fly. 

Jeg tar alltid toget, fordi jeg ikke liker å fly.

"Ikke" changes places because for is a coordinating conjunction, while fordi is a subordinating conjunction. 

I mean, I do get it, not that I'll necessarily use them correctly. But it delights me to know this kind of thing. It delights me to want to know this kind of thing. 

My 3 favorite signs from the No Kings rally on October 18 (there were lots more, many quite witty, on a peaceful sunny day):

* Eggs are so expensive because all the chickens are in Congress.

* If there's any justice, "big beautiful bill" will be tRump's cellmate in the penitentiary.

* No kings except the Papaya King. (Maggie's ur-NYC reference)

Clearly I should have posted this sooner but here are two upcoming readings:

Today, 4-6
The Prospect Range
1226 Prospect Avenue
Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
(Fort Hamilton stop on F train)
with Mitch Highfill & Laurie Price

Tough Poets Review launch party
Friday, October 24, 2025, 6 p.m.- 9.p.m.
Village Works Bookstore
12 St Marks Pl
I believe I'll be doing a very short reading. Johnny *might* be there.

I love the Apple repair store Simple Mac (on St Marks west of 2nd Ave). Every single time I've gone there, they've been friendly, competent, & quick. Several times they haven't charged or have prevented me from spending more than they thought I should. The opposite of up-selling. Should I take them a box of doughnuts or chocolate? Aargh, the Rite Aid on my corner is no more ~ where does one buy chocolate & candy corn these days? 

it's from Joel Dailey's Swoopological in New Orleans. He does wonderful letterpress postcards & if you're lucky enough to get on his list, he will send you some. He would probably be happy if you sent him a few bucks. They're gorgeous & well-designed & fun & you can save the USPS one card at a time by sending them to everyone you know.

But no snow, dang it. 

I decided to do my laundry ahead of the storm, forgetting that my place isi closed on Sundays. 

Now I'm wondering why I can spend $100 every other day at the grocery store & still have nothing to eat. 

Celebrated 200 years of Norwegian immigration to the U.S. at Pier 16 at South Street Seaport with the arrival of the Restauration (Restoration) at the end of a 3-month journey that copied the one that set off Norwegian emigration to America in 1825 "for the dream of a better life." This ship was built using the same methods as the one that left Stavanger in 1825 with 52 people onboard. Really tiny! 

There was also music, an appearance by Norway's Crown Prince Haakon, waffles with brunost (brown cheese) & seeing my former teacher. She, her friends, & I all marveled at how many Norwegians there are in New York City. So fun to be eavesdropping on norsk conversations!

I may have written about this already ~ I can't remember anything. I may have called it something else. 

It's my idea for tamping the panic we are pretty much all getting from the news: you don't have to be doomscrolling, you don't even have to be reading the paper ~ one glance at the headlines is usually plenty. 

So: pick an area of concern, say healthcare or free speech or immigration. Or a tiny piece of one of these. That's your portfolio. Learn what you can, do what you can, & leave the rest to others. To quote a famous line from Pirkei Avot (The Sayings of the Fathers), attributed to Rabbi Tarfon: It is not up to you to finish the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. 

Sixth Street between C & D was renamed Jimmy Carter Way yesterday, with a lot of hoopla from resdidents, local pols, & Habitat for Humanity reps. Mascot Flats, where my friend Ann lives, was the Carters first HfH project, back in 1984. It was inspiring to see so many people passionate about community and affordable housing. And inspiring to remember a president who had the good of the country close to his heart. The people who spoke were Latino, Asian, black, white, Jewish, Evangelical, gay.... Yay for the truly diverse East Village. 

How desperate do you have to be to start doing push-ups to solve your problems?

~ Karl Ove Knausgaard 

The logistics of mat placement was deeply stressful, in a way that made me feel like I understood the primal conflicts for land that formed the basis of modern history.

~ Elif Batuman

"How I Plan to Get in Shape: Read (and Then Maybe Exercise)" in the NYT, by book critic Dwight Garner, was so full of great quotes that I have to recommend the whole piece. 

First announcement that the title poem of my 1980 book, CARS and Other Poems, is being republished this fall. It's CARS with a hundred footnotes: how everything came out. My publisher gallivanted off to Maine for three weeks so I don't have a pub date but I've seen the first version laid out, so it's real. 

In the olden days ~ some 2000 years ago & more ~ Jews were obliged to visit Jerusalem to practice their religion at the Temple. People took a month off & did their worshiping, shopping, visiting, shoe repair, & whatever else they needed to get done. That's why a lot of the holidays to this day follow at a merry clip. It's a whirl ~ the minute we finish one, we're getting ready for the next. All this to say that this blog will be taking a lot of days off for another couple of weeks. Amusing note: It must have been popular to cram them all in, because the next month on the Jewish calendar is nicknamed "Bitter" Cheshvan, because it's the only one without a holiday. 

Old ain't dead doesn't just mean he could be chasing you around the hospital bed with a cane but that they're allowed to live their own lives, mistakes & all. 

Rick popped in for a visit ~ it'd been a while but no time at all either. "One day you're young, the next day you're old." Now we are both! 

In The History of the Countryside (1986), the great botanist Oliver Rackham describes four ways in which 'landscape is lost': through the loss of beauty, the loss of freedom, the loss of wildlife and vegetation, and the loss of meaning. I admire the way that aesthetics, human experience, ecology and semantics are given parity in his list. Of these losses the last is hardest to measure. But it is clear that there is now less need to know in detail the terrains beyond our towns and cities, unless our relationships with them are in some way professionally or recreationally specialized.

— from Landmarks, by Robert Macfarlane

Every once in a while, I like to confound myself by thinking about nature. 

I'm excited to be starting a more advanced Norwegian textbook, at intermediate level. I liked the other books, though, because there were online answer keys so I could figure out my mistakes. I love this language ~ I love having theories about it. There's nothing mechanical about how I'm learning, I'm trying to understand not merely memorize. To use nuance not simply declarative sentences. Each time I learn something, the vista of how much more there is to know reveals itself. Thrilling! 

I wrote this once & it disappeared. 

I bragged about my great deal on the Times & my friend told me he pays $4/month - he cancels & they lure him back. 

My grandfather was struck by lightning while watching a storm from a window in the farmhouse.

I spent $110 on groceries this morning & I still don't think there's anything to eat in the house. 

Vancouver in May for my birthday twin's son's bar mitzvah. Not flying from Newark, thank you very much. 

I want a nice plate of pasta that doesn't cost $25 for lunch. Where's the place in the neighborhood? 

Everything belongs to me because I am old.

My New York Times sub just increased for the second time in a year ($20 to $23 to $28), making a 40% increase since last September, while they nibbled off a few features so I was paying even more for less. I called them & politely said this & without hesitating, he gave me all-access (adding games, cooking, athletic, wirecutter, none of which I particularly care about) for $8/month instead of $28. In a year it will go up to $25. Amazing. I would have been happy if they had kept it at $23 for another year or given me a senior citizen discount. Next I'll try my insurance... my rent... my groceries... 

Our memory is a more perfect world than the universe: it gives back life to those who no longer exist.
~ Guy de Maupassant

Tonight we enter the High Holidays, a time of contemplation, healing, and not least, remembering those who have mattered to us but no longer walk the earth. One prayer says, May my memories of the dead be tender and true, undiminished by time, not falsified by sentimentality. 

A good year, of health, joy, peace, and doing our part to repair the world. 

I've bragged for years that I'm not related to any Republicans. I found out that's not or no longer is the case. Two of my lovely second cousins, sisters, are broken-hearted over the assassination of Charlie Kirk. "The reason behind my profound sadness and the sadness of many others is that Charlie was a brother in Christ who was martyred for his faith." I have other friends who, bless 'em, see only the good in a man well-known for saying many vile things (or at least that's what I see). Everyone picks & chooses, of course, & will always feel more grief for people we admired & agreed with than people we see as destructive. Is there any possibility of grace in the middle? Hardly seems so. That Christian faith comes off as so hateful - doesn't that bother them? They are quick to accuse, slow to self-reflect. 

You go away, & every day see something or someone new, you try a food (hello, fårikål, national dish of Norway!), you breathe Scandinavian air & wallow in stripey northern light. And then you sit in semi-darkness for a few hours & it is as though you never left. You are sitting at your own desk, typing on your same computer, looking up at the cloud calendar for September just like you did on Labor Day. No one thinks you look different, even though your mouth has been saying different sounds & words for a week. Hello, New York, I guess you didn't miss me, but that's the great thing, that it's the city that welcomes you whether you go away or stay home. 

Ah, it goes so fast! Long flight but comfortable enough & here I am as though I'd never been away. Highlights: seeing my friends, the library in Bodø that looks out on the sea, speaking Norwegian, hearing Norwegian, bookstores full of Norwegian books, eating the Norwegian national dish of fårikål (lamb with cabbage, way more delicious than you might expect), hotel life. I can't wait to go back.