Elinor Nauen

Johnny looked at everything in the store (J. Antonio's on Avenue A) & chose this. His taste has become mine. Or maybe it's that my taste has become his. In any event, he was pleased with what he chose & so am I. It's partly titanium. He is too.

I have been reading a lot of the poetry of Philip Larkin lately. "Traumerei" is one of many that I like. It's been a long day & week & I have miles to go so I'm not going to say more about him or this poem now. Enjoy.

Träumerei  Read More 

"That's my childhood!" I called to the guy parking this station wagon, which turned out to belong to Jim from Long Island, around my age or a little younger.

I stopped & chatted, showed him the photo that's the cover of "Snowbound," me with some '50s cars like this one. He liked that I appreciated his car & offered to take a picture.

I love New York!  Read More 

Yesterday my sister, nephew & I were handed certificates of German naturalization by Herr Roland Pohl, at a champagne reception at the German embassy. On behalf of Germany, he took responsibility for the atrocities and welcomed us back as full German citizens. Every one of you who accepts helps heal the wound, he said, & invited us to explore our new status. I expect the meaning to reveal itself over time, as getting married did.

Ahead of time, I had imagined an informal "here ya go" amusement & that our party at the Bierhaus was the main event. After, the party, while festive, was nothing special, and this ceremony was a huge & moving deal.

My dad loved being German & I am convinced with all my heart that he would approve both of me taking this step & the actions of the German government.  Read More 

I do a lot of editing for social justice organizations, which are always trying to "shift the narrative" and get people to be less racist etcetera etcetera. One article I worked on recently was by someone who referred to herself as "serv[ing] as an unapologetic arbiter of authenticity." That makes me wonder about  Read More 

Randomly thinking of the great Bootsy Collins & how much I love this clip of him singing "Cool Jerk."

Luckily he is a friend of a friend, not my own friend, who claims every criticism of anything to do with tRump is "fake news." Every single comment he posts contains it: "fake news." It's tedious & makes me wonder what would have to happen to change this man's mind.

I have wondered this before about myself, in similar contexts. For example:  Read More 

By the year 2020, the year of perfect vision, the old will outnumber the young.
—Maggie Kuhn

Remember Maggie Kuhn? She founded the Gray Panthers back in 1970, when she was forced to retire because she turned the then-mandatory retirement age of 65. The Gray Panthers became known for fighting ageism, claiming that "old people and women constitute America's biggest untapped and undervalued human energy source."

Kuhn also said: Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind—even if your voice shakes.

I just ordered her autobiography, No Stone Unturned.  Read More 

I'm 9 years old on my birthday.

The rest of the year I'm whatever age goes with the calendar.

I haven't seen any of the current Olympics & the last time I can remember watching any Olympics was 1984, when Johnny & I reenacted Greco-Roman wrestling.

Click on the caption & you'll find out about some people I was surprised to learn were Olympians. Dr. Spock! George Patton! Tom McMillen, the tallest Congressman ever. And more.

Missing my little guy.

He's at home & too heavy to haul back & forth, even just a few blocks.

I love the way he looks at me, the way he licks my fingers, the way he gallops to the bed as soon as I lie down at night & to his dish as soon as I get up in the morning.

The serious way he is trying to catch this mousey thingy.
 Read More 

I know, I know, everyone hates this holiday, they don't have a partner, it's too gendered, it reminds them of junior high.... But I have always loved it—it's the real start of my birthday, I lived for 3 years with someone whose birthday was February 14,. And now, most of all, I am so ridiculously in love with my husband & he with me that every day is a Hallmark card.  Read More 

I'm excited to be planning a trip to Norway for later this year. These photos are exactly why I'm going and what I want to see. All these places have been in my dreams my whole life.

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
—George Orwell

Is this true?
Is it something that sounds true but is questionable?
Is it possible to tell the truth?
Do we always know the truth when we break our teeth on it?
Is it ever a time of universal deceit?
Is it always a time of universal deceit?  Read More 

Johnny just said, with an unfamiliar catch in his voice, that the book he's listening to—A Town Like Alice, by Nevil Shute (real name Nevil Shute Norway)—is the first romantic book he's ever really liked.

I checked it out instantly. What can make Johnny cry is something I've always wondered & never discovered.  Read More 

I haven't made a list of books for ages. Here's what's piled up around me, all of which I'm reading, more or less:
= The reader over your shoulder: a handbook for writers of English prose, by Robert Graves & Alan Hodge. This is 7 Stories reprint of the cranky, opinionated, brilliant, funny 1943 book. They pull no punches!  Read More 

Every single day I see or think or experience or am directed to something wonderful. It's most often something small—a good response to some clear or not-so-clear thinking, a little bird close enough that it seems friendly & personal, a few minutes of snow. I do try to notice them but I don't always also write them down.  Read More 

The idea for this layered poem comes from anatomy books that have the muscles and bones and circulatory systems in overlays. So this is, as the painter Hallie Cohen suggests, a verbal neural system.

It's something I have thought about doing for decades but never knew what technology would work. Turns out that mylar  Read More 

I love this article about what it's like to live in Yakutsk, Siberia, the coldest city in the world, where winter temps regular hover at an unbalmy -40°. They build on stilts so as not to melt the permafrost and sink their homes.

I do remember some -30° days—one where our car wouldn't start because the oil had frozen. The January thaw meant the temps went above zero...

Would I want to live in Yakutsk? A Russian mining town with 270,000 people? Where I would have to give up winter jacket & wear a real coat? No, I don't think so.  Read More 

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that you are constantly making exciting discoveries!
—A.A. Milne

It's interesting to catch yourself in irrational moments. I went to Paris in 2000 for my friend, the poet Doug Oliver's funeral. I feel like I was there quite a long stretch although it must have been only a few days. I had been to Paris a lot around then, for work & because it happened, & I didn't  Read More 

I have laryngitis, it seems, if that's the definition of my voice having turned silent or at best croaky. How long will this last? I've never had anything like it before.

I really want to talk about how great Prose Pros was last night—Eddie Berrigan, Maggie Dubris with Sara Wendt, & Annabel Lee (plus me, as the Double Yews). It was a music-themed night plus a benefit for a wonderful immigrant-protecting organization called New Sanctuary Coalition. We made over $350 for them!

I have sat up. Is more expected? I remember when I felt like I was flitting through a minefield & everyone was getting blown up & I was finding daisies. Well, it's caught up with me, it seems.  Read More 

Only twenty miles above our heads is an appalling, hostile environment that would freeze us, and burn us and boil us away. And yet our enfolding layers of air protect us so completely that we don't even realize the dangers. — Gabrielle Walker, An Ocean of Air

Inspired by the Eiffel Tower, a Russian scientist as far back as 1895 suggested an elevator to space. It's far from becoming a reality—the technical challenges are close to insurmountable—but it's in the air (so to speak).  Read More 

My favorite poem:

O western wind, when wilt thou blow
The small rain down can rain.
Christ that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again.
—Anon, 16th century

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Writing about the Wing estate (yesterday) made me think about my three years in Maine. I also lived in the woods in Prospect, near Fort Knox, in a house known as Idiot's Point, with an outhouse, a wood stove, cold running water, & one giant window that let in all the winter cold. I lived in a big old white clapboard house on the Castine Road in West Penobscot. I lived in a rooming house in  Read More 

I marvel at how much I've never seen (noticed?) in New York. It's probable that I had never walked on East 70th Street before.

New York real estate is inseparable from New York money, which I don't have. And it's not like I want to live there, I like my little hovel. I've lived in a mansion, although not in Manhattan—in Bangor, Maine.  Read More 

One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion. —Simone de Beauvoir

Isn't this quote better without the last few words? "One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others." It's a more absolute relationship—I can't claim to be more important than you, I can't claim what I don't deliver. Friendship, compassion et al are just explanations of how to go about offering value. They're important but they only qualify the essential truth.  Read More 

We went for the Polar Film Festival. Good thing adventurous Robyn is up for anything, because it was basically $25 of so-so films with great shots of polar bears & plenty of ice and snow. I realized I find the monochromatic desert landscape monotonous, & the equally monochromatic arctic landscape thrilling.

The Explorers Club is one of those old New York places that has its own sensibility, with outsiders not part of the gang. "Our People," Beckota & I used to call the denizens of Film Forum, with their wadded newspapers & giant magnifying glasses. At the Explorers Club we overheard someone talking about cooking with camel dung & someone else whispering about extraterrestrial technology under the arctic ice. I loved it, & will probably never go back.  Read More 

Even though it was only there for a shade over 16 years, the Sunshine seemed so much a part of the neighborhood, even though I suppose when it opened we felt "there goes the neighborhood"—we had the poverty mentality of not deserving or expecting amenities. In any event, it was exciting to see that long-abandoned building in use.

A little history, via EV Grieve:
Built in 1898, the Sunshine Cinema building was formerly the Houston Hippodrome motion picture theatre and a Yiddish vaudeville house. After sitting abandoned for many years, the building was renovated ... with the Sunshine opening on Dec. 21, 2001. Read More 

Who knew that Macy's has a wonderful Italian restaurant? Stella's has really delicious & elegant food, with a pretty good view out the tall windows. My lunch was enhanced by sharing it with the dynamo Meshell Baker. I profiled her for Ladies Home Journal a couple of years ago & we've become friends. She is a force, my friends!

I don't think I've been in Macy's for 10 years, maybe 20. The last time I was there it was a dirty & dispiriting mess. I had gone to buy sheets & they were all dumped everywhere, dragging on the floor, & no salespeople to ask a question. Now it's clean & upscale. I checked out the swimsuits & they were way out of my price range (although Land's End turns out to be not that much cheaper).  Read More