Rothko's Rolodex

In an Uber on the Cross Island. The sign for Utopia Parkway just came and went. That’s where Joseph Cornell lived and worked: Utopia Parkway. A superb biography of Cornell is entitled just that. Utopia Parkway. In what would have been a short lifetime ago, I bought a poster of Cornell’s Medici Princess. This collage,… Continue reading

For some reason, Trader Joe’s puts me in a mood. It’s not about Trader Joe’s. This time, it’s not background music. I haven’t even left the car. I turned off the engine and it’s already too warm in here for me. I never liked hot weather, and heat in general, and with everything worldwide getting… Continue reading

I mean, why not. I have my characters in my head more often than not. That’s a sign it’s going well. And it is! I’m doing a very thorough rewrite. To the core, more than before. Interestingly, some unexpected and major trauma a few months ago cleared the decks. I’m writing and revising with no… Continue reading

I had no idea Jane was around, still extant, her biker boots on the ground of the sphere we call the world, axis tilting and orbiting the Sun. The Sun is a funny thing for me to mention for a few reasons, the first being that Jane hated sunshine. We went to Jones Beach once,… Continue reading

Rosalie remembers not much from that thick gluey airport afternoon. Waiting placidly, watching Flight Aware and the terminal arrivals board, browsing the bookstore which was surprisingly excellent. Glad to be there early. Happy that this was today. Feeling safe while waiting; ever since someone at the ashram survived a terrorist attack at Athens Airport, Rosalie… Continue reading

Finally, I told myself not to give up. Keep on going, keep on doing it. I’m 58 and I have been writing seriously for half a century. I keep going, I stop sometimes, it can be a few years. Back it goes. I am at the keyboard, doing, hoping. I am too caught up in… Continue reading

“Come on, Jane, you ready?” This was Pittsburgh, a venue called the Electric Banana. We’ve played there before. A little road tour of cover shows and some originals. The proverbial van and trailer for our gear. I knocked on the bathroom door. Photocopied fliers stuck to the walls, door, everywhere. Decals and graffiti. Band names,… Continue reading

I’m using Scrivener to plow through the manuscript, nip, tuck, and write (a lot) anew. Decades ago, and I’m talking almost half a century, you’d write on a typewriter, use scissors, and rearrange. Crumple into balls everything you didn’t want, and straight to the garbage. People used Dictaphones. Legal pads were for drafting, for some… Continue reading

To not be in your right mind is a very real thing. The doctor at the hospital, Dr. Sapphire, tried to explain this medical fact to me and the other girls in the unit, ad nauseam, so repeatedly the purgers could swear that the bile rose in their throats all by itself. I know, because… Continue reading

A couple years ago, I hopped between Joshua Tree and Borrego. Different deserts, one cooler and I do not mean temperature. Joshua Tree had the history. Have you ever heard of Gram Parsons? If you’re a certain age, you know and recall the tragedy and subsequent intrigue. He died in ’73 at the Joshua Tree… Continue reading