i don't care if you don't want me, i'm yours right now

[concretekiss]

Handsome & I have an agreement. He mewls & I give him food. No touching. No licking. No imprinting. We keep it professional.
Letters were distributed a couple weeks ago noting the nuisance of stray cats roving about the complex & warning us not to feed them. Right. Like I can ignore this dude. Shortly thereafter, animal control came out to round them up. Handsome disappeared. We assumed the five0 gottim, though were certain he'd charmed his way into someone's arms eventually. A week later he sauntered out of the shrubbery gloating, stretching after having laid low for days. One of the only tomcats left. & now the whole neighborhood knows we had a thing because he sleeps in front of my door. I have to air kick at him to keep him from walking in when I get home. When I do this he cocks his head to the side as if because I've lost my mind.


Gave my atlas girl a sea monstah who still needs eyes, & perhaps a scalloped spine & I may turn her grey. Also, I'm thinking of leaving the drippings at the shoulders & the hand unpainted. Why the fuck not.

Teaching my daughter scales, it is a challenge to keep from wanting to steer her talents, seeing them w/ a certain hindsight. I'm excited to imagine us harmonizing in the kitchen 5 years from now. Another bird to play with! My son can carry a note as well, if only he weren't so shy @ the moment.

There has been aminal planet on cable, marveling evolution, reading about Houdini, fetishizing Escapology. Double jointed, escapists regurgitated keys, could unlock handcuffs by applying strategic pressure like 5 point palm heart explosion techniques. Unhinging sockets, dislocating shoulders to escape, manipulating mirror, smoke. They expanded the lungs while tied, stretching canvas to afford wiggle room in a straitjacket.
Pondering the Art of Disappearing leads me to wonder exactly howmany kinds of freedom there are to be had, to weigh them against one another by quality & quantity in relation to myself.
& I think of the great circus elephants staked to the ground, ensnared by their own beliefs...

Comments

[mehinda.livejournal.com]

I am in love with this painting. Tomorrow, when Tiffany's opens, I am buying it an emerald-cut 2-carat diamond ring and proposing.

ooooh, BABY

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

i've still got a ways to go with it, but i doooooooo

wishful thankin

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

i yam a gooober. it's the painting sheez after!

Re: wishful thankin

[mehinda.livejournal.com]

You're not a goober. I thought choo were taken!

Re: wishful thankin

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

is houdini taken? hoo!haa!

[sofarfrom78.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! I am commenting on your painting before I even read your post, that's how awesome it iS!!!! You are so uber talented!! I love the face and the eyes...beautiful!!! Okay, when I start getting paid again (nor till AUGUST!!!) I will pay you to paint something for me to hang on our walls (we have lived in our casa for a full year and have ZERO pictures/paintings hanging anywhere, except for Zye's room. Our house is so sad!). Whatta ya think???

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

yr cute. what kind of stuff do you like/collect/admire? i could paint a squirrel rocking air guitar for over the dining room mantel, a kitten with wingz! ooo a KITTENCORN! ;)

[mojodragonfly.livejournal.com]

it sounded like I was watching fireworks explode over Lake Austin as I read your ideas for paintings for Mrs78

A kittencorn!

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

i'm goin' off the rails on a Crazy Train!

[tuckova.livejournal.com]

Do you know the Kate Bush song "Houdini"? Realizing that it's more about Bess Houdini than Harry, it's still all spooky and you might like it.

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

iiiinteresting. Kate sometimes does frighten me a little with the dramatics, though I love her voice. This Woman's Work is my favorite song of hers.

did you know Houdini gave Bess a series of coded passwords to identify him if he ever returned from the dead? she kept a candle lit for 10 years, waiting. chains of loooove.

[tuckova.livejournal.com]

"...with a kiss I'd pass the key/and feel your tongue teasing and receiving..."

It's worth checking out. I have it on VINYL.

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

oh my goodness

i'm definitely curious now.

[tuckova.livejournal.com]

It's on the album "The Dreaming" which is in my opinion her weirdest and most interesting album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Kate_Bush_The_Dreaming_Cover.jpg

My Son, The Man, by Sharon Olds

[just-jeff.livejournal.com]

Suddenly his shoulders get a lot wider,
the way Houdini would expand his body
while people were putting him in chains. It seems
no time since I would help him to put on his sleeper,
guide his calves into the gold interior,
zip him up and toss him up and
catch his weight. I cannot imagine him
no longer a child, and I know I must get ready,
get over my fear of men now my son
is going to be one. This was not
what I had in mind when he pressed up through me like a
sealed trunk through the ice of the Hudson,
snapped the padlock, unsnaked the chains,
and appeared in my arms. Now he looks at me
the way Houdini studied a box
to learn the way out, then smiled and let himself be manacled.

Re: My Son, The Man, by Sharon Olds

[just-jeff.livejournal.com]

That poem has become the firt thing I think of when anyone mentions Houdini, in any context.

Love the painting. Love the post. Love to you and yours.

Re: My Son, The Man, by Sharon Olds

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

he pressed up through me like a
sealed trunk through the ice of the Hudson

that woman is so amazing. i've never read this one. thanks!
& big hugs to YOU & your lovelies.

where the wild things are

[rambert.livejournal.com]

i love your medieval mind-map.

john lennon said if there was life after death, he'd float a feather as a sign. like, no big deal.

i used to read books about houdini in grade school. i became fascinated w/magic, but the nuts-and-bolts, misdirection (and hard work) made it seem dull.

Re: where the wild things are

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

thank you.
i'm taking my sweet time on it.

hmmm, but what kind of feather, & from where will he float it?

i had a houdini book & Blackstone's magic set when i was 12! i could only do about 3 of the tricks in it. there is an amount of confidence in deception required, that i didn't have. i'm a shitty liar.
i love how houdini's always got the mischievous grin in photos. there should be a movie if there isn't one already, maybe with benicio.

Re: here be monsters

[rambert.livejournal.com]

i think it was a white feather, floated through the air. i'd do something a bit more dramatic, ie: "if life persists beyond death's veil, i will bitch-slap you thrice with a large slice of liverwurst."

i had a million books. one was a magical encyclopedia by magician joseph dunninger. it exposed the things i'd seen as hard science or sleight of hand mastered by long hours of practice.

i remember seeing the guy from 'starsky and hutch' (paul michael glaser) play houdini in a t.v. biopic. benicio is physically epic. he'd be good. but i picture someone like jason schwartzman in the role. could be it's just me.

Re: oh pioneer

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

hahaha, i think that is a much better & more infallible sign than a white feather. that's like saying you'll leave some bird crap on my windshield.

me, i will ride a black pegasus across the tundra singing Total Eclipse of the Heart & i will be wearing a crown of white gardenias. TAKE NO SUBSTITUTES.

there is something very ben stiller about jason schwartzman that i dislike, but i'm trying to change.

Re: wiseasses for all eternity

[rambert.livejournal.com]

your life after death scenario reminds me of karaoke on acid.

yeah, i'm not sure schwartzman could pull-off the houdini gravitas.

maybe robert downey? he was fantastic as chaplin.

Re: wiseasses from here to eternity

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

ooooo robert downey. dingdingdingdingding!

Re: the other side of goodbye

[rambert.livejournal.com]

I just listened to this and thought of our Houdini bit.

Zevon's voice is twisted by the ravages of cancer and liquid morphine. It's a goodbye to his current lady friend. Not an after death promise; more the resignation that life is enough. Reminds me of Lennon in its vulnerability:

http://download.yousendit.com/4BF477F90E915B33

Re: mmmorphine

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

how sweet the way he chirps up into falsetto. baring & fragile & brave all at once. thank you.

[claymedeiros.livejournal.com]

The image is like the tree of life growing out of the goddess, a great image.

Humanity's ability to create freedoms is unlimited. The things that Houdini did with his body can as easily be done with the mind.

owning freedom

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

yes that too. :)

“My brain is the key that sets my mind free.” - Houdini

[catalogpose.livejournal.com]

Man!, that's a cool one. Yeah, I love the drippings, too.

(interpretive paragraph deleted. it's best to keep these to oneself while an artist is still in progress)

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

thank you berry much.

& don't hold back, tease! i'm open to interpretation & suggestion. just letting things come to me.

[octopodes.livejournal.com]

i just tried to send you an email and it told me i FAILED. how come i can't reach you?

recluse in training

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

shhh. i'm pretending i don't exist.

i'll write u soon.

Re: recluse in training

[octopodes.livejournal.com]

i understand, too well.

i just wanted to tell you i watched pbs today and saw an octopus on reaing rainbow and then houdini on another reading show.

i are drunk. people are doing art at my house fruday night if you wanna come.

thank u 4 understanding, love

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

heyyy, maybe i will!
pbs is tha BOMB.

[citizenwind.livejournal.com]

so ... are you locatable? i was going to call at work, but that seemed intrusive. :P

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

you may call me at work if you need to.
are you ok?

[citizenwind.livejournal.com]

oh, it's not a question of need at all -- everything's fine. i just want to talk to you! :)

<3

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

maybe i will email in a few days. i'm sorry. i am not feeling socially acceptable.


but, we are talking here. :)

Re: <3

[citizenwind.livejournal.com]

no rush, dear.

[mynewgirlfriend.livejournal.com]

so, it's Friday. I ain't got no plans. What about you? I'd like to hang out witchyoo, so I hope you might call or respond in some way....It would be good. Later Gater.

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

aw, i was organizing toys & bits of toys, trying to make my girl a little space of her own. :)
but thanks for the offer, mon petit.

birdcage in yr soul

[rambert.livejournal.com]

your locked entries got me thumbing through 'run with the hunted.'

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.

i'll have to go through some boxes and see what else i can find.

the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

that's one of my favorites, maybe because it seems out of his character

the subject got me looking for 'the be good tanyas.'

Re: the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

[rambert.livejournal.com]

of course it can be read as a poem about selling-out and killing the best in yourself. i like it (in part) because bukowski didn't often resort to direct metaphor.

the 'prettiest bird' tune is catchy. i've heard t.b.g.t.'s before but not this. thanks.

i'm liking lots of newer female pop/roots music lately, even polished jenny lewis type stuff. maybe it's dna coding, ie: i never wanted to quarter-truss gram parson to my bedposts--but the women annoy me less than all the white dudes with notice-me vests and porkpie hats.

Re: the littlest birds sing the prettiest songs

[rambert.livejournal.com]

More bird songs!

I like that thissun was written about a kid's night light. (i called it 'bird cage in yr soul' 'cause i'm retarded)

Here's another one it took me forever to find--a John Hammond tune from 1927.

take! these broken wings!

[flightviolation.livejournal.com]

all i have frm this pc at this moment is Howlin' Wolf/Muddy Waters' Red Rooster & Mr. Frank Black Francis.

tmbg always reminds me of my little sister. i turned her onto them & it was all she listened to for 3 years. hmmmm. i bet my son would dig them intensely.
thx esp. for the Hammond tune. had me swinging my legs in my chair. :)