Review: Poetry

I recently had the pleasure of reading Platos De Sal, by Matthew Hittinger. It is number two in the Editor’s series of poetry chapbooks published by Seven Kitchens Press. The poem beautifully explores the occurrence of same-sex love and longing in two generations of a Hispanic family against a backdrop of sun, desert, and beach.

We are introduced to David, a student whose lover Juan, is off to war in Iraq. Their union is unknown to his (conservative) family, though his grandmother, Rut, shares his secret. During conversations with David she quietly reveals that the union of David and Juan mirrors her own long-ago love for another woman, Mara. As Rut sits knitting, David, perhaps inspired, describes his relationship with Juan as two quilts together, the squares face to face, what David calls Juntar (as in to join): ..knit together alma to alma…not knit on one edge, but all four corners sewn up—two sides hidden, dos exposed…The hidden sides of the quilt facing one another, closed to the outside world, mirror the hidden selves, the secret love of David and Juan.

The love between the two young men is potent force that effects Rut deeply. She carries an old shell in her apron, a cherished relic of her past with Mara. It is a past haunted by tragedy, but her memories are tempered by time, wisdom, and the union of David and Juan. Touching it, she thinks of Mara and regards David’s apt description of his relationship with Juan in terms she understands well, her mind awash with memories. She shows the shell to David, the two young men fixed in her mind as ideal lovers in the same setting where she came to love Mara: the seashore.

Platos de Sal was in part inspired by two episodes from the Christian bible, the book of Ruth, with its themes of sacrifice, familial duty and steadfast love, and in part by the book of Samuel, with its story of the deep, abiding bond between Jonathan and David…the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David…(Book of Samuel, 18.1).
Hittinger’s beautifully clear style of writing suits the way in which the story of David/Juan and Mara/Rut unfolds in a bright but uncertain present full of longing, interspersed with the unclouded memories of the long-ago and more recent past.

Platos de Sal is a beautiful piece. It was a pleasure to read over and again, each time Hittinger’s writing revealing more subtleties, more depth. Mention must be made of the craftsmanship of this chapbook, put together by hand, the binding sewn, the cover image striking. I love small press editions and artist’s books, and I am delighted to have experienced this one.

A working poem--

This is a new poem, unrefined, but I thought I might share it--

dark stars circling

it’s my turn-let me be the devil
theatrical like the night like this:
the air cool and still
and you alone and lonely and lovely
you hate me again
i’ll come unwelcome but gently insistent
let me take it out of you
i want everything
every heartbreak
as i kiss your pursed lips
every small slight
as i caress your warm inner thigh
the quickening heartbeat of rage
when i tongue your ear
each bit of sadness
as i enter you like a slow train
the excited jealousy i inspire
expressed by your quivering member
the flashes of hatred caused by my fingers
playing across your back
the knowledge of infidelities
expressed in your moan as i thrust
your abrupt whimper of willful abandon
when i say i love you
the lights are low your eyes glow preternaturally
i repeat those words of ancient magic:
i love you
i love you
i love you
words of ecstasy destruction despair
words to wash us up on a desolate shore broken and bewildered
a web a box a cage an iron maiden of the heart
i rise up a dark bird of lust
you a sweet nest of despair-a torn prey
i’ve broken our hearts again
dropped us both on the rocks i’ve flown us above
i’m a fool-a waste of evil and intent
-oh god, i don’t remember our innocence
and you’re covered once more in a veil of despair
a cold winter’s bride
i don’t remember the first blush
the glorious green spring of you
can’t recall the first kiss on your soft neck
the first time i smelled you
the first taste of ear lips tongue
my pride at your side
things no lover should cast aside
can only grasp here and now and frantic feel you in my arms
here’s a devil in love and afraid and lashing out blind
desperate tonight looking
for original us
as you make me ache with weakness
we become a single creature on the bed-a vision a revelation
two romantics on that dark island of themselves-a deadly combination
the sensitivity the vivid passion too much to bear
the flowering of florid purple prose written on the heated body
springing up from gorgeous legs
and the fateful dance, the list of downward-sliding moments
here it is all melodrama and tic by tic read it:
-a tiny deceit born of jealousy
-a fearful need-a sudden irresponsible longing
-a slow realization in texts
-a surprised glance from across the room
-a brief passing, the air alive with scent electricity longing-or was it only lust?
-a dashed hope a butterfly trapped forever in chrysalis
-a grey morning’s regret that begins to eat and eat
-a darkening symbolist dream of want and need where nothing ends in happiness
-a martha and george passion-play
-a great novel of inexplicable love a twisted tale a cruel coup de grace
yes, all that all that we are-graceless
hopeless and ecstatic and afire with it
we cannot help it we cannot let this go
i am the devil and i love you
in all my-all our complicated ways
and we both know sometimes
something so heartbreakingly beautiful
must be destroyed
over and over again


dark stars redux: the other side of the black hole:

today i found part of a page you once tore out of my journal
and hid in the joy of cooking where the cookies start:

this morning i heard him sing in the shower when he thought i couldn’t hear he says his voice is terrible and god love him yes it is but over the sound of water there it rose plain and lovely and in the door i stood listening caught by what seemed to me the most beautiful sound i think i have ever heard i almost started to cry…

Please do not repost text or photos without express permission from the author/artist--

AIDSwalk Atlanta 2009

I am Captain of a team for AIDSwalk Atlanta 2009--Our Team is called Mixed Company--This event takes place every year in October to raise money for AIDS awareness and research--I hope to personally raise $1000.00 dollars and encourage everyone to support us in this very worthy cause--I will update our team's progress regularly as the walk approaches--wish us luck and help us out!--

Camping Weekend

L to R: Dave S. Tim O., Me., and Mike L.

Little River canyon

The Watering hole

I recently had the pleasure of going to Desoto State Park in Alabama (2 hrs from Atlanta) for a weekend of camping with 5 friends--I haven't camped out since I was a teen, and it was a wonderful re-introduction to the experience of sleeping under the stars (albeit in a tent)--the weather, though warm, was cooperative (we had rain 1 night)--The park was clean and not overrun by visitors--we spent an afternoon at this fantastic watering hole with a nice waterfall--it was a treat swimming in the cool water and soaking up the sun with a few other hardy souls who made the treacherous trek down--otherwise we hiked and did a scenic tour through little river canyon national reserve, stopping at all the points along the way (we came across wild turkeys at the edge of the road--cool)--going into town on Saturday night to eat out, we found that all the restaurants closed early--we ended up at Western Sizzlin'--a chain I thought had long ceased to be in business--but there it was, and the buffet was, well, filling, to say the least--our campground was within the state park and we had access to electricity and water, etc.--they had excellent bathroon/shower facilities as well--we pitched our tents on two adjoining lots and had happy hour every afternoon and evening--when it became sticky and hot in the late afternoon, we piled into the car and headed to the public pool run by the park--A great weekend, though I did come back with four spider bites, and my tent-mate had two--totally worth it--

Check out Desoto next time you want to try camping-- http://www.alapark.com/ --also Little River Canyon--it is absolutely gorgeous--

Ribbon: The Art of Adornment featured in Elegant Bride Magazine

The Summer 2009 issue of Elegant Bride magazine is on the newsstands now, featuring a 4 page excerpt from the book--go out and get a copy!--

Keith Haring at work, above

Another Poem from recent reading at Outwrite Books

This poem was inspired by the photo I posted recently of the Artist Keith Haring, taken by Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair years ago--

discovering keith

struck, i tore a picture of you

out of vanity fair

he one taken by a. l.

in a setting you painted

crouching there on an ottoman arms wide

naked but for paint

on your long body

looking at the lens directly

a simple gaze touched by slight irony

a gaze that said (said)

i am here now, this moment-fully here
look at me, i am here

and i thought, wow, this is beautiful

i knew just a bit about you

dead now, time gilding your life and work

you there looking like an exotic insect or native

from an impossibly remote tribal culture

i remember playful drawings

deceptively simple images

paintings that on closer inspection

teemed with complexities

graphic, exhuberent, alive

tumbling head over heels spilling across paper wood canvas

filled with happiness and life and sex and death

ubiquitous in the 80's

when i was willfully distracted

by the morose palettes and dark interior dramas

of symbolist painters

so i tore you out and put you up

on the bulletin board by the bed-the big one

where everything important or inspiring goes

my visual journal my cork-wood muse

and i looked at you for two months

i didn't read more about you

i didn't look at your art

i only regarded you

the body the face

how you became part of your painting in a.'s photograph

which (let's face it) was clever (a lot of that in the early 90's)

but a well-done cleverness i couldn't ignore

nothing hindering your enigma or daring or vibrancy

allowing you to reach through the past (as photos do)

to me now

more than a visual pun

on your own work

more than a naked man

and i choose the word naked over nude

i think that's what you were in the instance of the photo

when you say with a gaze, again

look, i am here

yes, there, an artist divorced from the nude

nudes are aloof, remote, descended from the classical

nudes manipulate and titillate

but nakedness, the very word i love

say it aloud or under breath and listen: nakedness

something real and human and warm

by turns frail and defiant and yes, so funny (grin)

i think you knew with slight humor in your timebomb body

that no amount of paint

or styling in a studio lights bright then dim then flash

could hide

what you wanted to say

what you lived everywhere you could

in the subways on buildings on t-shirts in your store

every bit of you of you out there

so beautiful-and

to bring me that word in an image so many years later

naked

--Timothy Wright 2009

Please respect the copyright of this work--do not reproduce without express permission.

For more about Keith haring and his work, visit the Keith Haring Foundation.

Article: Art and Violence

For Arte del Mundo I recently wrote a short essay on several questions about art and violence, the connection between the two in our world today, and the role art serves in response to violence and change--Check out the article here-- the site is mostly in Spanish so you will need to scroll down to find the piece--

Cool Read: Salacious--

This is not a new book (2005), but for some low-brow (always fun) entertainment, I recently read The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Wilson, by Robert Hofler, Carroll and Graf, publishers--The book uncovers the life and fascinating career of the man who discovered Hudson, along with scores of other Hollywood hunks of the 50's and 60's such as Tab Hunter and Troy Donahue--After World War 2, Henry Wilson created a whole new genre of male actors using his own fantasy of the perfect all-american male as the template--He adored his "clients" and was on a never-ending hunt for the next big idol-or conquest--Acting as father-figure, confessor, acting and grooming coach, and not above cohersing sex out of his new clients, the man was a ruthlessly driven, complex star-maker--One of the most powerful agents in Hollywood, Wilson had extensive connections in the studios, the media, even the mob that he used to further (and in the case of blackmail, save) the careers of his famous male clients--The author has filled the book with delicious tidbits and first-hand accounts of the private lives and sexual peccadillos of stars like Rock Hudson, Guy Madison, and Tab Hunter, the male "hollywood set" of the time--A fun, entertaining read--clearly not Proust, but worthy of the beach--

Poem 3 from recent reading--

This is the third of the poems I read that evening--I wrote this short one a few years back for someone I adored--

For N---

i want you beautiful as the moon on water
pale skin glowing eyes twinkling stars
above the reflecting plains of your moist
undulations no harsh voice of crow echoing
over this land just the delicate rustle of ibis
legs in grass on the marsh of this bed my
reeds grow in the warm divide of you
your mouth sweet like a spring your exhalations
wings of a mourning dove in my ears

-Timothy Wright April 2009
Please respect the copyright of this work--do not reproduce without express permission--

My favorite quote--

From the amazing Emily Dickinson:

Nature is a haunted house--but art--a house that tries to be haunted.

Poem from recent reading.

Here is a second poem, it is about the demise of nature's role as a mysterious, primal, worshipped entity in our world of green living and global warming---NATURE informs a lot of my writing, along with SEX and RELIGION--

the sleep of an old god is profound-a heartbreak

he was the world once now watching
it wane with dwindling sleepy eyes
through corolla nestled in calyx scent
faded color a memory

he lingers in galls falls like scales from
moth's wings haunts the mysterious
bubbles clustered at pond's edge his
quiet regret a whisper of fin in brackish
water the muted gleam of once-silver scales

he clasps death between rich gritty loins
a sterile pod his waiting cenotaph no seed
to scatter no green dreams of sticky sap
where stranded insects wait patiently for
hungry birds an offering to nothing no
remembrance for a stranger who picks up
a fallen bluebird feather more precious than
diamonds listening to cicada song more lovely
than bach and touches face to forest floor
kissing the sleeper goodnight

Timothy Wright April 2009
Please respect the copyright of this work--do not reproduce without express permission--

Recent poetry reading at Outwrite Books

Tuesday last week I read with two other poets, Alice Teeter and Lakara Foster, at Outwrite Books here in midtown--the evening was a success, and thanks goes out to the evening's host (and fine poet) Franklin Abbott as well as Philip Rafshoon, owner of Outwrite Books --thanks also to the attendees, who came "out" to support their local poets--I will be posting several of the poems I read from that evening in the next few days--Here is the first:

Our Weather

it's dark today the clouds gathering to storm at one
another they'll roil and roll and rain rain rain casting
temperamental flashes of lightning and thunder until
they're sort of blandly tired and then they'll morph
into potent grey fugues that last a long while and threaten
to start a tempest again but don't because they've spent
themselves which is typical of clouds lingering lowly lowly
until just as evening comes a furtive breeze sneaks under
and pushes them apart allowing the sun's last rays
to filter through and catch momentarily on a bright leaf
a velvety flower the hint of a rueful smile and it goes down
leaving the evening warm with sparkling stars and one
of us says to the other what do you want for dinner?

-Timothy Wright April 2009

Please respect the copyright of this poem--do not reproduce without express permission--thanks--

Invitation Design

I recently created this design for an Atlanta Ballet Corps de Ballet event, below--

Poetry Reading

This Tuesday, April 7th, I will be reading poems at 7:30 along with two other poets at Outwrite Books -- The evening's host is poet and author Franklin Abbott--Please show up and support your local poets!--check out event details here --

Poem

Inspiring: The sea and its old but potent God

I wrote this poem last year about neptune, who captured my imaginantion:

neptune

his lips
the narrow rose shell of them
pale sunset at the edges
vermillion moving inwards
more moist and vibrant then-
warm and wet

are parted

beyond the entrance
a grotto of orderly pearls
a quivering meat
a smell of the sea

in the cavern leading up
from his soul

Please respect the copyright of this poem and do not reproduce without my express permission.

What I admire/what interests me now

Shells and poems of the sea (check out my poem neptune)--Asia (crowded, ancient, still mysterious in many ways)--foo dogs (Thanks David B., and more on that soon)--MARCEL Proust (always)--Easter and eggs and carrots--crepe paper (part of a new project)--chapbooks and 'ZINES--inkblots (my own erotic ones)--and especially pop artist and 80's icon Keith HARING, below:

Keith Haring Photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Ribbon: The Art of Adornment: featured.

Romantic Homes magazine is featuring my book, Ribbon: the Art of Adornment, in their March issue, on news stands now--Check it out--

KOOZA

Kooza comes from the Sanskrit word "koza" which means box of treasure, and this title for the new show by the Cirque Du Soleil is perfect--it is a treasure--I recently attended a Sunday performance with my friend Jeffrey R.--I've wanted to check out those whimsically stiped tents since they first set them up--When we entered the great central tent, the space seemed intimate despite the size, the air teeming with excitement and expectation--the performance that unfolded before us was tremendous--it started with the simple act of a child flying a kite--he receives a package, a large box, and when he opens it, the fun begins--from there events led one to another, treating us to wonderfully inventive, funny, and amazing displays of circus theatre--I loved the two girls who silently emerged on a platform, bodies entangled like some sparkling, rather hard-to-define sculpture--they then came apart to reveal their gold-clad bodies and proceeded to contort thermselves in ways I couldn't imagine possible--The tight-rope walkers were spectacular, especially when they got out the bikes--The two gorgeously muscular guys on the large spinning wheel aperatus were stellar--There was a cool Asian guy with what appeared to be tattoos covering his legs who proceeded to stack chairs incredibly high and balance on them--he was amazingly graceful--The costumes were gorgeous, especially the Vegas-showgirl-style costumes with the ostrich and pheasant plumes, and the costume that the "genie" wore with the sparkling skull mask and black and white embroidered suit--It was a magical afternoon--I encourage everyone to go see Kooza before it leaves--

DRACULA

The Atlanta Ballet doesn't put on Dracula every year, so it is always a treat to see this, my favorite among their productions--This wonderful interpretation is dark and sensual and hyper-theatrical--lots of moody smoke and anguish and blood and lust with a cool wolf carcas (and a child sacrifice!)--I attended the night of Friday the 13th at the new venue for the ballet, The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, a great match for the company--Just before the show, a handsome and earnest young guy proposed to his fiance in front of the entire theatre--Of course everyone was delighted--

The gifted Jonah Hooper (one of the tallest of the principle dancers)was an imposing and mysterious Dracula, his style both sinuous and athletic--He totally inhabited the role, putting his interpretation and the rich red robes of the charactor to perfect use--After the performance, patrons went upstairs for a cocktail reception with the dancers--it was a great evening with great art--

I do love ballet (like Edward Gorey--but I don't go as religiously he did in New York), and we have one of the better companies in the country here in Atlanta--I encourage everyone to go see one of the performances of the Atlanta Ballet--it's a treat and nourishes the soul--yes, I am serious!--

Firebird, a classic, is coming up March 26-28th, and in April-Don Quixote!--

Tara-Lynne Pixley

Box Luncheon.

Atlanta Ballet Events

Recently the Atlanta Ballet had their annual boxed lunch for the Corps de Ballet in one of the upstairs dance studios at their headquarters on West Peachtree in Atlanta--Typically, boxed lunches are more spartan than, for instance, the fall luncheon at the Piedmont Driving Club, which kicks off the new season each year--For this occasion, lunches are literally served to partrons in boxes, though of course the food, while less elaborate, is pretty fantastic, and good wine was available (yum)--Merry Carlos chaired the lunch, and the theme was Dracula, one of the company's most anticipated productions--

My talented friend Gailen and I created the table coverings for the luncheon--she had the idea of using scrim to create textured, wispy-looking table cloths on which we could stencil a pattern--I created a simple, yet graphic design that looked sort of grand and stylized and menacing at the same time, if such is possible--Another friend, Catherine Walthers, created the flower arrangements for the table--blood red roses--

After the lunch, we went downstairs to another, larger studio, to watch the company practice a key scene from Dracula--That was the best part of the afternoon, really--My two favorite dancers were there, John Welker and Jonah Hooper--Both alternate in the title role--The original choreographer for this particular ballet, Michael Pink was in town and put everyone through their paces--what a treat--

To see the company rehearsing for Dracula, check out Tara-Lynne Pixley's excellent photos--

Project Verse

Achipilipes by Shane Allison

There is a fantastic online magazine of art, prose and poetry with a gay sensibility called Limp Wrist Magazine, edited by Dustin Brookshire--Limp Wrist is debuting a Project Runway-style verse competition open to poets, would-be poets, and poetic posers out to prove themselves--

It's a free open contest--interested parties check out the details on Dustin's Blog. Check out Limp Wrist as well.

New Poems

I have two new poems just published in Revista Arte Y Mundo, an online art and literary journal--one is called rob, and the other, bird--check them out at :

http://rharteymundo.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/timothy-p-wright-poems/

Edward Gorey for beginners

Used to be, it was all about goth and dark glamor, but now emo is all the rage (still glamorous, still somewhat dark)--when I was in college, I remember being all angsty and morose and painting my nails black on occasion, wearing my black top-hat, and indulging in small books filled with wonderfully drawn works of gothic whimsy and despair by Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000)--Thing is, I still love his books to this day--Gorey was an amazingly gifted illustrator who used pen and ink to illustrate his works, elevating that medium to a new level of sophistication--his books were small in size and often no more than 40 or 50 pages, each filled with meticulous line drawings of characters and creatures caught up in either droll, macabre, or inexplicable events while living in a strange Edwardian world of gloom and whimsy--I was taken with the sense of dark inevitability in each book, and Gorey's wicked (and I mean wicked) sense of humor--he illustrated books by other authors as well, and did the opening animation for Mystery! on PBS--Gorey loved the ballet (as do I), and attended many performances of the New York City Ballet--He was eccentric in his dress, often seen wearing a long fur coat and tennis shoes (this mode of dress appears on male characters in many of his books)--he published quite a few illustrated works, and first editions are now highly sought-after and expensive--luckily, Harcourt Brace and Pomegranate Books have been reprinting some of them in hardcover, and the more recent ones are available at cover or less--I would encourage anyone who likes the eccentric, macabre, or deliberately obscure to check him out--his works are small gems, and he was a master at his craft--Unfortunately he has no equal writing at this time, but he has influenced a host of other writers and illustrators--

Here are three Gorey titles I recommend for the uninitiated:

The Gashlycrum Tinies (very dark, very funny)

The Curious Sofa Author listed as Ogdred Weary, get it?-- (wonderfully naughty, and macabre)

Amphigorey Again (a delicious variety of works)

Also check out:

http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/

http://www.goreyography.com/

Ribbon Book Event

Ribbon: The Art of Adornment event January 11th

This upcoming weekend on Sunday afternoon, I will be signing my book, Ribbon: The Art of Adornment along with my co-author, Nicholas Kniel, at the Merchandise Mart here in Atlanta. The signing will take place between 11:00 and 2:00 at the Daniel Richards showroom. The showroom is located at the Merchandise Mart in building 2, on the 16th floor, in suite 1634. Those of you attending the show, please come by to see us.

Check out the book: http://www.gibbs-smith.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=2266