Most excellent DECORUM guideline. RE: Poem the Second. Viewed as a letterpress broadside the format and spacing would be accepted as a given. Viewed on a webpage, there is some question as to real intentions. Maybe a jpg or pdf with a light color or gray background would serve to fully establish desired format. Aside from technicalities, the words certainly give me pause. And there ends my first comment.
Thank you for the kind words re: Decorum. Re: the poem, after only one day perhaps this argues for me to move this blog to a different host so as to have maximum flexibility in presentation. Clearly there are more skills I need to make this space exactly as I picture it in my head.
On a particular visit, wish I had the dates but I am getting worse and worse with that sort of thing, I had the very great pleasure of visiting Mike in La Habra for a couple of days. While he worked during the day I hung out at his house and Paul (his father) and I had occasion to have several memorable conversations, and curiously enough, looking at the dates of his life I remember a halo he described to me once in one of those conversations. He had gotten into a car that was stuck in the snow, and he wanted to know if the battery still had a charge. So he turned on the headlights and saw "one of the prettiest things" The lights created two luminescent ovals of radiant snow, lit from beneath. He talked about it glowing.He seemed taken with the magic of the moment as described it.
I remember that story from my childhood as well, George. You were washing dishes that summer (the Danville Hotel?) and came down on the bus, i think, for a few days. I'm going to say it was 1984. I also remember you telling me - and see if this rings a bell - that while i was at work he'd been doing some chores around the house and then came to you at one point and said, 'i'm getting tired of doing chores', and suggested you have Wild Turkey hi balls. God if it's not true i want to believe it anyway...
Mike-- Absolutely true. He also made burgers that evening, and since then I always put egg and breadcrumbs in my burgers to give them more consistency and get more burger for your buck. But Paul Murray was the first I ever saw do that. I also remember some bit about pulling the car out and managing to hit a tree that was off to one side. And I think it was your father giving you a hard time about how hard it was to position the car perfectly in order to hit the tree. The difficult angle etc. At one point, to join the conversation, I said, "yeah, and all the work to move the tree." Silence followed, and then conversation resumed on another topic. About ten minutes later in the middle of a silence, your father softly chuckled and said, "'move the tree', always got to one up me, don't you!" and he didn't he even look back at me, just chuckled to himself. I remember having a strange thought at that moment. I remember thinking, "What a nice man."
Most excellent DECORUM guideline.
ReplyDeleteRE: Poem the Second. Viewed as a letterpress broadside the format and spacing would be accepted as a given. Viewed on a webpage, there is some question as to real intentions. Maybe a jpg or pdf with a light color or gray background would serve to fully establish desired format. Aside from technicalities, the words certainly give me pause.
And there ends my first comment.
Thank you for the kind words re: Decorum. Re: the poem, after only one day perhaps this argues for me to move this blog to a different host so as to have maximum flexibility in presentation. Clearly there are more skills I need to make this space exactly as I picture it in my head.
ReplyDeleteOn a particular visit, wish I had the dates but I am getting worse and worse with that sort of thing, I had the very great pleasure of visiting Mike in La Habra for a couple of days. While he worked during the day I hung out at his house and Paul (his father) and I had occasion to have several memorable conversations, and curiously enough, looking at the dates of his life I remember a halo he described to me once in one of those conversations. He had gotten into a car that was stuck in the snow, and he wanted to know if the battery still had a charge. So he turned on the headlights and saw "one of the prettiest things" The lights created two luminescent ovals of radiant snow, lit from beneath. He talked about it glowing.He seemed taken with the magic of the moment as described it.
ReplyDeleteI remember that story from my childhood as well, George. You were washing dishes that summer (the Danville Hotel?) and came down on the bus, i think, for a few days. I'm going to say it was 1984. I also remember you telling me - and see if this rings a bell - that while i was at work he'd been doing some chores around the house and then came to you at one point and said, 'i'm getting tired of doing chores', and suggested you have Wild Turkey hi balls. God if it's not true i want to believe it anyway...
ReplyDeleteMike-- Absolutely true. He also made burgers that evening, and since then I always put egg and breadcrumbs in my burgers to give them more consistency and get more burger for your buck. But Paul Murray was the first I ever saw do that. I also remember some bit about pulling the car out and managing to hit a tree that was off to one side. And I think it was your father giving you a hard time about how hard it was to position the car perfectly in order to hit the tree. The difficult angle etc. At one point, to join the conversation, I said, "yeah, and all the work to move the tree." Silence followed, and then conversation resumed on another topic. About ten minutes later in the middle of a silence, your father softly chuckled and said, "'move the tree', always got to one up me, don't you!" and he didn't he even look back at me, just chuckled to himself. I remember having a strange thought at that moment. I remember thinking, "What a nice man."
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, George.
ReplyDelete