A Work Progressing

I must admit that I have neglected this love most of all. I have been known to write some, some badly, some not so bad. I love the sound of the words, the power of the sound, poetry must be read aloud. Okay, maybe that is just my definition, but I believe it.

So, who, and what are my favorites? Again I will just free associate and see how the list forms.

1. Richard Brautigan, 1935-1984

June 30th, June 30th (1978)

Loading Mercy with a Pitchfork(1975)

Rommel Drives on Deep Into Egypt (1970)

The San Francisco Weather Report(1969)

Please Plant This Book (eight poems printed on separate seed packet envelopes, 1968)

2. Walt Whitman, 1819-1892

Leaves of Grass (1855)

O Captain! My Captain! (1865)

3. Homer, 750 B.C.

The Iliad (700 B.C.)

The Odyssey (700 B.C.

4. William Blake, 1757-1827

The Tiger (1784)

The Angel (1784)

5. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1919- ,

Pictures of the Gone World (1955)

A Coney Island of the Mind (1958)

Come Lie with Me and Be My Love (1967)

6. Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night (1951)

And Death Shall Have No Dominion (1933)

7. e.e. cummings, 1894-1862

!blac (1958)

I Have Found What You Are Like (1955)

8. Annie Dillard, 1945- 

Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (1974)

Teaching A Stone To Talk (1984) not a poem, but I love it

Mornings Like This (1995)

9. William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

All The Worlds a Stage

Shall I Compare Thee (Sonnet 18)

10. Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

The Divine Comedy (1300)

11. Edgar Allen Poe, 1809-1849

The Raven (1845)

Annabel Lee (1849)

Lenore (1843)

12. Emily Dickinson, 1839-1886

I Felt A Funeral in My Brain (1862)

I’m Nobody! Who are You? (1891)

13. Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

And Still I Rise (1978)

On Aging (2015)

Alone (1975)

14. Pablo Neruda, 1904-1973

Twenty Love Poems (1924)

100 Love Sonnets (1986)

15. Samuel Coleridge, 1772-1834

Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798)

Kubla Khan (1816)

17. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

Brahma (1856)

Uriel (1847)

18. Robert Frost, 1874-1963

The Road Not Taken (1916)

Birches (1816)

Stopping By the Woods (1924)

19. Gary Snyder, 1930- 

The Back Country (1967)

Axe Handles (1983)

20. Hugo Ball. 1886-1927

Karawane (1916)
And I say, “Bosso Fataka!”

I must admit that I have neglected this love most of all. I have been known to write some, some badly, some not so bad. I love the sound of the words, the power of the sound, poetry must be read aloud. Okay, maybe that is just my definition, but I believe it.

So, who, and what are my favorites? Again I will just free associate and see how the list forms.

1. Richard Brautigan, 1935-1984

June 30th, June 30th (1978)

Loading Mercy with a Pitchfork(1975)

Rommel Drives on Deep Into Egypt (1970)

The San Francisco Weather Report(1969)

Please Plant This Book (eight poems printed on separate seed packet envelopes, 1968)

2. Walt Whitman, 1819-1892

Leaves of Grass (1855)

O Captain! My Captain! (1865)

3. Homer, 750 B.C.

The Iliad (700 B.C.)

The Odyssey (700 B.C.

4. William Blake, 1757-1827

The Tiger (1784)

The Angel (1784)

5. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, 1919- ,

Pictures of the Gone World (1955)

A Coney Island of the Mind (1958)

Come Lie with Me and Be My Love (1967)

6. Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953

Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night (1951)

And Death Shall Have No Dominion (1933)

7. e.e. cummings, 1894-1862

!blac (1958)

I Have Found What You Are Like (1955)

8. Annie Dillard, 1945- 

Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (1974)

Teaching A Stone To Talk (1984) not a poem, but I love it

Mornings Like This (1995)

9. William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

All The Worlds a Stage

Shall I Compare Thee (Sonnet 18)

10. Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

The Divine Comedy (1300)

11. Edgar Allen Poe, 1809-1849

The Raven (1845)

Annabel Lee (1849)

Lenore (1843)

12. Emily Dickinson, 1839-1886

I Felt A Funeral in My Brain (1862)

I’m Nobody! Who are You? (1891)

13. Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

And Still I Rise (1978)

On Aging (2015)

Alone (1975)

14. Pablo Neruda, 1904-1973

Twenty Love Poems (1924)

100 Love Sonnets (1986)

15. Samuel Coleridge, 1772-1834

Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798)

Kubla Khan (1816)

17. Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882

Brahma (1856)

Uriel (1847)

18. Robert Frost, 1874-1963

The Road Not Taken (1916)

Birches (1816)

Stopping By the Woods (1924)

19. Gary Snyder, 1930- 

The Back Country (1967)

Axe Handles (1983)

20. Hugo Ball. 1886-1927

Karawane (1916)
And I say, “Bosso Fataka!”

Just as I thought, as soon as I hit the post button they was a clamoring, a cacophony of whining complaints, “What about me? You used to admire my works for hours!

Nothing worse than artists being rejected. For the record, I wasn’t rejecting my past loves, I just didn’t have the room!!!
So here is another twenty!

1. William Turner, 1789-1862- everything

Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway. The first Impressionist!

2. M.C. Escher, 1898-1972- everything

Hands. The only other artist that I’ve met. He didn’t speak English. We nodded at each other.

3. Winslow Homer, 1836-1910- everything

The Gulf Stream. The master at watercolor. How does he do that?

4. Charles Sheeler, 1883-1965- everything

Golden Gate. He made factories beautiful

5. Andy Goldsworthy, 1956- – everything

Cairn at Penpoint. Oh, to walk in the English woods and find a Goldsworthy.

6. Filippo Brunelleschi, 1377-1446- everything

The Duomo Dome. A brilliant architect!

7. Gian Bernini, 1598-1680- everything

The Ectasy of St. Teresa. It’s stone, I cant believe it’s stone!



The Rape of Proserpina. Finger indents!

8. Frank Stella, 1936- ,- most everything

Sinjerli, Variation 1. First fell in love at SeaTac Airport, mural after mural of Stella.

9. HR Giger, 1940-2014- most everything

Alien. Recently died, a real loss. Suffered from night truama, most serious case studied.

10. Paulo Uccello, 1397-1475- most everything

Battle at San Romano. He loved perspective more than his wife (she said). Look at the guy laying down, the first foreshortening!!

11. Masaccio, 1401-1428 – most everything

The Tribute Money. He invented perspective in painting!! That building!!

12. Leonardo DaVinci, 1452-1519- most everything

Self Portrait. I know, the Mona Lisa, he did do other stuff!

13. Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906- most everything

Card Players. And the oranges… the peaches!!

14. Edgar Degas, 1834-1917- most everything



Dancers in Blue. See my menu of dancers for my homage to Degas

15. Sandro Botticelli, 1445-1510- most everything

Angel, no words

16. Edward Hopper, 1882-1967- most everything

Nighthawks, so many others, but this one is great!

17. Amadeo Modigliani, 1884-1920- selected

Jeanne Hebuterne With Hat And Necklace.  African masks!

18. Frida Kahlo, 1907-1954- selected

Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird. Frida can be hard to look at.

19. Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973- selected

The Young Ladies of Avignon, so many to like

20. Frank Frazetta, 1928-2010- selected

Conan, the Barbarian, paperback covers were never the same.

And where is Georgia O’Keefe?

My children would sometimes ask me what was my favorite color? Tough question. Sometimes I would get all philosophical and explain that I loved each color individually, sometimes I would answer the question with a question. Primary? Secondary? Complementary?

“So, is it red, Daddy?”, “Its red, isn’t it!”

At different times they would also ask my favorite artist. Tougher question. There is such a range of styles, effects. Every choice seemed to create a “But, what about me? You used to like me!”

“It’s true, but now you suck, and my mood has swung!” No, I don’t say that. In truth, I have respect for so many artists, but I do love a few. Not just two or three, but a finite list. Not everyone makes the list, not all pieces by the artist makes the list. What I will try to do is free associate and write down the first that comes to mind.

1. Vincent Van Gogh, 1853-1890- everything

Starry Night, can’t get enough of it, studied it, copied it…

2. Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1475-1564- everything

The Last Judgement, so privileged to see the original

3. Salvador Dali, 1904-1989- everything

Dali at the Age of Six When He Thought He Was a Girl Lifting the Skin of the Water to See the Dog Sleeping in the Shade of the Sea (best title ever)

4. Albrecht Durer, 1471-1528- everything

Self portrait, the master, I have completely dissected the German Warrior, search Durer on the blog.

5. Egon Scheile, 1890-1918- most everything

Seated Woman with Bent Knee, oh gosh… wonderful artist, most disturbed person.

6. Michelangelo Caravaggio, 1571-1610- most everything

Supper at Emmaus, another disturbing person 

7. Benjamino Bufano, 1890-1970- most everything

  Bear and Cubs, only artist in this list that I have met.

8. Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606-1669- most everything

Self portrait , the light, the light!

9. Hieronymus Bosch, 1450-1516- selected

Garden of Earthly Delights, how he got funded by the church I am not sure.

10. Mark Rothko, 1903-1970- selected

Confronting Color, floating squares

11. Marcel Duchamp, 1887-1968- selected

Nude Descending Staircase, movement on canvas

12. Hugo Ball, 1886-1927- selected

 Karawane, I know, it’s actually poetry, can’t help it. Check various YouTube videos

13. Claude Monet, 1840-1926- selected

Woman with Parasol, everyone remembers the lilies.

14. Gustav Klimt, 1862-1918  – selected

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, everyone remembers The Kiss

15. Edvard Munch, 1863-1944- selected

The Scream, most stolen art

16. Johannes Vermeer, 1632-1675- selected

Pearl Earring, shocking good

17. Paul Klee, 1879-1940- selected

Cats, a lifetime to learn to draw like a child

18. Tamara De Lempicka, 1889-1980- selected

Women with gloves, just amazing!

19. El Greco. 1541-1614- selected

Cardinal Guevara, power, influence, scary

20. Francis Bacon, 1909-1992- selected

Screaming Pope, very very scary