March 2: An Aeronaut's Birthday and a Poem

Henry Tracey Coxwell
March 2, 1819 - January 5, 1900

March 2, 2013 --  Today is the 194th anniversary of English Aeronaut Henrt Tracey Coxwell's birthday.  Fascinated by ballooning from childhood, the son of a naval officer and a dentist by profession, Coxwell made his first ascent in 1844 at the age of  25.  He became a profession aeronaut 4 years later, by 1861 made over 600 ascents,  and eventually established his own balloon factory.   In 1862 with Dr. James Glaisher, he attained the record height of about 39,000 ft.  His partner, Glaisher, lost consciousness during the ascent, and Coxwell, unable to use frostbitten hands, opened the gas valve with his teeth, to allow their rapid but safe descent. [Source: Wikipedia]

Balloons and Mountains

by Erik La Prade

 

Mother, the view from your hospital

Window is dangerous — high and steep —

With no visible places to grab:

Neither to ascend nor descend.

Your fingers and toes are red-blue

Like the final stages of frostbite that

Climbers on Mt. Everest suffer from.

With the invention of the hot air balloon,

It became possible to ascend to great heights,

Rapidly, without physical exertion.

You have chemicals and machines to help

You survive under your white sheet tent:

Seven bags, suspended by wire rods,

Continuously emptying their contents

Into your body.

The meteorologists Coxwell and Glaisher

Ascended 29,000 feet in a balloon to

Obtain samples of the air for analysis.

Both were overcome. Coxwell, after

Temporarily losing the use of his limbs,

Was able to use his teeth to pull the cord

That released some hydrogen from the balloon

And brought them down safely.

The nurse checks your numbers

As the air is pumped into your lungs at

An even rate. She tells me these

Are the best blood gas results, so far.

This poetry selection is from La Prade's Movie Logic (Poets Wear Prada, 2013).



MOVIE LOGIC:Poems
by Erik La Prade
ISBN 978-0615761237
Soft Cover, Perfect Bound 36pp.
$12.00
Release Date: February 2013

"cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness ... life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak"
-- ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel

Buy at Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/0615761232

& from CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4146252/

Feb. 21: Happy Birthday W. H. Auden!

W. H. Auden, 1839
[Credit: Carl Van Vechten]

Wystan Hugh Auden, 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973, who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, born in England, later an American citizen, regarded by many critics as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. -- Wikipedia

To celebrate Auden's birthday, we're sharing a poem by Erik La Prada, "Auden Lived Upstairs" from La Prade's new book,  Movie Logic, release by Poets Wear Prada, on February 7, 2013.

Auden Lived Upstairs

by Erik La Prade

I’m at Passport Restaurant,
Sitting at an outdoor table while
Eating a plate of couscous
And drinking an imported beer.
I’m facing 77 Saint Mark’s
Place. A tourist walks up
The stoop to photograph Auden’s
Memorial plaque, but it has been removed.
The only thing for him to look at is
A white outline that stains the red bricks;
He photographs the wall as his wife stands
On the bottom step shouting for him to come down,
Afraid he’ll be arrested,
When an anonymous voice from the hallway
Calls out, “Licitum est.”

Auden lived at 77 St. Marks Place from 1953 to 1972.  The site of his tenement apartment is now an Italian restaurant, La Palapa.

Auden in his St. Marks Place digs. Hannah Arendt reportedly described his living quarters this way: “His slum apartment was so cold that the toilet no longer functioned and he had to use the toilet in the liquor store at the corner.”

MOVIE LOGIC:Poems
by Erik La Prade
ISBN 978-0615761237
Soft Cover, Perfect Bound 36pp.
$12.00
Release Date: February 2013

"cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness ... 

life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak"
-- ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel

Buy at Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/0615761232

& from CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/4146252/

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year!

   Xin Nian Kuai Le， 新年快乐
GUNG HAY FAT CHOY 恭喜发财

February 10, 2013 -- Gung Hay Fat Choy! 恭喜发财 Today is Chinese New Year's Day, the first day of the first month of the lunisolar year in the lunar calendar, and marks the beginning of the Spring Festival, the longest and most important festival in  the Chinese calender, which ends with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month. The new year will be the year of the black snake.  New Year's Day is a time to forget your grudges, reconcile with friends and family and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.  Cleanse your home, sweep away any ill-fortune to make way for good incoming luck.

To celebrate Chinese New Year we are sharing a poem by  by Erik La Prade, from MOVIE LOGIC: Poems, La Prade's new book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:

 

New Year’s Secret

On Sunday afternoons, the old Chinese
Fortune readers hang red cloths on the gated
Metal entrance to Confucius Park, Chinatown.
Since they speak no English, they each have
A woman to translate questions.
Most of the readers are refugees from
Pre-Mao China. Too old after World War II
To be reeducated, they would have disappeared
Had they owned land or houses,
Or dabbled in superstition.
I stand by the entrance, looking at their faces,
As several of them offer to read my palm.
Their pet songbirds, housed in wooden cages,
Sit on the lawn. Occasionally, the birds’ songs
Mix with the sounds of men playing mah-jongg
At nearby chess tables. After twenty
Minutes, it costs me ten dollars to learn
I’ll live to be eighty-six.

For your own fortune visit: http://www.gotohoroscope.com/2013-horoscope/chinese-new-year.html 

MOVIE LOGIC: Poems by Erik La Prade

List Price: $12.00

5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
36 pages

Poets Wear Prada
ISBN-13: 978-0615761237 (Custom)
ISBN-10: 0615761232
BISAC: Poetry / American / General

"In this latest collection Erik La Prade continues his cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness, showing us life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak, as he walks the high wire of a 21st-century NYC life in the arts."

— ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel, 

editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 

 "La Prade is a gifted poet, memoirist, critic, photographer, and urban chronicler of lost artistic and literary byways, with a historian's eye for New York cultural history and downtown avant-garde. Put simply, he dazzles."

— GARY SHAPIRO, journalist 

Now available at CreateSpace.com: https://www.createspace.com/4146252
And on Amazon.com: http://amzn.com/dp/0615761232/

Remembering American Poet Musician Sidney Lanier (1842-1881) Part II

An excerpt from "Four Poems for Sidney Lanier" by Erik La Prade, from MOVIE LOGIC: Poems,La Prade's forthcoming book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:

Henry Ritter
Ema Ritter
Dema Ritter
Sweet Potatoe
Creamatarter
Caroline Bostick
Daughter of
Bob & Suckey Catlen
Born at Social Circle
1843
Died at Wetumka 1852

Four Poems for Sidney Lanier

III
Mid-August. Here, at the confluence of the Coosa and
The Tallapoosa, the Alabama River forms.
West of the river is the city cemetery, where
My people are buried. The oldest
Graves in Section G have no names or stones,
Only humps of rock sticking up from the ground.
Other names are recorded in the cemetery books.
The sun is hot and I don’t have a hat.
My great aunt walks back to the car
While I stand here, reading the tombstone
Of a much-named nine-year old girl —
“Henry Ritter,” “Ema Ritter,” “Dema Ritter,”
“Sweet Potatoe,” “Creamatarter,” real name:
“Caroline Bostick” — dead before
I was born. Her gravestone nicknames are
Scratched over like grooves on
A wax cylinder. My father recited those
Names to me when I was a kid.
Now, I can almost hear
The voices of schoolchildren echoing
Among the graves.

My aunt has lived her whole life in this small town,
And only escaped dying young with the
Help of a White lawyer.
Nothing I write now will
Change how these people — Black or White —
Lived their small-town lives.
Sweat covers my forehead. I need a drink.

Ballad of a Weekend - Part II & III

From MOVIE LOGIC: Poems, Erik La Prade's forthcoming book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:

Ballad of a Weekend

II

In the bedroom’s fireplace,

The fire that burned Rome

Glows: a red shadow,

Reflected in the old clock’s glass face,

Turning time to diamond-hard memory.

Nearby, a violin hangs on the wall;

Its broken strings, like crèche angels, implore us

To repent from our morning lust,

And save ourselves from old faults.

III

Sailing, we drift in a haze of water …

Blue Chinese waves on porcelain.

Fuck your analyst!

I don’t want you to understand me,

Or give me a lecture

On the language of the senses —

Not while the breeze is cool on my skin

And I can watch you sunbathe nude.

 

MOVIE LOGIC: Poems by Erik La Prade

List Price: $12.00

5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
36 pages

Poets Wear Prada
ISBN-13: 978-0615761237 (Custom)
ISBN-10: 0615761232
BISAC: Poetry / American / General

"In this latest collection Erik La Prade continues his cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness, showing us life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak, as he walks the high wire of a 21st-century NYC life in the arts."

— ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel, 

editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 

 "La Prade is a gifted poet, memoirist, critic, photographer, and urban chronicler of lost artistic and literary byways, with a historian's eye for New York cultural history and downtown avant-garde. Put simply, he dazzles."

— GARY SHAPIRO, journalist

TGIF! A Poem to Kick Off the Weekend - Part I

From MOVIE LOGIC: Poems, Erik La Prade's forthcoming book of poetry from Poets Wear Prada:

Ballad of a Weekend

I

I remember what you wrote,

As the sound of your voice

Fills the room tonight

With sudden memories.

Your cryptic apologies

Are ridiculous now,

As when you spoke of faults

In the Earth, or of an ice age

Alive with controversy:

How buried borders

Would suddenly surface

To cover us in shapeless

Earth, the landscape

Itself moving,

Shaking down the walls

Of our room with the dust

Of timbers.

“The mind has mountains,” you said,

Quoting Hopkins. But, when the night

Folded itself into napkins of light,

I still didn’t want to read your letter,

Or, even, clean up the scattered pieces

From the floor, and so left them

Lying in the gray sand.


TO BE CONTINUED ...

MOVIE LOGIC: Poems by Erik La Prade

List Price: $12.00

5.5" x 8.5" (13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White on White paper
36 pages

Poets Wear Prada
ISBN-13: 978-0615761237 (Custom)
ISBN-10: 0615761232
BISAC: Poetry / American / General

"In this latest collection Erik La Prade continues his cinematic verse celebration of urbanity and human tenderness, showing us life freeze-framed into mise-en-scènes of hilarity and heartbreak, as he walks the high wire of a 21st-century NYC life in the arts."

— ALAN KAUFMAN, author of Drunken Angel, 

editor of The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry 

 "La Prade is a gifted poet, memoirist, critic, photographer, and urban chronicler of lost artistic and literary byways, with a historian's eye for New York cultural history and downtown avant-garde. Put simply, he dazzles."

— GARY SHAPIRO, journalist

January 30th: Remembering Steam Engines & O Winston Link

Train No. 17 Crosses Bridge 201, Wurno Siding, c. 1957

[Photo Credit: O. Winston Link]

Train No. 17
Crosses Bridge 201,
Wurno Siding, c. 1957

                              by Erik La Prade

After the Photograph by O. Winston Link

Norfolk and Western Engine #601
Runs over a bridge,
Crossing the New River at night.

The engineer leans out of the window,
Looking straight ahead —
While a trail of white smoke
Replaces the horizon.

Below the bridge —
A man drives a 1955 Buick,
Following the road as it turns right.
His face is blurred.
He is about to leave the photograph,
Going somewhere. Maybe going home —
Or leaving it.

From Erik La Prade's forthcoming poetry collection, Movie Magic, soon to be released from Poets Wear Prada in February 2013. 

January 30, 2013, New York, NY -- Rail fan photographer Ogle Winston Link, known for his exemplary documentary photographs of the last of America's steam locomotives, died 12 years ago this day.  

O. Winston Link, George Thom and night flash Equipment. New York, March 16, 1956
O. Winston Link, courtesy the O. Winston Link Museum

  

.

For more information  about Link and his photographs:
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/16/when-steam-locomotion-ground-to-a-halt/

https://www.artsy.net/artist/o-winston-link

January 29th: Remembering John McWhinnie (1968-2012)

JOHN MCWHINNIE

Andrew H. Walker/Getty Image

Movie Logic
by Erik La Prade

For John McWhinnie (1968–2012)

Narrative and plot don’t move
In the same time frame. Jump cuts
Cue up style and motive.

The director’s vision arcs
Through everything, apparent
When some coincidence or deliberate
Accident makes an exit or sparks

Disaster. Is it cinematic truth
Or our own suspension of disbelief
We’re watching? It doesn’t matter.
We sit here awaiting the inevitable.

From Erik La Prade's forthcoming poetry collection of the same title.

January 29, 2013, New York, NY -- John McWhinnie, rare-book expert and art dealer in New York, "champion of words and images on paper in an age of electronic reading" would be 45 today, had he not been killed in a snorkeling accident in the British Virgin Islands last year on January 6th.   Mr. McWhinnie who began selling rare books as a Boston College student was the director of John McWhinnie at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, a rare-book shop and gallery at 50 ½ East 64th Street in Manhattan. He met Mr. Horowitz at a book fair as a graduate student and subsequently managed Mr. Horowitz bookshop and gallery in South Hampton, Long Island.  The Manhattan store opened 2005.  As a bookseller, Mr. McWhinnie specialized in the 20th and 21st centuries, concentrating in particular on the Beats. As a gallerist, Mr. McWhinnie exhibited well-known contemporary artists like Richard Prince and Cindy Sherman, as well as up-and-coming artists. With Mr. Horowitz, Mr. McWhinnie also ran a small publishing imprint, JMc & GHB Editions, which produced artists’ books and exhibition catalogs. He is survived by his wife, Maria Beaulieu,  his sister, Lisa Paradis, and his  parents, John and Betty McWhinnie. [source: NYTimes]

The smell of the paper, the design of the cover, the tattered pages and convenient cocktail napkin employed as a bookmark, all experiences before the reading, remain the hallmarks of John, as presentable and gracious a fellow as ever walked Park Avenue.

-- Charlie Finch, ArtNet.com