STILL TUESDAY MORNING
surfing instead of working
the legendary oscar brown has graduated
i am as much of the line of oscar brown as
i am john killens
oscar brown was the storyteller of my generation
bid em in, worksong, i was cool, ladiesman
and the signifying monkey that i do when i perform
oscar brown was the man
i will have to add him to my ancestral wall
and todays work will be in his name
and got to give him props in rest for the weary somehow
as one of my primary artistic influences
god i hate to see him go
but he left a legacy that will live on in all of us
and thats all that an artist
can ask for
thats all an artist gets
TUESDAY MORNING
no work yesterday - a day off
a serious woodshed push generally entails
2 days a week off - otherwise i take them anyway
and feel discouraged, so i schedule them instead
or rather accept them when they happen
yesterday was a day off, didnt start off as one but it was
clear after a couple o fruitless hours sitting there, that it was
so bonnie and i went to stone quarry park in casenovia
we had driven past the turnoff many times before
but i recently did a reading for the society of new music
and met an elder there, one dorothy reister
who told me she was a sculptor
ive been learning how to work bronze from mary ghiel over at su
and so we were talking shop when she told me she was
the founder of stone quarry park and to come by one day
bonnie doing ceramics this semester and they had an exhibit of african artefacts
so this worked for both of us, so on a sunny memorial day we took the scenic route
and found a little wonderland, i enjoyed myself so much
dorothy reister, with husband bob, founded it
in 1959, big acreage on a hill with wonderful views,
built a house there and turned it into a sculpture park
with artist in residence lodges, a gallery, studios,
wilderness paths and meditational spaces
and as you walk through the quiet and transcendent
wilderness paths you run up on these sculptures that various artist do there,
we saw one guy, one david headly, working on one while we were there, chainsaw and all, he had a beautiful piece already done called 'sweet sorrow' and i couldnt do it justice trying to tell you about it, youll have to go see it.
i asked if the contributing artists were commissioned and he said no commission, just the joy of participation in such a project, 4 artists a year are asked and its considered an honor
this one is called 'off the beaten path'
and they are so organic that you sometimes wonder
is this human or god built
it was a wonderful experience
and they had a gallery with a great african exhibit
and dorothy was there, she lives on the premises
and it was good to see her
and tell her how just wonderful her little never never land was
bonnie and i had a wonderful time
it cooled us both out and we are like chronically stressed
sometimes you forget just how stressed you are
until something like this cools you out
next time we are going to take
a picnic basket
after all artist do not live
by projects alone
commissions either
MONDAY MORNING
in the zone
stumbled to bed about 5 this morning
stumble back to computer at 8 am
god i love the zone
good writing day yesterday
all drive and no texture
apparently in a drive mode
did some other projects during breaks
worked on legba bronze
and researched journal structures
for the hoodoo way journal
checked mcsweenys and there was
salvador plascencias people of paper
i didnt know it was out already
salvador was a student here
and is a literary phenomena
you must read the people of paper
or meet salvador when he
booktours this week and next
inclu nycs housing works
thurs the 2nd at 5 oclock
it was an extraordinary work
when he was a student here, i cant imagine
how powerful it must be now
you havent read salvador
you dont know whats happening now
okay, back to the grind
memorial day, looking for a 6 minimum
SUNDAY MORNING
good workday yesterday - so what
i got miles and miles and miles to go
back into the breech
glanced thru a backissue of black issues book review this morning
thats always good for inspiration
nothing like articles about barack obama getting 1.9 million
for a three book deal or anne devere smith doing film
of edward p jones the known world for firing me up
stuff like that always gets me going
everybody getting paid but arthur
have you noticed that
not to mention stuff like the harlem book fair
and other venues that i should be a part of
and am not
i got to pour all my jealousy and resentment
into getting this novel done
bibr is a good forum for whats going on in afroam lit world
had a disturbing article about the death of edwidge danticat's uncle
81 year old man who apparently raised her until she was 12
who recently escaped haiti under pressue and was denied asylum
because of the admins brutal policies toward haitian refugees
and when accused of faking sickness, this 81 year old
man was denied his medicines and chained to a hospital bed
where he died 5 days after arriving here
the admin says he died of natural causes, but
when you abuse a 81 year old man like that
i guess you can call it anything you like
this is more motivation to get my work done
than all my jealousy and resentment
okay, once again into the breech
another day another paragraph
be well be wary
SATURDAY EVENING
good strong work day
writing so good it scares me
novel growing as i put in the hours
othella has found iona
the daughter who had been sold off before the civil war
text a little lean
no character, setting or scene texture
still working storyline, texture later
and got this idea of calling down the folk who rode
w/nat turner and john brown with this voice
it is i rickydoc call their names and judge them worthy
of the great black book of generations
running a narrative thread of rickydoc the storyteller
and what he trying to do with this story
the nature of this spell
maybe do the rough of that thread/voice, enuf to
weave into text, clean it up later
strategy of moment is text in the morning
structure and texture in the evenings
already in the zone and
dont want to quit
guess i been raring to go
rickydoc on a sungun
360%
SATURDAY AFTERNOON 2/28
messed off the morning
hello world
well its showtime
going to the woodshed
finished my maymester course thursday
time to get busy on the sabbatical
god, fulltime writer for the next 9 months
time to put this puppy to bed
going into the woodshed
woodshed always difficult in the early stages
such a struggle like you would never believe to actually work
and everyday its the same old struggle cause
yesterday dont count - got to work today
and its discouraging how hard you work
for so very little text, but you know those days add up
all you got to do is drive on john henry drive on
whats really driving me of course is fear of failure
if i dont get this novel done w/9 months of fullcourt press
then it means i just aint serious about being the writer
ive always dreamed myself to be
the writer ive spent my life being
cause this is it, its showtime
and i am of the line of o killens
and i do not miss a deadline
never have, never will
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