Burial side trip.

Last weekend we took a hit and run trip to visit family in New Jersey. The drive across Pennsylvania a test of endurance, but we made it to our B&B in Summit and liked the small town.

While on the way to Jersey City, we took a side trip to Hillside Cemetery where two different legends are buried.



William Carlos Williams lived in nearby Patterson and was the head of obstetrics of a local hospital. He was also one of the finest poets of the 20th century.



In the Jewish section of this cemetery lies Jeff Hyman aka Joey Ramone.

The person working the office was very kind in answering our questions, I'm sure he's heard them before. He also gave us excellent directions to where the graves were.

Probably would not have went if just one of them was buried there, but this was a pairing that had to be honored.

The weird area of social media

Yesterday I received a friend request from a person with whom I had one mutual friend. Did a little vetting on the person's page and added back. You never know what to expect when a complete stranger adds you, with no obvious reason for them to do so. It is on me that I added this person with little hesitation.

The next thing I knew I got a like on a link I posted over a week ago. I guess that's what we do when we add someone, go back a bit in their timeline to see who they are. To get a small picture of what they do. This is understandable.

Right after that the person's cover photo was changed into one of my vacation pictures. There was no thank you, no introduction, no credit given for the picture. But this person got a couple of likes, so that makes it ok, right? The person had to go into my photo albums then dig through a couple of recent ones to find that picture.

It's not like the picture is a work of art, it's not. It's not a picture worthy of monetizing, ever. I have no intention of attempting to copyright the photo. It's a Bukowski quote that is painted on the wall of a bar in Glasgow.



I recommend Chinaski's they have a great selection of bourbon, and a sweet patio in the back which is where that picture was taken.

In the past I've posted a few pictures on this blog with no credit, which is wrong and I try not to do that anymore. It does bug me that a complete stranger adds me on Facebook then takes one of my pictures with no hello or credit. If I say something directly does it make me a bad person?

Coming this summer to a street corner in Columbus

I’m very honored, flattered, humbled and All Of The Things to have been asked to be a part of the Sign Your Art project in Columbus.

Sign Your Art is a street art project that will have 64 local artists work displayed across the city along with the work of residents who will be producing their work at the Columbus Arts Festival next weekend.

All of the work is on a 6x8” wood tile and there’s going to be some very diverse work. I’m kind of nervous about this because I know some of the artists involved and their work is stunning. I’m just a mere poet putting my work out there.

Can’t you feel my confidence bulging off the screen?

When I got my tile I was told to expect for my work to possibly be stolen, which is hilarious to me! In any case, it’s probably going to get wiped out by the first good rainstorm that comes through.

Yes, it’s on paper and I had quite the experience with Modge Podge. Luckily, my wife talked me off the ledge. She also helped out with the image so it’s partly her work too.

You can see the work at the Sign Your Art station at the festival, which is a bit of a delicious irony for me. I’ll post the area where it’s going to be displayed as soon as I find out so you can steal it.

Stephanie Rond and Catherine Bell Smith are the brains behind this project, and it’s going to be one of the coolest exhibits of the year.

Our intentions were good

To get out of the house for a little while, and get off the computers for a bit I suggested to my wife that we take a walk around the Scioto Mile today.



It was a spot chilly, about twenty degrees, but there was also a stiff breeze in our faces.



My wife was struggling with her scarf, and the elements. I was not doing very well in the wind either.



Columbus was losing its color in the grey chill.



A cold train made its way through downtown. It shivered over the tracks.



We cut our walk short more than halfway through.



We made the right decision crossing over the Town Street bridge.



Because Milestone 229 was our original, final destination.



It's a good place to have a pre-grocery shopping drink, in any weather.

Coffee and Pictures

Last year My Scottish Wife got me a French Press for Christmas. I took to it well and use it mostly on the weekend. Found out which type of coffee I like and try new types frequently. I try to have a couple of different ones around and buy it already ground in small amounts, about a quarter of a pound at a time, to keep it relatively fresh.

For Christmas this year she got me a Burr Grinder. Used it over the weekend. It's quite loud but works very well. Now I can buy beans, keep them a little longer and have supposedly fresher and better tasting coffee when I want it. Maybe I'll increase the varieties in the house to three.

Took a bunch of pictures last year. Inspired by another blogger, who did something similar last year, I decided to keep a file of 'best of' pictures as I downloaded them. By the end of the year I had enough to put together a slideshow in near chronological order, added a song from my favorite album of the year and voila, instant youtube sensation. Or not. Did not really go anywhere exciting, but there are some amusing pictures in there - and not just of me and my kid!

Enjoy.

Watch for my special spring project

April is National Poetry Month and with the advent of blogs and social networking a lot of poets take on writing projects during this month. Many of them attempt to do what is known as a 30/30, thirty poems in thirty days. Then they go to open mics and say this is part of my 30/30 and more than half the audience has no idea what they're talking about because they're not poets.

I've done this in past years, to varying degrees of success. Two years ago I even went with a theme. Wrote thirty poems about autism, since April is also Autism Awareness Month. That was hard, you can go back and see!

Last year I did a musical theme. This year I'm going to give photography a go.



I've lived in Columbus for twenty two years and I'm going to look back on my time here and document some of the infamous places I've been in this city. Homes and haunts, workplaces, scenes of public humiliation and embarrassment along with captures of triumph. A bit of description will accompany each picture. Some of the pictures will be old, some scanned, some in a then and now theme. I thought up a bunch of places and exceeded thirty with little problem. My wife even came up with a few places I forgot about.

This project is on, starting on April first.