Illiers-Combray Haiku

Signs point to one way

And it was the only place

To find memories

© Marjorie Levine 2013

Brooklyn Haiku

Alone in body
Who am I to determine
The sweet soul of self

 © Marjorie Levine 2013

Manhattan Haiku

Driving south one day
Miles spill over shoulders
I was almost home

© Marjorie Levine 2013

Beat Poetry Contest 1st place winner

WHAT WAY TO GO TODAY

Here's my poem that won Rick Dale's Beat Poetry Contest on December 3, 2009.

WHAT WAY TO GO TODAY

Almost dusk:
Last summer on one Wednesday, in July,
I sat on a bench, a grey wooden tired
Bench on a boardwalk out at old Long Beach.
In the sky a lonely and lost grey kittiwake tipped
As the hot pink sun set in blazing technicolor over
Hot pinkish sand and the fading blue ocean water.

That morning:
I had thought about seeing great art...
Vermeer, or Courbet, or maybe Monet.
But, I drove to the beach instead to think
To think about everything creative that had been
Created before I got here, and when I was here,
And what will be created when I leave this place.
When one day I leave my place and all places in my
Consciousness that is now in this time and was
At a past time and will be in some next time;
Maybe all time exists at the same time.
The great minds of theoretical physicists search
For the "Theory of Everything" as they sit
In their cluttered rooms, their great thinking rooms.
In universities, they ponder the mathematical equations
And Schrodinger's cat and all those mysteries.

In the evening:
It is during the quiet and still and sad night when
I miss most the people I never met:
Edie Beale, and the Rat Pack, and even Rod Serling
Who made me want to time travel: to go back to simpler places
Like Nedick's, or the Belmore, or Bickford's, and Willoughby.
Then the longing, a longing when distant sounds and faraway
Foghorns drive thoughts to reflect on a life visible through some
Smoky cracked mirror, a haunted and haunting steamy mirror.
As I am sort of old now and getting older
There is a vague and odd feeling that I,
Like the kittiwake, somehow must have lost the way.

© Marjorie Levine 2009

BEAT MEMORIES The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg

Today's adventure was glorious! I went to NYU's Grey Art Gallery to see:

‘Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg’

“Without even intending it, there is that little shiver of a moment in time preserved in the crystal cabinet of the mind. A little shiver of eternal space. That’s what I was looking for,” Allan Ginsberg wrote.

This is the same exhibit that was at the National Gallery a couple of years ago. In addition, there are several exhibit cases featuring materials drawn from NYU's Fales Collection, including letters to Huncke and others, drawings by Gregory Corso, and a first edition of On The Road.

in the NYTimes
more

"Events ‘Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg’ (Tuesday through April 6) Allen Ginsberg used his camera to capture the stories of his fellow beat poets. Eighty of his black-and-white photographs, taken over a 70-year period, will be on display in this exhibition. Organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington and that gallery’s senior curator Sarah Greenough, the exhibition includes photographs of William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso and Jack Kerouac, many with Ginsberg’s handwritten notes. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 100 Washington Square East, Greenwich Village, (212) 998-6780,nyu.edu/greyart; suggested admission, $3; free for New York University students and faculty and staff members."

First Blues:

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 AT 7:00PM

Ginsberg Recordings (a collaboration of Ginsberg’s Estate and Esther Creative Group), Housing Works, VitaCoco, and Warby Parker are hosting a musical soiree to celebrate a vinyl and digital reissue of Ginsberg’s FIRST BLUES. The work was originally released as a double LP back in 1983, and as a CD in 2006.  Produced by legend John Hammond Sr., this record of songs is a collection of studio sessions from 1971, 1976, and 1981 and included the likes of Bob Dylan, Arthur Russell, David Mansfield, Happy Traum, David Amram, Steven Taylor and Peter Orlovksy. To commemorate this reissue, a limited run of 500 seven track vinyl that mimics the original style down to the newspaper insert will be available that night and online. Join Allen Ginsberg's friends, collaborators, relatives and co-conspiratorsAnne Waldman, Ambrose Bye, CA Conrad, Steven Taylor, Hettie Jones, Arthur's Landing and others for a night of poetry and songs in one of New York's quintessential spaces to breathe new life into First Blues in 2013.

Housing Works

MORE PHOTOS

an Allen Ginsberg website

3120 Wilkinson Avenue, Bronx NY
Carl Solomon's home

206 East 7th Street

Allen Ginsberg's home, second building on the left

“The poignancy of photography comes from looking back to a fleeting moment in a floating world.”

- Allen Ginsberg

"I sat for decades at morning breakfast tea looking out my kitchen window, one day recognized my own world the familiar background, a giant wet brick-walled undersea Atlantis garden, waving ailanthus (“stinkweed”) “Trees of Heaven,” with chimney pots along Avenue A topped by Stuyvesant Town apartments’ upper floors two blocks distant on 14th Street, I focus’d on the raindrops along the clothesline."  “Things are symbols of themselves,” said Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche. 

New York City August 18, 1984- Allen Ginsberg, Photograph

Allen Ginsberg in the East Village: A Self-Guided Walking Tour

 1) Washington Square Park

 2) Mills House, 160 Bleecker Street 

 3) Former San Remo, 93 MacDougal (now La Pasta Bistro Grill)

 4) Former Kettle of Fish, 114 MacDougal Street

 5) Former Gas Light Café, 116 McDougal Street

 6) Minetta Tavern, 113 MacDougal Street

 7) Café Wha?, 115 MacDougal Street

 8) Café Reggio, 121 MacDougal Street

 9) Former Fugazzi’s Bar and Grill, 305 Sixth Ave (now LensCrafters)

 10) Former Pony Stable Inn, 150 West Fourth Street (now Washington Square Diner)

 11) Pedestrian island between West Eighth Street and West Ninth Street at Sixth Avenue

 12) Former Eighth Street Books, 32 West Eighth Street

 13) Former Cedar Street Tavern, 82 University Place

 14) Former Café Le Metro, 149 Second Avenue (now The 13th Step Bar and Grill)

 15) Former The Dom, 23 Saint Marks Place (now Grand Sichuan Restaurant)

 16) Gem Spa, 131 Second Avenue

 17) Former Kiev Restaurant, 117 Second Avenue

 18) Bill Keck/Norman Mailer’s apartment, 41 First Avenue

 19) 170 East Second Street

 20) 704 East Fifth Street

 21) 206 East Seventh Street

 22) Leshko’s Restaurant, Seventh Street and Avenue A

 23) Avenue A and Saint Marks Place

 24) Tompkins Square Park

 25) Former Peace Eye Bookstore, 383 East Tenth Street

 26) 408 East Tenth Street

 27) Paradise Alley, northeast corner of Avenue A and Eleventh Street

 28) 437 East Twelfth Street 29) 404 East Fourteenth Street

 29) 404 East Fourteenth Street

TAKING IT FROM THE STREET

I took photos today of street views showing the inside of Chelsea art galleries. They can be viewed at marjorie-palimpsests. I love how the outdoor buildings and cars are reflected and visible in the glass facades of the galleries. This one is my favorite!

Tom Mardirosian, actor

Tom Mardirosian played Agamemnon Busmalis in the HBO series, OZ. I saw him in the local supermarket and I was so happy I had my camera for this great photo op.

Tis the Season

I took this photo in February 2011 on the campus of Columbia University. The trees were decorated with silver and gold lights... and they created a path to show the way to a wonderful event which celebrated HOWL. 

The Story of My Seinfeld Idea

In about June of 1997, I wrote a treatment for a Seinfeld episode and then submitted it to ICM to be considered for representation. I was never sent a reply.

But, during the week of Thanksgiving that year... I was more than shocked to have received this letter from Tim Kaiser, a producer of Seinfeld. He stated that: "we are returning this submission to you unread."

Apparently, my submission to ICM was not placed in the circular file. It must have been sent to the writers of Seinfeld. It was submission worthy? How else would the Seinfeld producers have received it?

 I love this: "While we know that outside submissions can yield the occasional diamond in the rough..." And, "Believe me this was a difficult decision...."

How was it a difficult decision if they never read it? Oh, well. I thought the letter was gracious and kind, and I felt "stoked and pumped."

It was rejected... but guess what? I still have it and it's... pretty pretty pretty darn good.

© 2010 Marjorie Levine

Danno Hanks, private investigator

My friend, Mark Ebner, told me about Danno Hanks. This is his very interesting video:

 

A Networking Event

from January 2012:


Last night, I went to an excellent networking event at Sardi's. It was hosted by my TTN. During the mingle... I met Ellen, the Ellen of Ellen's Stardust Diner. She was also a Miss Subways, and you can view photos of her at the website. She is charming and a delight!

MEET MISS SUBWAYS, ELLEN HART STURM

The event honored empowered and active women, women who realize it is never too late to reinvent themselves after one successful career has ended. Look at me! After 35 years of teaching, I am retired from that career and I still pursue my hobby of stand-up comedy. And now I am a cartoonist. I am told my cartoons are whimsical and Thurberesque! Am I am the total Basquaiat of the cartoon world? The heavy traffic to my blog is making the toons an internet viral sensation! (I adore tongue-in-cheek self-effacing humor)

This is the interior of the private event room of Sardi's.



And here is Ellen in a photo taken last night. She looks incredible and she is as beautiful as the day she was named "Miss Subways."



This was the rainy night view from the window of Sardi's. You can see the marquee of the Broadhurst Theater, displaying Al Pacino starring in "Merchant of Venice."

STREET POEMS, with graphics

NOBODY HOME

Between Muirfield Road and Culduthel Road,
In Inverness, there is a street with no name.
But, you can get there.

An old stone building is quietly hidden
Surrounded by a low iron gate
In a lush green fragrant forest.
All sad sounds have fallen away
The many footprints are gone
And all that is left is the still.

The now boarded up windows
Allow no lights from inside to
Show the way home
And I think
Nobody is home
In this long ago forgotten home.



DESERTED HOUSES

On McDonald Road,
In Lovington, on the dusty
Road under the blue sky
There is an old wooden
House that is deserted.
There's nothing left of the roof,
Or the porch, or the doors.

I traveled down that lonesome road
And saw another house, also deserted.
And then another, set far back and
Looking all broken and empty, too.

I suppose at some time people
Played here, and danced here
Maybe they even sang here
In these now empty rooms.

But, they are all gone now
And nothing is left to hear.
Not the songs they sang or
Even the sound of the wind
That once was, once was
Right there and heard
On days long gone.



PICTURE PERFECT

On Tazewell Avenue Southeast,
In Roanoke, some houses sit very high
Above the street under a bleak grey sky.
The trees are suffering and bent and leafless
And the air appears to be chillingly cold.

I wonder who climbs those long steep
Staircases to sit closer to that foreboding
Sky, where clouds cling together trying hard
Not to let thin patches of blue peek through
Because the view might be less mysterious.




THIS HEADY ELIXIR

On Clifton Hill,
In Niagara Falls, there is a soft intoxicating
Smell in the air of sweet and heady nostalgia.
Walkers cross the street to a bright lush green
Park and the water is then behind them as a
Light mist sprays their backs and the
Visuals turn into blurred memories
Set in stone.

All the excitement is about to begin.
There is a turquoise haunted house,
A beckoning moving theater,
The wax museum,
And a souvenir shop:
It's a massive swirling kaleidoscope of
Dreamlike and almost surreal color.

Then, in the center of all this heady elixir
Is a glorious and perfect SkyWheel,
Where I imagine children sit with parents
High up above it all, setting the graphics into
What will years later seem almost
Hallucinogenic.




BY THE SEA

On Coast Road,
in Larne, two people stand
Between the purple rocky cliffs and the
Pale colorless sea on the other side of
Yellow and purple flowers.

Cars pass by with drivers and passengers
Whose faces I will never see.
There is an open gate with a path that
Leads to an unseen place.

And soon, there is a sign that says,
"Boats," and then the sky turns magically blue.
But, in the distance the clouds are so low that
They touch the water.




STANDING STILL

On Højdevangs Allé,
In Copenhagen, the flowers
That line the street
Are so fragrant that two
Women stopped walking.

They stood between two buildings
To look at small blue flowers on
One side while purple and white
Flowers flourished without moving
Behind them, on the other side.




THE LIGHTHOUSE

On Main Street,
In Chatham, there's a lighthouse
Between the red, white, and blue flag
And a white house with a red roof
All at the end of the street.

There are cars looking to park and
Men pushing baby carriages
And women with shopping bags
And everybody is going one way:
To the ocean, to the blue ocean.

There's a lantern there to light
The way back at night to other
Places: to other places near to here
So that the walkers can go
Back the other way to reach home.
And the way is lighted so the drivers
Who have come from far away from here
Never quite reach the end of the street
At the end of the day.




REMEMBERING AN OLD STREET

On Main Street,
On Martha’s Vineyard, I am
Filled with bittersweet memories.
I remember Main Street...
I was there, so long ago.

I can still smell that ocean air,
So briny and salty and
All those summers come
Flooding back.

The day we ate in the diner
And how the jukebox blared all
The songs we loved.

In spite of all the quaintness
Of that lovely and charming place
I longed with desperation
To be some place else.

I suppose we are what we carry
Inside us and in spite of that
Heady beauty, whenever I was there
I longed to be somewhere else.

I suppose there are places that always
Make us want to go home.




ORDINARY THINGS

On Main Street,
In Northport, there is a
Guy standing in the middle of the street
Wearing an orange helmet
And a lady, riding a bicycle on the sidewalk,
Wearing a pale straw sun hat
And two children walking home from school
Wearing book bags and carrying skateboards.

A beautiful house proudly displays the flag,
There are two churches on both sides
When you reach Church Street
And one has lovely pink flowers in front.
There's a post office, a bank,
The fire department announcing
The "Fireman's Fair"...

In front of pristine houses on a crisp clear
Day ordinary things are happening
Where extraordinary things happened.
Nothing remarkable here at all
To speak of the remarkable man that
Once lived here.

Pass through this town, keep driving
Keep going, don't look over your shoulder
Keep going until you read the end:
The water with the boats and the looming
Hill on the other side
And you know you can't turn back.




GOING THE OTHER WAY

On Larimer Street,
In Denver, I went the wrong way
Because the sun was endlessly bright
And my eyes hurt.

So, I winced and decided to turn
Around and see a different view
And go the other way.
I longed for night, so the darkness
Might blur the vision.

In sunlight, there were too many new
Things and I longed for the
Old buildings; these pieces didn't fit.

This music is too now,
And the haircuts are too today.
These silvery parked bicycles
Have taken short trips.
The billiard club fills me with despair
For times gone by so I go over
And look at all the hanging beads for
Making necklaces, as if they held a key to
Some magical thinking and wearing beads
Could bring back what once was.

I wondered if this pawn shop
Accepts memories,
And keeps them safe
Until later when the memories
Are bought back.

Nobody finds places long gone.
But, taking back memories
Makes me smile.
On this street,
It would be fitting.




WHAT REMAINS

On Merrimack Street,
In Lowell, there's a signpost
That says: Detour.

Maybe he never should have
Taken the other road,
Maybe he should have gone
Back, gone the other way
And stayed on these roads.

The air at the end of these
Roads becomes thick and
Dense and there is fog.

Here, on lonely low bleak cloudy days
There are quiet somber and grey
Places: big old several storied houses
With many front steps and slanted roofs
And lots of windows for eye prints.

The houses on University Avenue
From long ago are comforting with
Stubborn intoxicating attics whispering
Secrets obsessed with what
Was, so returning to this street
Reveals air like a strange pentimento.

Old stores with faded signs, corner
Places that never ever yielded or
Changed and they don't bend, they
Remain strong, proud, and solid.

If he stayed for more than a short
Time he always heard the swing
Music; drizzling so he could remember.
At night, in dreams, when
The way became lost, he
Soon realized he never left.
All that time, all those years
His eyes were just closed.
The boarded up windows gave
Him reasons to cry.

Now, this is the end of the seductive
Road, his forever destination:
A place that always surfaced
When sad dreams and deep
Longing finally fell away...
And he had to return to this place
Like a traveler who finally uses his
Return trip ticket.
Home.




THIS PENTIMENTO

Via Comandante Simone Guli,
In Palermo, a street so old that
High above wives still hang the wash
Out over the black iron balcony gates
Next to green leaves and blue and white
Striped curtains falling out of windows.

Once children stood there with mothers,
Waiting for fathers to return home.
The red flowers now sit high over sad
Graffiti and a tobacco shop which
Serves as some reminder not
To obscure the view.




THE FRONT OF THE LIBRARY

On West 10th Street,
In Kansas City, there is a
Library that looks like
Books.

The front looks like
Big books all
Next to each other
All tall and proud.

Catch-22, Oh Pioneers!,
And Fahrenheit 451
To the left, and
Lord of the Rings, Truman,
And To Kill a Mockjngbird
To the right.

Take a walk through
The middle doors,
Right through the middle
And go inside, go all the way in
Walk right inside the books to the
Places the stories can take you.




THE BASKET BUILDING
On County Highway 585,
In Newark, there's a seven story
Building
That looks just like a basket.

I didn't want to be outside the
Building,
I wanted to be inside.

I wanted to be inside that basket.
And when I was inside,
I wanted to join hands with
Everybody else who was inside
And sing a song.

Some places are just like that.
They inspire singing;
I left this
Building,
This road
With a basketful of smiles.




SCENES FROM LONG AGO

On Beard Street,
In Kernersville, there are colorful
Wall murals which give glimpses
Into what was, long ago.

I saw ladies in billowing long
Red and white dresses standing
With gentlemen wearing tall hats
All waiting at the railroad station
For family arriving from faraway places.
Soon, they would all step into a horse
Drawn carriage to take a short ride home.

Nobody looked up to see the child
Perched high above who on bleak days
After school would climb to the flat roof
To wait for the trains to pass.

The trains were carrying weary passengers
Traveling to faraway places, and they were
Also going home.

Many years later, she would remember
The sound of the whistle as the trains
Passed and she would speak of the sound
As both sad and mournful,
Perhaps because it always
Strangely reminded
Her of all times past.




VISITING THE DEAD

On Maiselova,
In Prague, so many people
Come to visit the long gone
And dead at the Jewish
Cemetery near
Staronova Synagogue.

These are the dead from
The ages: they were born,
They lived, they loved,
And what's left here now
Is the dust to dust.
Visitors walk slowly as if a
Mere whisper might wake
These dead.

All the many people tiptoe
Quietly around and around
The wall around the old cemetery.
They walk around to get to the
Other side where there are boats
On the still water and newer things.
And they speak, or speak not,
Of times long ago.

The clock in the high distance
Reminds that time always passes,
It passes and passes and passes
In time with the heartbeats,
And there is always a solid wall to
Separate the living
From the dead.




OPTICAL ILLUSION

On Edinburgh Street,
In Winnipeg, parts of the ground were still
Covered in snow under a crisp blue and
White sky that almost crackled with sharp
Definition and clarity.

It was there that I turned a corner
And stopped at a driveway and saw
In the icy cold snow carved footprints
That finally reached an almost
Tropically lighted home.




THESE DAYS

On the Promenade,
In Blackpool, exquisite wonder
And bright colors create an intense
Kaleidoscope of magical fun.

There's a high tower and
Amusements and prizes and
Horse drawn carriages riding next to
Modern cars.

On the pier, there's a Ferris Wheel with
Rotating gondolas perfectly suited for
Grand and glorious views
Of luminous illuminations.

Luminous illuminations
All right by the sea
By the sea, so all the children
Who come here
Will remember these days.




PRETTY WALK

On East Guenther Street,
In San Antonio, I felt I should
Be wearing fancy ribbons in my hair
Because the houses are so pretty.

I passed by houses that are
Treasures with artistically sculptured
Facades and stunning lace screened
Verandas where guests might dine
On tea cakes spread out on crisp white
Doilies and later when the sun goes
Down, talk of small things that matter
And rinse their hands in dainty
Finger bowls to keep things fresh.

There's a place to stand to view the
Spot where the breathless
Flowing river passes through
Bringing a sense of sameness.

I got lost on this intoxicating street,
Longed to stay, and knew I could return.
There's a sense of serenity in this old
Comfort as the sunlight falls on this same
Street as it has fallen on this street forever.




THE GHOSTS OF GAY STREET

On Gay Street,
In New York City, there are quaint
Red and white and orange houses that are
Intoxicating because they are so old and little.

There is a building with turquoise shutters and
There are pinks and red and white flowers in
Lovely window pots and green trees
To the left and to the right.

The facade is frozen, but not the living...
Or the dead.

It is said that number 12 is...
Haunted. Maybe so.

But,
It is the house across the street where I see
A ghost.
She is peeking out from the second floor window
On the left side of an orange brick building.

She has bushy eyebrows and one hair roller
Sits on the top of her head.

Her mouth is open as if she is startled and
She appears to be more frightened than the
Tourists who down below night and day
Haunt the street looking for the
Ghosts of Gay Street.




SEEING ALMOST NOTHING

On Repatriation Road,
In Pickering Brook, I drove
For a long time
And saw almost nothing
Except the narrow road
Ahead and trees on both sides
With nothing behind me
And nothing ahead of me.
Then, I saw a tractor on one side
And a low gate on the other and
I knew I was reaching a place.
Some place.

Then, I saw a tiny little house
All alone there behind some flowers.
It had a front porch with old chairs
And some other muted things.
In front of the house was a tree,
Three times taller than the house!
I kept going.
I kept going
Chasing the end of that road.
Until I reached the end of the road.
Literally.
And then I went back home.




TO GET TO THIS PLACE

On Aleppo Road,
In New Freeport, there are wonderful
things, rich and wonderful things.

Old houses made of dark crumbling
Wood that remembers what was,
A dry waterless sandy creek
And an old and tired bench
Where an old grandmother sat
And turned, with bent and gnarled
Fingers, the pages of a book
While whispering magical words
That filled a child's imagination.

Keep moving past a graveyard where
Old and broken and long forgotten cars
That yesterday were shiny new cars that
Once took children to faraway colorful fairs.

And past some jumping deer going up a
Steep hill to get back to the forest to hide,
To get back to familiar safe places.

A shiny white gazebo stands alone on
The grand grass where dolls sit
Wearing fancy hats and having sweet tea.

To get to this place you will need to
Go the other way, go that other way,
Go a different way to be taken away.




WHERE THE ROAD STOPS

On Via Regina,
In Griante Como, I knew I
Was very far away from
My own home and
All places familiar,
All things remembered
And then easily forgotten.

This street with this view was
Created by some artist with sentimental
Sentiments and great attention to
Detail from his own mind's eye: the buildings
With arched entrances, the restaurants where
Diners eat outside under white umbrellas or
Under the clear blue sky next to the perfectly
Sweet green round trees near the boats
On the lake coming and going,
Going and coming.

The remote and fancy street looks out
Upon a gorgeous lake with mountains
High above in the distance on the other side
On all sides.

On the other side, there's a soft
Mist above those mountains with a
Tiny village sculpted right into the
Mountain above the view of the lake
Behind the red flowers, red flowers
On this side.

This place, where children grew up
And in later years returned to
The same place with the same view
Of the mountain under the mist
And the tiny village sculpted right
Into the mountain.

This might be a good place to stop
A fine place indeed, to stop.
Because after all, all journeys end
And where do I go from here?
Where can I go from here?


© 2010 Marjorie Levine

Marjorie, the photographer

These are some photos I took which are among my personal favorites. I hope you enjoy them; may I aspire to think they are "eye candy?"