http://slow.writerscafe.org/kentucky14 The original writings of author kentuck14 en-us Copyright 2026 WritersCafe.org 1775985448 WritersCafe.org RSS Generator 15 Dear friends,Thought I'd pop into the Cafe to let you all know my first chapbook, "Scenes and Speculations" (T.P. Bird) is now available from Finishing Line Press. Yes . . . I've turned commercial!Hope to come back to the Cafe soon and engage in sharing work and robust conversation. I must admit to .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2488080/ CONSIDERING THE MIDDLE DISTANCE(WHEN DISTANCE IS MAINLY A THING OF THE PAST)  “But middle distance is best. Close up we see the one leaf      and the one tree, gorgeous but myopic; long distance       makes a momentary uniformity; best .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2169121/ NOCTURNE IN BLUETo dream in certain nights is to feel a particular griefkept hid by day’s blinding light.For often in my dream-statemy wife’s forever run away--I, unable to follow in her flight.What does it mean? I ask.    Why does her shadow selfhide from me in th.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2164305/ CALIFORNIA DESERT REDUXI.Back in Barstow by the motel pool-- the evening sun warm, the air cooler in the approaching shadow of the lodging.The desert, the distant mountains to the eastare a glowing light brown, still empty,              .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2164303/ VENTURA HIGHWAY“ . . . in the sunshinewhere the days are longerand the nights are stronger than moonshine . . .”    --Dewey Bunnell         of the rock group          ‘America’, 1972F.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2162220/ FROM LAKE CACHUMA TO SANTA BARBARAI.The lake is blue water under a clear sky--much darker than aquamarine--a liquid gem circumscribed by gold and tan hills covered in scrub oak, and dry, sun-parched grass,the San Rafael Range shimmering in the east.  It is here--on our way to Santa Barb.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2158469/ CHRISTMAS MORNING, CREEK SIDE“A thrill of hope--the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!”        --John S. Dwight, from            the Christmas carol     &n.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2157576/ AN OLD CURMUDGEON’S PERSONAL POEMOSOPHY(Or a Poetry Lover's Quarrel with the Times)The parents of my poemsare the generation aftermy father's, the so-called"Silent Generation," now dead or grown very old . . . still read by the admirersof early postmodern poetrylong before post-postmod.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2157055/ REFLECTIONSAT PISMO BEACH ANDAFTERI.Rodeout of SLO by 9:00 AMdownUS Highway 101 to Pismo Beach,whereI buy Pepto-Bismofrom a galwith a bright California smile--- outdoingthe coastline weather that continuesto be damp and cool---.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2156858/ A SAN LOIS OBISPO INTERLUDE    AT A MOTEL 6I.Arrived mid-day at a Motel 6 . . .The lady at the desk says: “Been bookedsolid for this day a month ago.” The traveler asks: “So, you don’t have a             room.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2154396/ RED HAIRED RITA, CHILD OF LIGHT AND HER WINDOW ON THE WORLDFrom that old house of blues & sorrowsRita, child of light, hair washed in blood and combed by fire, spends her daysin supplication and reflection from her sacred window on the world. Yes, sometimes she casts wishful looksat the .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2153191/ AT MORRO STRAND STATE BEACHI.Along Highway 1 going south a strip of sand lays flat, wet and a deep tan in the cool, misty air of the Central Coast.Three daughters--thirteen to twenty--stand silent at the water’s edge. What are their thoughts as they gaze out toward the horizon at the i.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2152641/ CAMBRIAI.Tourist town . . . trinket shops,art galleries, and over-priced eateries(Lim’s offers New England clam chowderfor homesick easterners).A visit to a quiet garden shop with flowering shrubs, an orange burst of a blossoming arborover a wicker bench, and a sea air weathered clapbo.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2152026/ THE FUTURE ARRIVES AT CAMBRIAThe coastal air is cool and windyin difference to our desert journey.On go sweatshirts and wind-breakersas we gaze upon the watery expanse of the Pacific---slate sky meetingblue at the far horizon, while rockyout-croppings intercept the white surf as it sprays ov.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2150704/ WASHINGTON PARKWith Thoughts of the Poetry of Frank O’Hara  1. Banners in the June sun exhort me: Celebrate Washington Park---a design of green, ringed in red with brick row houses under a light blue sky. So, I exalt the big canopy beeches with amputated arms and wings like bats, .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2150698/ WHILE SITTING ATOP A CATLIN HILL      MEADOW IN EARLY AUTUMNvalleys and hilltops spread out beforeme like a September calendar pictureunder a large and semi-circular sky.Clouds to the west are backlit, their undersides dark and heavy--the sun casting off an indirect .. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2150694/ A continuation of my poem An American Desert Travelog http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2149702/ A DISPATCH FROM THE IDEOLOGICAL FRONT                “ [B]ecause of greed and luxury . . . the result is the encroachment of one group upon the territory of another . . . statesmanship. . . is replaced by politics, which isthe.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2149025/ AN AMERICAN DESERT TRAVELOG“Don’t listen to him Danfor he spreads the desert sandwith water . . . cool clear water.”      --- The chorus from a song by            The Sons of the Pioneers, &nbsp.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2148824/ TOURING CADES COVEA rainy October day in Tennessee, the Smokey’s higher peaks are shrouded in low clouds. My wife’s brown eyes scan the brochure for historic spots along an eleven mile, one way loop around the u-shaped valley between the mountain ridges where no one now farms the.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2148269/ A SHORT HISTORY OF FAILURE      “Stop trusting in man who is but a breathin his nostrils; of what account is he?”                               &.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2145502/ ON THE ROAD (WITHOUT CASSADY,KEROUAC & LUANNE HENDERSON)I sit between my parents; I’mseven, maybe eight years old. The green glow of the dashboard gauges in my father’s 1946 Nashgaze back at me as I listen to him speak of things that elicit further visions in my fertile imagi.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2145148/ FIELD NOTES WHILE WALKING BUCK HOLLOW ROAD IN JUNEI write my wanderings in a notebook resting on a locus fence post ‘desk,’ which I share with many insects and a yellow spotted caterpillar, who, no doubt, puzzles at my presence.Today, a high wind runs atop these green hills. A co.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2144550/ PORTRAIT OF AN ONLINE POET            -- for AnastasiaShe wore poems around her neck like amulets to ward off the virtual dangers of cyberspace, singing colorful songs, stringing them like nets across the horizon to stop the sun from slipping into.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2143109/ Found an old poem I wrote years ago and did some reminiscing. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2142973/ The final installment http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2141814/ No sooner on the street the next morning,someone offered hashish for a price. Advised to be wiser than their age and desires,    "no thanks" was their prudent reply. After a jaunt through the great cemetery of Barcelona with its white vaults piled highlike apartment buildings shini.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2137191/ FRIDAY, 6:37 AMOkay . . . here’s how it is.After reading a short history on Robert Lowell’s later poemswhile lying in bed and drinking a cupof coffee, I open the window blinds. The morning light is subdued, hesitant, not really gray as in so many accounts.Though there areno shado.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2136340/ When the poetaster complained to a train-riding, vineyard-owning, Englishspeaking French woman of the French refusal to speak English, she replied:“When you are in France, you should speak French. That’s the trouble with you Americans when visiting another country; you think ever.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2134028/ PAUL DAVIS IN BARCELONA   Part 2Paul and poetaster went south in late evening towards the beckoning of Mediterranean light, the train pulling into seedy Marseilles at the beginning         of another October day. The lady clerk at the hotel spoke noEng.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2128066/ An aging man's memory http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2124397/ OLD DOWNTOWN AS A RAINY DAY MEMORYOn a rainy day when the air is thick with the sound of dripping eaves and running gutters, I’m being lazy--- laying on the sofa and reminiscing of the old downtown of my 1950's hometown in northeast Pennsylvania.An image of Bolish’s Hardware drif.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2118670/ Remembering the ungrateful dead http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2116661/ OSCAR AND THE FRENCH PHOTOIn the gloom of early morning, the light just illuminates the striped tiger cat who yowls at the window at practically nothing, for nothing moves in the yard or beyond,but who wants me to know it’s time to awake and meet the coming day.Annoyed with my unrespon.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2116483/ COVINGTON SQUARE REVISITED“Covington Square was a place of social worship . . . the square needs life,we need the square.”    --- Crowley, from “On the Square”✤The Poet Crowley had told us of Covington Square---that place in the ‘cityscape,.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2114445/ DAYDREAMING“In my study . . . A different conceptionof mind evolved: one that lets things happen as well as makes things happen . . . mind as functioning along one unbroken conscious-unconscious continuum.”    ---Harold Rugg, in “Imagination”Som.. http://slow.writerscafe.org/writing/kentucky14/2112542/