5.15.18

Up 5:30. Read about 30 p. of Artistic License.
Helped dad w/ a business call.
Took him to dermatologists appt., 11:45. Read quota of Pankey while waiting. The poems get more oblique in the oughts, and a book from 2003 consistently uses a longer, snaky line.
Took too long there to get lunch, went home. Got back to our “business,” finished around 2.
Napped. Left 4:30, CVS, got a coffee at the Spot. Email, mainly.
Dinner, Jeopardy. Didn’t go out; read quota of Artistic License, watched most of an Andy Hardy movie.
Lights out around 11.

5.14.18

Up 8.
Therapy.
Went to Claremont at 10 atto meet Mark & Joel for coffee; good to catch up. Mark gave me a copy of a new Pelekenisis book by, apparently, “the poet laureate of Anaheim.” After they left around 11:15, I read my quota of Pankey and wrote daybook poem.
Met my grad school colleague Alex Rajczi at the Meat Cellar for lunch - he had asked me for some possible readings (criticism that might change someone’s opinion/appreciation of an artwork) for an aesthetics class. Had a few ideas.
Another coffee date at fell through; rescheduled. Bought issues #3-5 of the DC Snagglepuss reboot at the Claremont comics shop, checked out the prison charity bookstore again. They’d gotten in some recent poetry since 2 weeks ago (I have a feeling this stuff comes from submissions for the Kingsley Tufts Award or some critic assoc. w/ the colleges). Picked up, for $2.50 each, Ronaldo V. Wilson, Poems of the Black Object; Rachel Zolf, Janey’s Arcadia; Michael Palmer, The Laughter of the Sphinx; Denise Riley, Selected Poems; Jason Morphey, Dead Boy, an older copy of Tim Dlugos, Enter Nous, and a $1 CD of the last St. Vincent album. 
Listened to most of Tsunami, Deep End in the car over the course of the day. It’s been a long time! The songs, performances, and vocals still have a lot of energy and, for me, resonance - but someone should remix it. 
Home before 5. Printed and filled out some medical forms for dad’s appt. tomorrow.
Dinner, Jeopardy! Watched the last episode of Barry, read quota of Artistic License and the 3 issues of Snagglepuss; still need to track down #2.
In bed before 11.

5.13.18

Up 7:45.

Watched the first episode of Barry (Bill Hader’s hit-man-in-an-acting-class HBO dramedy) after breakfast.
A couple of family calls for Mother’s Day - spoke briefly to my dad’s brother Joseph and my cousin Toni after they said hi to my mom.
Found a suitable Mother’s Day card in the playroom. Gathered (yesterday + today) some books I might try to sell in L.A. on Thurs.
Practiced card tricks to show JL’s kids on Wed. Played “Bye-Ya.”
Came up with a verse melody in the shower - realized it was pretty close to “Pulling Mussels from a Shell.”
Left around 11. Upland Starbuck’s - read 30 p. of Pankey (“What comfort a refrain when it returns—/The same words sung again yet somehow changed”).
Cleared a good bit of email. Enjoyed this new Laura Marlin/Mike Lindsay song.
Worked at Ontario Library 1-4 (when they closed). Didn’t get back to the McCrae.
Can’t recall what I did between then and going home for dinner.
Another low-key evening. Didn’t find the energy to start a new book. Wrote daybook poem at some point but don’t recall when.
(Binge?)-watched remaining DVR’d episodes of Barry. Not sure when I went to bed/sleep.

Up about 6.
Took care of reading quota early. Finished The Mao Case - not really a detective/suspense novel, but an excuse for the author to hang his obsessions with food, classical Chinese poetry, and the Cultural Revolution (all of which are quite interesting). Climactic scene involves a businessmen with a Mao complex strangling the granddaughter of one of his (Mao’s) concubines.
20 p. Pankey. Learned the word “verve” (an annual sedimentary layer, apparently from Swedish).
Watched an episode of Law and Order (keeping an eye on mom while caregiver helps dad shower).
Found a file of Bree’s lyrics, presumably from her last visit here months ago, on the desktop of my computer. She doesn’t show me this stuff — they’re good! Coherent, funny, well-rhymed.
Played a little Monk on the piano (I do this, or other standards, most days, but not long or well enough to mention mostly).
More family business discussion w/ dad. Incremental.
Called Anthony + Beverly about their possible trip to Tucson - their plans affect my activities next week.
Would have left late morning, but there was a scheduled visit from mom’s doctor around 11:30; nothing new.
Went to downtown Upland, picked up 3 dollar CDs and one ($5) by Chris Brokaw at the antique mall; proprietor said Penny Lane is moving in nearby (haven’t been to current location this trip).
Meant to get coffee at Rad, but it was surprisingly crowded - downtown in general seemed more active than usual.
Worked on bridge entry at Ontario Public Library about 2-5. I’m at about 1400 words.
Broke off and read 1/2 of McCrae, In the Language of My Captors. Definitely has power, and anger (not sure this is exact but “whether you are here to look at me or the monkeys/you are here to look at yourself). 
Stopped in the Record Mission nearby, bought the James Chance 4CD box for $2!, + a Gabor Szabo album someone recommended on Twitter and (for Jonathan L.) a record of Norman Mailer reading…Norman Mailer.
Picked up dinner (ordered earlier online) at California Fish Grill, wrote daybook poem and read an article on fashion algorithms (fwd’ed by Jean Cook) on my phone while waiting.
Home, dinner; more irritated with my dad than usual. Jeopardy - and another L&O. Talked to Liz (our main evening caregiver) for longer than usual.
My playing cards arrived in the mail — not trick decks, just high-quality Bicycles designed for magicians (a little thinner, identical Jokers). Ordered 3 packs, opened 1 - feels good in the hands, but I still can’t faro reliably.
Just sort of drifted, watched card tricks and SNL…low energy, nothing worth writing down. Lights out 1 am.

5.11.18

Up 6, watched Petticoat Fever (George Fitzmaurice 1936), w/ Robert Montgomery, Myrna Loy, Reginald Owen. Clearly a filmed play - charming, embarrassing Eskimos aside, but trivial.
Napped 9-10.
Email about family business.
Took dad to dr.’s appt. - just a check-up, nothing new. Stopped for lunch at Denny’s near home.
Back just after noon, read 20 p. of The Mao Case, checked a few things online.
Left for library. Worked 2:15-5:15. I guess I’m pretty happy w/ the first quarter of the piece.
Stopped by Rhino, bought 1 skinny tie record by True Confessions; also the Foothill Goodwill, got a sealed copy of Taylor Swift’s 1989 (which I’ve never heard front to back), and an essay collection on Asian visual art and film.
Listening to disc 2 of the Verve Parker set — 11 minute “Lady, Be Good,” probably from Jazz at the Philharmonic.
Dinner, Jeopardy.
Went out at 8:30, had one milk stout at Last Name Brewery. Pretty dead there, which was fine b/c no one thought it odd that I was reading. 20 p. Pankey - the Christian thing is a near-constant, but his imagery and vocabulary get less safe (if not more contemporary) in the 2000s - it’s still quiet(ist?) poetry by many measures, but there is a lyric intensity there.
Daybook poem, actually copied from notes I took at the reading last night.
Forgot the Mao book, so went home by 10, read quota, went to bed w/ a podcast on.
Oh - the tango disc was Trio Hugo Diaz, 20 Best of Classical “Tango Argentino” (Arc 1995).