Hymn to Wealth by Larry Goodell

Going through manuscripts (of old) oh boy. Have gone from early awful late 50’s to now 1977. I was set up to do this poem in Santa Fe at the Contemporary Arts Center, with the stuffed black garbage bag hanging from the ceiling. At a point in the poem I was to lift the garbage bag off its hook and proceed reading the poem with the bag flopped over my head. But I FORGOT to do the poem and afterward was asked “Why is that garbage bag hanging from the ceiling?” I wish I’d done the poem . . . and my dad was there in the audience probably the only time he heard me do poems. His comment afterward, “You sure gave the establishment a hard time!” Larry Goodell / Placitas, New Mexico

Meredith Rice – A Child’s Alphabet – 1969

Meredith Rice was a painter and visionary, a friend since at least 1967. She lived from 1945 to 2012. See some of her work at 3 Dimensional Poetry. The painting there from her series during her struggles through cancer is illuminating. This beautiful hand written, drawn, assembled booklet, A Child’s Alphabet, Meredith did for the birth of our son Joel who was born in November of 1969. She sent the booklet through the mail to us General Delivery.

Presenting all I can in memory of Meredith Rice. An enlightening talent to us, to so many, as the pursuit to prevent cancer from taking more lives continues. Larry Goodell, Placitas, New Mexico larrynewmex@gmail.com Thank you, Meredith.

Watercolor – Multi-American Series – November 2019

original, 2 sheets

variation using computer

variation using computer

Watercolor after a long time. I stopped these and painted sticks long before the show at Very Special Arts on North Fourth Street – where I did readings and showed some of the sticks (painted property markers) along with Jane Sprague works, Jim Burbank works, and Lenore Goodell works . . . an accumulative surprise. I may do more watercolors. 2 sheets side by side.

larry goodell / 7november2019 / placitas, new mexico / usa

Dutchman in New Mexico

Sue Ann Carpenter writes about her acting in Amiri Baraka’s The Dutchman in New Mexico:  “did this at old town studio in 1970 – directed by geno silva classmate of mine at unm  – it was a cool play – great dialogue – we were on stage about one hour just the two of us one act – then we were picked up to take it to don juan playhouse in pojoaque & los alamos.

“nick abdalla sculpture and friend from Albuquerque took photos..

“ron givens was an actor in Albuquerque  – he was excellent – I think the closed in performance in the small old town theatre was more effective – geno directed it where the audience was in the play – the whole theater was set up like a subway train with visual effects and sounds – ron and i were on the front seat facing the audience – only chairs were the setting – it was very effective – it ran a few weeks

“when nat simmons came to do it in los Alamos it was set outside in the amphitheatre – the play lost a lot of the ambiance – it was good but better inside – i was flattered when steve asked ron and me to perform a portion of it for his class – he was such a great addition to the unm staff anyway.  .   . ” Sue Ann Carpenter

“Dutchman is a play written by African-American playwright Amiri Baraka, then known as Leroi Jones. Dutchman was first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City, on March 1964.” (Wikipedia)

Sue Ann Carpenter lives in Roswell, New Mexico. Thank you for this.
/larry goodell / placitas, new mexico

 

 

In Good Hands – Election Poem 2018

(Hear this poem read here.)

It’ll get out of hand if you hand it over to a cruel hand.
They’re waiting in the shadows to dust your future with disaster.
And then you cough and come down with lung rot.
Or simply die untended with cancer or simply die unattended with cancer.
Healthcare is a right and not a privilege of the privileged
who have no interest in your rights and would assume you have none.
For isn’t it a club as they try to get to the club of the club of the clubs
and more of them make it while the earth of everyone what we used to call the masses
are their debris for their wealth must be strangled out of something
mainly you and me, the cocksie Koch’s are cockless about what’s going on
their think tanks can be run by only so many people – they forget the bees
yes the busy bees of persistence, dedication perseverance passion
insistence millions of little bees the whole alphabet of resistance
for what is right, common sense, commonality, non-party insistence on the good
the eruption of care, yes care for others, not do as thou wilt
but do unto others what you would have them do unto you
or have you forgotten, you stupid you, with all your brains narrowed into conniving
you forget the bees, we bees work together and we butterflies, you forget the butterflies
we’re in flocks and we can move great distances as well as be beautiful at home
you forget the wolves, hey we’re growing in numbers
and we’re good predators for preserving the balance of nature
and you idiot buffoons in your gold-plated pantaloons
forget all the migrating birds, we move openly and mysteriously
great distances following the patterns of nature
have you heard of the patterns of nature, have you even heard of Nature
I didn’t say despoiling I didn’t say poisoning, corrupting, dominating
destroying raping exhausting, misusing, fraking and generally fucking everything up
I said patterns of Nature, Nature undominated but cooperated with
as the Earth itself presents solutions – Nature, Mother Nature, Father Sun
the Moon Magician and the Universe of Stars Galaxies of Higher Powers
cockeyed cockamania corporations of calculated accumulation
massive power of the few, you few are few – watch out for the ants
the ants working everywhere millions and millions, ants here
ants there, ants everywhere crawling up your legs to bite
your you know what and you can’t stop us we’re at the
polls we’re in the voting polls, we’re better known as the populace –
we’re everything you’ve ever not wanted to happen
and sooner or later your manipulating the vote gets overwhelmed with
the rush and flood and tsunami of the popular, who really won the last election?
We more than exist – we sing, we create, we make scientific discoveries
we do business with everybody we’re every color of the rainbow and then some
we’re into the commons and we demand that the billions going into the military be accounted for, heard of public accounting?
Not for greed & war, but for good
and the millions going into our common needs be encouraged in schools, government, roads bridges internet education – and fun
till the commons is again common, and common sense prevails
teachers scientists artists respected
living wage workers’ unions listened to, co-ops building, private business flourishing, green and all color industries prospering
sane laws kicking out assault weapons, national buy back of guns
cutting violence and boosting mental care, law-abiding hunters
and fishers and conservationists valued, women’s voices heard and
believed and the addictions to hate & drugs turning into addictions
of compassionate love, we bees we butterflies we birds we wolves
we ants, we native plants, we cooperative humans flowering,
we sunflowers along every road in America, backyards and fields,
not only are we along the roads, we’re in the roads, driving and walking colorful attending, we the engaged populace standing up everywhere
turning away lies and celebrating truth
open minds bound to free speech, and separation of church & state,
every woman and man born equal under law & love
peace of mind and health of mind & body joining hands
joining hands with civility, a new name in our honor – we might as well sing let
freedom ring.

Larry Goodell / Placitas, New Mexico / October 29, 2018

Marc Maron on the Living Batch

A flyer Pancho Elliston sent me – unknown source (so far).

Many articles about the Batch! .    .    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .(Yes I did work there in and out.)

Robert Creeley Handouts UNM 1962

Of course these aren’t all the pages we talked about in Robert Creeley’s English 121 course but they are among the few I still have. I’d heard him read from For Love directly to Bobbie Creeley in the Adobe Theater in Old Town, Albuquerque, but became acquainted with him in this class. Hank Chapin (who published Bluegrass & first published me) and Bill Dodd (who I published in a duende) were in this class. Then I went to the Vancouver Poetry Conference thanks to Bob’s urging, and immediately after started duende, moving to Placitas from Albuquerque about the same time the Creeleys did (1963), a wonderful coincidence.

It was that Wollensak (and I do believe wire) recorder he brought to class from which we heard his interviews with Duncan, Dorn, Olson, McClure, Zukofsky, Levertov? and, by way of the visiting Jonathan Williams, Basil Bunting . . . I think some of the tapes he had came from his interview program on KHFM  “The Single Ear,” the Albuquerque classical station, where they were aired. But then in his home in the Village we listened to all the way from Kurt Schwitters to an interview with Ezra Pound to Frank Zappa. I have cassette dubs of a few of these still at home since I haven’t yet arranged to send my media stuff to Yale.

Addendum:

Bob Creeley saved my life. The WCW-Olson-Creeley-etc. voices broke through my word glut, and as embarrassing as it is, here’s a bit of how he helped . . .

Gratefully,
larry goodell / placitas, new mexico

New Mexico and Beyond – New Poetry

 

Thank You Meredith Rice

https://larrygoodell.blogspot.com/2017/03/thank-you-meredith-rice.html

A Stroll Down Memory Lane or An Abridged Version of Political History as I See It- Lenore Goodell

From my wife and love of 49 years, Lenore Goodell, her photograph and words.
Thank you and love to all.- larry

[All this has been roiling about in my head for a while and even though I hate to write I cannot let it go.]

Remembering back long, long ago in the wake of the Clinton election, Cokie Roberts was spouting on NPR and made the pronouncement that the Republicans would “eat their young” (in what I presume would be frustration). At the time, that sounded like a pretty good outcome, and I was very happy to have an energetic President with fairly liberal values – younger than myself (but the same ballpark).

BUT Ms. Roberts was entirely wrong. Instead of eating young they created an industry of discrediting President Clinton and his family in the most despicable and slimiest manner.

In spite of that the USA had a successful run of 8 years. And I think if Al Gore hadn’t distanced himself from Clinton he would have won. (Well, in reality, he did win but that was the first time they stole the election with dirty tricks i.e. voter suppression and having their Supremes declare a winner.)

[Think of how different the world might be. No war in Iraq that destabilized the Middle East and global warming being addressed 16 years ago – maybe a chance to turn things around.]

Even after the Bush years and President Obama elected, Republicans never stopped their scummy behavior, scheming to block any accomplishments, attempting to discredit a man who clearly is above any reproach. Many times along the way of his term I had wished he were more liberal and more scrappy to the folks arrayed on the other side but, of course, they had the benefit of owning the congress which was bought and paid for by the hard labor of gerrymandering and throwing dark money in small elections. So, many people not doing well in a good economy is due to the Republican Congress thwarting a good bit of the President’s recovery program. [As I see it they passed just enough to benefit themselves and leave the rest of us in the cold and dark.]

So now we come around to my point in this shaggy dog story. Here is another stolen election. I knew the fix was in when Trump announced that Democrats would steal the election, because that is one of the Republication game plans – a preemptive strike to make the truth sound like defensiveness. And even with all the nasty dirt Secretary Clinton got pelted with (a lot of it a revival of the old anti-Clinton industry) she and Democrats and we the people were winning but for:
Voter suppression
The FBI placing fingers on the scale at the last minute
Russian interference.

All of these make the pollution of our sacred right to vote in a fair election a clear fact and Donald Trump a cheat, liar, in my opinion a traitor and the front man of a right-wing coup. And the troll army is out saying that we are poor sports and disrespectful to not accept this “election result” as a final word. ARE THEY KIDDING? They must think we Americans are all fools.

It is the Democrats’ patriotic duty to speak up and speak out. I don’t know what can happen now – but I do know that Democrats have to gather and fight as hard and nasty as Republicans. High moral ground and gentility is clearly not loud enough to win the day. Learn to boil messages down to simplistic and jingoistic phrases like they do. Attack and resist, it’s a fight for our existence.

Lenore Goodell
1/15/2017