Friday, May 22, 2015

the road more poets...

the road more poets
on it early

sandbars and sunrises

and
out there

doors.

Friday, April 24, 2015

earth day...

Earth Day
Today yesterday tomorrow the day before -

And it should be!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

where the thunder too...

Thunder the distance
Breezy
Rainy bay

Tide ponds in the swell

Raindrops clung to the red trees

This quiet daylight
Roaring wheels
Waiting
The
Train
Whistle

Where
Everywhere the distance

Where the thunder too

It's jazz
That's all.

Monday, April 20, 2015

in my jazz sketchbook...


in my jazz sketchbook bruce cassaday...


in the beat and the twilight...

Two for the road
Two for the road show

Trombones the big sound
Miss Christy in the glow of the midnight sun

In the beat

Safe
And
Calm

As the bus makes the turn
To the next town
Indianapolis
Miiiiami!

In a blue blue whirl

And the twilight

In the beat.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

basquiat the poem:...

Basquiat the poem:
Train whistles there
The streets and newspapers
Canvases and lion hair
A panoply of color and verse
In every painting
In everywhere

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

the bird feeder is empty...

The tall trees on the ridge
And
The wide blinds in the window
The sun is coming through

The bird feeder is empty
I will buy food for them today
I heard them singing this morning

A friend heard frogs peeping last evening
Yes.
Oh!
A train whistle!
I must go.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

flutter spring...

Shadows of the picket fences
Warm in
The trees blowing lightly
The ribbon signs on the lampposts
Flutter
Spring
Flutter
Spring

And the smell of freshly fried donuts.

9bach...


ambling...

Calm the night
A schooner ambling along the Elizabeth Islands
A cove !
Ashore supper fire and storytelling
Rum and cheese chicken and sea
Spires of
Water
And
Smoke
The constellations
Sleep

Sleep on
To Cuttyhunk and further
Sandbars and sunburns Madras and orange blondes tomorrow

A travel back in time
In your youth.

winding the big horn passes and grain fields below...

I have a friend who likes trains too
Choo
Trestles high
Winding the Big Horn passes and grain fields below
She
In the sun, shades and screen
'Til moon and star and music
Quiet clacks on the tracks
East to New York City
Gats Villages Vanguards
Vivaldi and blues and Milo Hewes
The Waldorf straws and shoes
Choos
Toos.

jazzsong...


Thursday, April 9, 2015

the weather...

The train whistle down the street
Rumble of the furnace
The cars
Ramble
The book reads
Travels
And
Travails
Dripping from the paper lanterns
Dripping orange

billie holiday (april 7, 1915 - 1959)...


i thought...

I have written a thousand haiku
and got tired.

I thought.

if you're a beat poet...

If you're a beat poet ragged hair is good
Earring
And beard
Four Roses whiskey manischewitz and a good 99 cent merlot
Camels
And
Lucky Strikes
And beer of course
Funny looking cigarettes whoosh !
Craggly demeanors horn rimmed glasses button-down shirts
Stripes
On the shirts and on the road
A compendium
Of wide brimmed hats and six shooters
Big apples Mexico sunrises

Hell !
Fix the infrastructure will ya ?

If you're a beat poet

one brush...

That coffee!
A handful of acrylics
Peach rouge mauve chartreuse
The color of faces
Hands
A pout
A brush
Canvas and paper

One brush!

Rembrandt the greatest self-portrait painter of all time

I like Van Gogh though

in studio c...

Thinking about
Where it would be
Nice to be
Under a moon
Lemon in the sea

Under a sunset
Purple and pink

Singing with the bards sailors and bones

In Studio C

in the coffee morning...

Still, very still
In the coffee morning
Except

A piano playing Monk
Thelonious Monk

Donna Lee
Charlie Parker
And
Take 5

A morning of still, very still
In the coffee morning

just words to make a small painting...

Brushes of words
On
Light
Light gold paper
Sundance
And Katharine Ross
In
Sepia.

Saturday, March 28, 2015

at the improv...


soft drops of snow...

Out there now
Soft drops of snow
Trees bent
Fire bushes broken over I hope not broken
Wisteria buried
Dogwoods confounded
Oh!
Winter is over
A ride to the bakery the other side of the Narrows
Say
Hey!
Willie Mays

1950 all over again

Friday, March 27, 2015

(thinking of doing a portrait)...

Yesterday morning this morning too
Through the trees snow melting
Down the banks
Streets wet
Stacks of canvases on the floor
Black coffee!
Her hair a ruffle
In the paint in the picture

Snow melting

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

walks in the park...

In a chartreuse world
Orange paper and light
Gold
Wings
And flight

Walks in the park
Reading each granite style
Where
The moon is night

And day

lady G...


steve marantz...


a sketch for ray...


self portrait...

On the edge
Easel set
A beige linen canvas on it
A loose rouge paper blouse
Hair a
Fly
The palette and brushes color and
Whisk

Her

Saturday, March 21, 2015

katie thiroux jazz...


contortion...

In the crimson and rouge
Mauve
Contortion

Blue and purple
Cuba
Vintage hats and shirts
Pontiac
Fins
And
Jazz!

A window to the street
And
To the ocean
And
Oh yes, did I say?
To Jazz!


*poem inspired by portrait of Henrietta Moraes painted by figurative painter Francis Bacon (1909-1992) found by Kimberly.

Friday, March 13, 2015

just before the spring there...


sketch her out...

Paint in blue
Mediterranean sea and cape
Blanco
Sketch her out
And when the music begins
Orange
And
Chartreuse
And the lines and flow go
Sketch her out

A long time

I'm painting this morning - on canvas and paper


written 3/9/15.

workin' with miles...

Chicken
Batter a candy sauce and
A sweet cake in the case
Blue cheese

Lettuce
Tomato
Onion

Lunch
A breeze
A breath

Eyes and clover and a dance

A dance
Workin' with Miles and
Guirardelli Squares


written 3/7/15.

Saturday, March 7, 2015

it is warm in your ecuador...

Motionless
Maple branches hanging ice a pine needle and
The leaves of Fall
Snow drifts
The sun and
A bridge to solitude

In the wind
In the cold

It is warm in your Ecuador
Though

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

snow came again last night...

Snow came again last night
And rain
The streets sound hard
Sloosh
And the train tracks
No train whistle at the usual time again and
At the back of the pond
Curls of smoke coming off it
Forty F today
Now a curl of smoke from the cottage roof

The Koi sleep

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Monday, March 2, 2015

fresh snow...

Fresh snow
The sound of scraping plows
Of no train whistle
Fresh snow in the red fire bushes
Spruces and scrub pine
And the dogwood tree
And the rock cascade next door
What?
And on the driveway
And on the car

What?

Fresh shoveling!
Oh yes!

Oh yes!
And the trills of a frontend loader

ode...

A landscape of frost painted on our window
A blue moon there high in the valley
And icicles
And brittle branches
And noises in the night
No polar bears though
And that is good
Because
We are safe
I guess

redux leah jazz...


Saturday, February 28, 2015

Thursday, February 26, 2015

"art is a never-ending dance of illusions" -bob dylan...


yesterday ~ the light snow a gift...

The light snow a gift
The one to three inches too
But
Lament
A granite block seat by the harbor
The morning sun on the Mulholland Light
The tastes and laughs of a bakery in summer
So, the days ahead without snow

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

yesterday's sketch...


Friday, February 20, 2015

jean-michel basquiat (1960-1988)...


tess collins...


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

thursday and weekend snow...

Thursday and weekend snow
I don't know
Ice dams
Blue ribbon jams
At
Smoke
Charlie's Gone By
The Note
Have a boat
Ron Carter said to me

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

kat nyc...


brigitte nyc...


the lady...


Monday, February 16, 2015

kimberly's blizzard muse...


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

cabin oil by jean deVeber...


Monday, February 9, 2015

snow...


Saturday, February 7, 2015

'between' a photo by kimberly ashby...


'between' a poem by kimberly ashby...

Between the indigo tides
The love dove greets
Morning coffee drips
The moon fades
The quiet remains
Matisse
Picasso
Speaks
French paint, still life
Between the indigo tides
Rooms by the SeA
Indoor-Outdoor
The moon is down
Now
Hmmm...
I'll drink to that
There she flies,
My Love dove
Dandy
:
:
Between
               The
                      Indigo
                                 Tides.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

snowflights...

Snowflights
In the boughs of pines and maples
Teresa Brewer on the phonograph
Misty
Oh
Look at me
I hear a whistle
6:10
The time all the trains leave the station
And the whispers
Are but an echo
An echo now

sketch inspired by sandra flood artist...


Thursday, January 29, 2015

matadors and troubadours the sketch inspired by sandra flood artist...


matadors and troubadours...

Poetry
Connects
The constellations and everything else
And
Painting and Lily
Lilies
Monet madrigals Modigliani
Matadors and troubadours
Matisse
Miro and Ellington
Jazz
Connects
The constellations and everything else
The music is
The poetry is
The art is

Everything else

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

6 A.M. ...

6 A.M.
Wavy winds curls and flowers
Snow swirling
Singing
In the wisps in the Andes
The furnace is on
Coffee pen and paper
Hearing plows but no train whistle
Another plow just plows
Gusts and lights
I will be able to make an egg
Folded with Newman's Own mango salsa
Orange juice
And a walk with Jack
But not in Chopin's garden
Bach's?  Maybe?

Saturday, January 24, 2015

kimberly is the eclectic lady, artfully so...

















by Kimberly Ashby

Thursday, January 22, 2015

paths...

Paths

Nights
And
Samba

And
Toast the gardens and songs of things

Go to where
Mingus plays piano

He plays piano too

Under the neon
Blue

No vacancy

painting and haiku by kimberly ashby...


Saturday, January 17, 2015

the prez himself...

I say it, ready anytime
The Prez himself
Polka dots dots dots
And
Moonbeams sweet
Sweet
Daahr daahr daahr
Oh piano
His tenor some would say the greatest tenor ever lived
Aah
Lester Young ready anytime for something special
The Prez himself
Polka
Polka dots dots dots
And
Moonbeams

Sweet

Thursday, January 15, 2015

seas fell into fall...

August dipped below the horizon
A summer day
And
Seas fell into fall

And September to November
Salt and waves and winter

And
December dipped below the horizon
And
Set

Friday, January 9, 2015

muse the sketch...


muse the poem...

Muse
A
Portrait go lightly
First takes
In black and white
Take
One
As in jazz
As in shades of gray
As in Muse
Green, purple and a Mingus bass solo
First takes!


*sketch and poem inspired by and hommage to the portrait photography of Claudio Cazzara.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

beautiful writing by kimberly ashby to mark the cold day...

she by the bay paints
sea smoke at the golden hour
Come Close
Closer
                    Still.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

edgy if it's going to be any good...

A new year is like a new sketchbook
Edgy if it's going to be any good

A new year!
Sketch a little kindness

Thelonious Monk rehearsing
Spinning

Kenton riffs

Edgy
This is how Johnny Hodges sounds
Aah boo dee aah aah bap! Bop!

More Kenton riffs
And Matisse and Matisse things

Sketch a little kindness
Bop!

for the new year...

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
                                              -Leonard Cohen

Thursday, January 1, 2015

autobiographical...

Sandbars and sailboats
The Village and Baltimore horses
Mean
A
Lot
This morning
,
I suppose
Because
It is 2015