the word of the summer?
“Beautiful”
i first used it for Penny Ashton
as in “Hello you beautiful Woman, how are you?”
half way through the giant schlep
the fifteen-week marathon
that is the Fringe Tour
...
but was soon using it about Sydney Hayduk, Paul Strickland [i think], Erika MacDonald, Trina Lee Ferris, Thea Fitz-James, Bill Pats [i think],
and more...
...
while some people avoid the word “beautiful”
because it’s become meaningless,
worn out
blandished
paints with too broad and inexact a stroke
and they’re probably right
especially if you put it under a microscope
and get all forensic
but i think if you use it very lightly
and in no complex context
it does have a meaning
and means ... beautiful
lovely
cheering
always good to see
inspirer of affection
smile inducer
benign
smart
warm
caring
no bullshit
no hatred
no snarky
...
while there was the glowingly expectant
secret-smiled Stephanie Morin Robert
[in the photo above]
and Zita Nyarady, DK Reinemer, Jon Bennett, Jessica Gabriel and Chloe Ziner [i hope], Erin Cunningham [i think], Nick Ryan, Katie Hartman, Tara Travis, Alex Dallas, Susan Freedman
and more
and more
...
while, for me
the word “beautiful”
though unhundredpercent
expresses this best
and easiest
and without unnecessary connotation
ramification
unwantedeness
and simply is...
and simply says
beautiful
...
“hi beautiful, how you doing...?”
...
and it was a tough summer
with my show “GET LOST jem rolls”
though a success
yet every festival was a battle
where i never-lifted-the-foot-from-the-pedal
from first days into final weekend
with audiences bigger, gratifyingly bigger
but rarely bigger enough
...
yet cheered by ever saying
“hi beautiful, how you doing...?”
...
and, from Calgary onwards
it was a sprained-ankle-gruel
a hauling of twingeing or pained or agonised
from morning into evening
day into day
sapping the fun
and shortening the nights
...
yet lifted by
“hi beautiful, how you doing...?”
...
amidst all the on-site
on-message
repetition of effort,
and line,
all the hard flyering
...
all gentled by
“hi beautiful, how you doing...?”
...
with all the laughing
and the rise to the show
and the comedown from the killer show
and the stomach-grumbling hunger
and the occasional brusquesness
or even rudeness
all smoothed by
eased by
lightened by
vanished by
heightened by
“hi beautiful, how you doing...?”
...
...
spinning through the days
until the whirling stops, every second Sunday
...
on through the hours and days and weeks and months
the months and weeks and days and hours and minutes
the faces and bodies
the shining eyes and parting lips and curving cheeks
the next after next after next
until now
at the very far end of the Odyssey
the Stop
.
...
...
...
[this is a repost
from Facebook
from September 27 2017
with added italic stretch]
...
meanwhile its still
Sydney
yet my time here is flying by too fast
...
Kalimantan Monday
Samarinda Wednesday?
Blue Mountains tomorrow
…
…
…
this photo tells of
what i did next
…
the Via De La Plata
Seville to Santiago
this photo is from a month before the post
…
me and Sydney Hayduk
this photo might be from that summer
but it might not
…
me and Bill Pats
…