"My Suffolk Downs" by Melissa Shook

What a surprise to find, by chance, a radio interview with my friend, photographer and writer, Melissa Shook about her new book, My Suffolk Downs, in which we hear the voices of workers on the backside of the track. This morning I wasn't able to bring up WCRB on the net--I listen to music as I doggedly do my exercises--so switched to Boston's WBUR, and there was the interview, recorded at Suffolk Downs, and a slide show of photos in Melissa's book. Melissa's voice here in the South Beach condo! A friend on the radio! So far, so close. Soon I'll be back in Boston and she and I will be chatting about this and that over tea and coffee--tea for me, coffee for her.

I hope you listen to the interview, look at the photos, and learn more about The Eighth Pole, a facility at the track that provides health care and social services for the backside workers. All proceeds from the sale of Melissa's book will go to The Eighth Pole.

Dandy, Focus, Joy

"Banish the will to be dreary," said the designer Dorothy Draper, when she wrote about giving parties. Draper was a dandy. The dandy chooses high style--bella figura. Cut a beautiful figure. In the end, nature triumphs but until it overcomes us completely, twirl, dress up, decorate. Yet let me tell you, I'm not decorating much--a few strings of bright lights--but I'm enjoying gazing at my neighbors' lights, and avoiding what some have called "a false sense of urgency," by staying away from my computer except to check e-mail and work on poems. There's been enough real urgency. You can imagine--the same things that cause urgency in your lives.

I've seen a few friends in the flesh and gazed at their faces and listened to their stories. I watched artist Melissa Shook's video, Kemper and Me, in which she and Kemper, to whom she was once married, talk about theirs lives with remarkable candor. They are honest without being hurtful, a remarkable feat, especially to someone like me who is quick on the trigger. (I mostly show that side of myself to J.--poor J.) I turned off the flash on my camera and set it for long exposures to pick up night light and motion.

Long exposures on modern cameras are short but take in a lot. So do our eyes and so do we if we focus. I can't force joy. It comes when it will. But let me focus! Tell me: what do you wish for?