Regarding Christine Chubbuck, family and friends: visitors to this blog

Recently there have been a few visitors to this site googling Christine's name. That's not that unusual, but in this case the visitors were located in the general area in which Christine lived – I am wondering if they were Christine's friends or family members – if so, it would be much appreciated if they would contact me – I would love to talk to them – Ricky (rgarni@gmail.com)

THE BOOKS, RELEASED!

21 BOOKS, RELEASED! or THE SHOW or THE THING is coming up this Saturday, October 24th at the Looking Glass Café in Carrboro, N.C. That evening I will be reading from 21 books I have produced but haven't released over the years, with one copy of each book available for sale.

This really great and awful thing has happened since then, though – several people have asked to pre-order copies and one gent (I mean, this was a real gent!) asked to buy the whole crop. SO – although we will not having additional copies available on Saturday (shipping is a pill) we will try to put together an additional shipping order on the evening of the event, in order to defray the shipping cost (typically as much as $3.99 on a $10.00 book, for shame USPS!) Also – if you are more tactile and a kenetic learner or Triple A member or Type A personality type, you can enter this world:

www.tinyurl.com/rickylulu

and order freely and briskly and secretly to our delight!

Here are the books in order of composition that will be available on October 24th and the prices of that evening, some slightly higher, some slightly lower than online but all without shipping baggage:

I: PEPPERMINT (1995): A short series of prose poems written on holiday in the winter of 1995 in search of Florida’s Devil’s Punchbowl. Along the way, clowns are discovered, snooty art is seen, murderers do murdering things, eel grass commences, manatees are considered, honeybuns are relished and icy pools find a place in our hearts. Nevertheless, no Punchbowl--Devil’s or otherwise--is revealed. This volume was the very first Wing Ding committed to paper. ($9.00)

II: FRED (1998): What can I say of FRED? It is an homage and loving thought tossed at my good friend, Fred, whose name, is not, of course, Fred. Meanwhile, were any book of mine to be counted as a friend, it would be this Fred. It recounts maxims, Italian movies, chows, $1 weiners, perilous adventures where very little happens and breezy reflections on what is and is not valuable--like friendship and unanswered questions and Anthony ‘Tony’ Quinn. And like a good friend, it snuggles. But more than an ordinary friend--FRED is a bud--the kind of book I would take fishing, were I to fish, which I don’t, as I am afraid to death of worms, which haunt me in my dreams. ($9.00)

III: GALL (1998): Where do I begin? Allen Ginsberg was gone, Larry Rivers was gone, Gregory Corso was gone--but my gall bladder? It was still there. But for how long? Read the oft spoke of, seldom seen GALL and you will know for yourself. Definitely for the squeamish! ($9.00)

IV: WEED (1998): MICRO DINGS were a phenomenon in the 101 wing ding hq during the ‘90’s. Delightful morsels that weren’t really books, weren’t really poems, and weren’t really long: just the MICRO. With Christine (2008) l’age MICRO was fini, replaced & rightly so by the MAXI MICRO. Enjoy WEED, this dying breed while it still isn’t dead: delights include goofy illustration of someone who looks a little like W.S. Burroughs, Sad Tale of Sunday in the Park, & The Pancakes of Loneliness Complete, all in a length less lengthy than this description. ($4.00)

V: XIPO (1998): If you take all the dates in the world and put them together, you get Xipo, only with most of the details left out, and ending with the sound of a distant vrroom vrroom of a faraway car driving into an even farther away distance which can feel very haunting or even a little sad. ($11.00)

VI: WARDROBE (1999): A quick breeze through my clothes closet reveals that I own clothes that swing with memories and that I really need to hop on a plane and leave town for a while. Spain sounds nice. ($12.00)

VII: EL HOMBRE DE LA CAPA CASTELLANA (1999): CHAPTER THREE: In which The Hombre de la Capa Castellana continues apace, darting mischievously under a bridge at the Alhambra as a light and mist’d rain begins to fall, obscuring the view of the Miradora and the compelling sanguine hauntingness of the caves to their left (as seen by our heroes.) Oh, also, he sticks out his tongue. Qué malo! Este bad, bad Hombre de la Capa Castellana! ($9.00)

VIII: HOLIDAYS (2000): Sundry odes to my favorite holidays. Be forewarned that my favorite holidays include Arbor Day, Adult Day, and--for reasons that I still can’t properly explain since the Bastille no longer exists--Bastille Day. If you are looking for an Ode to Cinco de Mayo, look no further. It isn’t here, sadly. Seriously. No estå. ($8.00)

IX: PORTRAITS OF INTIMACY (2000): “Mr.Witherspoon was a terribly depressing, old, smelly, uneducated and rather feeble old man who liked to play checkers with school children who beat him mercilessly...” and likened tales of made-up people who protect their Beatles albums from scary hippies, watch the mating bluebirds, wonder about Leslie Gore and misname innocent animals. ($11.00)

X: NEW MUSHROOMS (2001): Twelve Variable Essays on Love, based upon the flights of fighting birds, WALDEN which is nice to read on a bus, Chinese take-out, and worms that seem to spell ‘mortality’ every time that they seem to say Just You Wait when you accidentally smoosh them on the rainy sidewalks of life, or love, or what-have-you. ($14.00)

XI: POMMES FRITES (2002): Do I hate everything in this book? No, I don’t. In fact I even made a separate little book for ‘Chinese Proverbs’ (called ‘Pillows’) and ‘Memories’ was the first poem in ‘Make It Wavy.’ But I can say I hated the rest --until I edited it again, twice. Then I said, ‘Not bad, not bad at all.’ And then I edited it one more time and said, ‘But not really good, either.’ I recommend that you read this book once, and only edit it twice. ($10.00)

XII: AGE OF ANXIETY (2003): A symphony of uneasiness, from the choice of fonts to the choice of wrinkly muses. Oh. And let’s not forget the choice of bicycles declared (“Hercules”) the choice of titans chosen (Atlas, for God’s sake) and the inclusion of the words ‘Pinot Grigio’ and even Señor Richmond on a naked romp, all free and dangly. Oh. And there’s more, too. ($9.00)

XIII: BEE STINGS (RHYMES WITH ‘I CHINGS’) (2004): A meditation in stilty prose verse inspired by the 19th century Encyclopedia Britannica on the nature of acquired knowledge and how dumb it is to have it, and how better it is perhaps to be a king or something of that ilk. ($11.00)

XIV: OCTOBER (2004): A poem a day, written every day during the month of October, 2004, that sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t work at all, sometimes is perfectly fine. BONUS FEATURE: a trio of prose poems in which the A Team operates under the exquisite accent and infinite tenderness of a honest-to-god Roman Emperor. ($11.00)

XV: À LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS DEPARDIEU (2006): There’s nothing like boarding school to bring out the latent Gerard Depardieu lover in all of us--who knows why. But after a few mind-bending winters, a GQ magazine or two, scary girls riding motorcycles and pretentious teachers and pretentious students and some not tasty butternut squash laced with French Cinema, then you got, well, despair. Loneliness. Mistranslations. Everything but mostly nothing. High School. Love, par excellence--à la Depardieu. ($12.00)

XVI: MAKE IT WAVY (2006): FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “Should I be happy to hear such a beautiful song, or should I be sad that I did not write the song? Ah, to be skinny and write songs, and yet, on the other hand, to eat strawberries and not worry about quality, other than the fleshy fruit quality of strawberries. Ah, to be wavy and do both...” ($11.00)

XVII: MAKE IT LONG AND WAVY (2007): This bad boy clocks in at a mighty 226 pages--a mach 1 of no uncertain g force--at least for me. It is uncontestably the longest Wavy know to man--long and luxurious, though seldom silky smooth. There are slight fairy tales told, loads of food and tender feelings and thoughts as well as interviews. That’s right! An interview! And with a farmer! Just one, though. ($14.00)

XVIII: MAKE IT TOO WAVY (2007): The second in the Wavy trilogy of smooth-sailing poetry collections from 1995-2007. I took up this project kicking and screaming, literally, really super fussy and not easy to live or be with kind of thing, but somehow, now, I like it. Seriously. Not sure why, though, I seem to make everything in the wavy world so, well, orangey. ($12.00)

XIX: COMMENTS WITHOUT COSMOS (2008): “All of my favorite movie stars, authors, superheroes, painters, explorers and smart people including Spencer Tracy and Ernest Hemingway and Cabeza de Vaca but neglecting Burgess Meredith because I forgot and all in one handy, easy to pick up 94 page paperback.” ($12.00)

X: MY FAVORITE FIFTEEN PRESIDENTS (2008): is simply the most I can say about the American Presidents without going over my word limit of, say, 50 words or dealing with anything of import or anything political whatsoever, unless, with, for example, Abraham Lincoln, love is political. This is a restriction that can be a challenge, at times. And that’s why I avoided, say, Ronald Reagan and George Washington in MY FAVORITE FIFTEEN PRESIDENTS. I did, however, as I mentioned before, mention Abe Lincoln, but only when he was going to bed, and only at the end of the book. ($8.00)

XXI: CHRISTINE (2008): On July 15, 1974, Christine Chubbuck, a Sarasota newscaster, took her own life during a morning news broadcast. She had desired a life that she could imagine for others but not for herself; she had believed in her own judgment, and her judgment had told her that she would always be alone. Perhaps as a relief from such thoughts, or from a satisfaction of her new place in history, or for other reasons that no one will ever know, one of the last things Christine did that morning, and in front of the camera, was smile. ($9.00)

XXI + I*: MAYBE WAVY (2009): The satellites and comets of the WAVY series that floated about like little orphans and satellites but have come to become quite beloved by me when all is said and done. This is, truly, the burrito both grande (528 pgs.) and finale (maybe) of WAVYs, so please enjoy. Please. ($20.00)

I know, I know, XXI + I really means XXII or 22. I'm so BAD that way! I just can't keep to the script!

RANDOM RICKIES

I did a little, and then I thought: what if I did a lot? Then I thought, it is just the Isaiah Zagar documentary talking to me, in soft, quiet tones that I shouldn't probably pay any attention to.

A is for the grade that I give to the man that we call Swayze – Patrick Swayze to be specific! • Exeunt Omni: Let’s leave our shoes out here by the stoop let them cool and dry in the buttery night air rich and moist with death • My parents loved me a lot but they didn’t particularly fancy any of the following people listed below and in alphabetical order: David Brubeck / David Eisenhower / David Hasselhoff / King David (of Israel) / David Herbert Lawrence / David Lee Roth / Sam & David • And just because something makes no sense to you, there’s no reason on God’s Green Earth not to care for it with love and joy, even if you don’t know why • For if I continue, I will be rich with sorrow, for grammarians scarcely laugh at all, and tend to die of broken hearts, not train wrecks • My love progresses from childhood to maturity, with the flick of a switch. A light switch I mean – not a thing you hit children with, or horses • Dennis Weaver is eager to give up his ‘gentle man of the earth’ McCloud when he gets the chance to beat up his TV wife Sally Struthers in the TV movie, BATTERED. “Sally wants realism. So do I. It should be interesting”: PG. 4 • For it brings out the luster and sensual, almost hyperkenetic flavor of the taut, golden, continental and silky pre-depression abandoned and somewhat naughty and perhaps even nymphomanical or at the very least sluttish cinemagraphic flavors of the corn that protect us from the entire universe • The Wine Blows Softly AgainstThe Prostitute: I thought I would have a lot more to say about this, but now that I have said it, there is precious little more to say • When I broke up with Christie my hair was in little ringlets like Marie Antoinette. It’s astounding that I broke up with Christie and that she didn’t break up with me because of my little ringlets • How many things have been written about Elvis? Millions, right? But do they ever mention what a fine fastball pitcher he was? In all the excitement, it seems to be forgotten • Because I always thought that’s what you like best about me, my lying, my unusual choices, the sound of the Neal Hefti Orchestra that follows us wherever we go • Falling in love at 18 can therefore be what we call a quick study: a conversation, perhaps two, and BINGO! Love is there just like when that guy yells BINGO! and you win something that you think that you want, even if you saw it somewhere else and said, “Man, I don’t want that” • Something either is, or isn’t. It’s called the ‘Domino Effect’ where a line is drawn in the sand by a girl named Sandy • I have only one answer to everything, and that is to do a handstand. When someone asks if I would like a receipt, I of course do a handstand • Today I wondered if I am just about the only person who didn’t know that Bela Lugosi was buried in his Dracula cloak • The man at the pizza parlor always smiles and acts like he knows me. I don’t mind. I like garlic, it is cold outside. Next! • Whenever I am in a large crowd, I always imagine someone will come out of the crowd and take me by the hand and say: “I am here to take you home.” Sometimes it is a man who is well-dressed. Sometimes it is a woman who is well-dressed. Sometimes I can’t tell if it is a man or a woman and whether or not he or she is or is not well-dressed. Once I have a photograph of me with a boa constrictor: this is what I would like to do: Have another photograph taken of me and a boa constrictor • That’s what I like about François–he does not scream. And yet he does walk towards me, always in a Françoisish sort of way. Did you ever know a François that didn’t? • Why again did we come to the New World? • I read a book shaped like a pillow the color of a cherry When people say “You look like a cherry” I say, “You must be talking about my book.”

21 BOOKS, RELEASED – BOOK TWENTY ONE: MAYBE WAVY (2009)

OLGA

Do we think about impressions: No,
they are ready made. Tonight I told Olga
that walking down the street, shots rang out,
one night, long ago. I followed, without
a thought “Let’s go” I said to my companion
at the time. “Let’s follow them.”
“You’re an idiot” my companion
at the time said; I thought is was
fine.

I didn’t tell Olga that my companion
at the time had beautiful breasts that night
wrapped in ermine provoking thought
and an attitude that you could slice
like a ripe Vidalia onion.

“But there’s a one in a million chance that
you would be shot!” is what Olga said who
born in St P., prefers to say that she was
born in Leningrad, you see

“I like the odds. But shot? I think not;
There’s also this thought:
‘When you wish upon a star’ and also
“so what?” &c. in the same town
we research another time. Here

2 years before: the Police Museum
on Biscayne and saw two slugs
removed from the brain of John
Dillinger, leaving the theatre

2 days ago: Stephen Jay Gould told me
by way of a book that he read me that he wrote
that the woman’s brain is smaller than man’s;
according to physiological research, p.s.
The same evening, I confess
I told Olga that it was a woman
that invented the soul

“Your soul, maybe” my companion
at the time said “And soul music”
said Olga from
St. Petersburg,
whom I told a piece of news:

“They’re moving Lenin’s body soon,
and for keeps,”it wasn’t long at all
before Olga said

“People should know
their history,” yet still it is
Leningrad,
Leningrad, in her sleep

and she likes
New York, she likes New York, NY

In the alley near where two shots rang out
two years ago and I dreamed a children dreams
two days ago, two men play
the bongos now and there is a
Jamaican Party, very loud
there too and it is
just like New York

Sometimes I think about ‘companion’
and how it almost looks like ‘campion’
which is spanish for ‘champion’; isn’t
that what all companions should be?

“Think about it.” I said to myself
though not at the time

Right now this time a hug would be
well just fine
with me I ask Olga while she
works away at the onions, chopping
& chopping here in the south, so full
and so soulfully unstopping


(December 3, 1993)

21 BOOKS RELEASE PARTY will be held at The Looking Glass Cafe on October 24, 2009, Saturday evening, at 8:00. This event celebrates the first release of 21 individual works of poetry and prose by the poet Ricky Garni, whose work has been only been available in scattered anthologies, print and web publications unto this time. Mr. Garni will read from many of the works on Saturday, and will have a single copy of each book available for sale at the event...

21 BOOKS RELEASED - BOOK FIFTEEN: À LA RECHERCHE DU TEMPS DEPARDIEU (2006)

There’s nothing like boarding school to bring out the latent Gerard Depardieu lover in all of us--who knows why. But after a few mind-bending winters, a GQ magazine or two, scary girls riding motorcycles and pretentious teachers and pretentious students and some not tasty butternut squash laced with French Cinema, then you got, well, despair. Loneliness. Mistranslations. Everything but mostly nothing. High School. Love, par excellence--à la Depardieu.

21 BOOKS RELEASE PARTY will be held at The Looking Glass Cafe on October 24, 2009, Saturday evening, at 8:00. This event celebrates the first release of 21 individual works of poetry and prose by the poet Ricky Garni, whose work has been only been available in scattered anthologies, print and web publications unto this time. Mr. Garni will read from many of the works on Saturday, and will have a single copy of each book available for sale at the event...

21 BOOKS RELEASED - BOOK ONE: PEPPERMINT (1995)

From Florida to Paris, “Fredgie,” the cancer-ridden clown, is the main attraction in a show called “El Show.”

He has a host of languages to choose from.

In a spirit of generosity, he will give you a “Fredgie Whammy.”

He has wonderful friends: Mr. Silvo, Luz La Rumba, Mr. Percussion and Zu-Zou.

And a picture of his wife, with Pat Nixon.

He can’t wait to be the grand marshall at the Candy Cane Paradeland.

And he doesn’t talk about cancer, but he’ll talk about everything else.

¡Hola, Tout le monde! Fredgie cries. ¡Soy Fredgie, aquí in Paris! Cha Cha Cha! ¡Mamba y merengue! Merci! Merci Beaucoup! Hey! Je m’appelle Fredgie!

21 BOOKS RELEASE PARTY will be held at The Looking Glass Cafe on October 24, 2009, Saturday evening, at 8:00. This event celebrates the first release of 21 individual works of poetry and prose by the poet Ricky Garni, whose work has been only been available in scattered anthologies, print and web publications unto this time. Mr. Garni will read from many of the works on Saturday, and will have a single copy of each book available for sale at the event...

WEST END POETRY FESTIVAL, 2009: OCTOBER 17th

This Tamale has the works: Jeffery Beam, David Need, Jacki Shelton Green, Glenn Cassidy, Grey Brown, Alice Osborn and tiny poets and young poets like Alexandra Slydel who I think is great and is probably 13, I forget rightly.

It should be fun. Think of it as the Woodstock of Poetry Festivals only with running water and toilets. It starts at 11 AM ends at about 11 PM, with an après party at the great Wootini.


Attend or die trying!


Crispy