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The Journey to the West

Though we journey to the West We pray to the East More or less that's the way Each day begins and ends It’s a tale everyone ...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Today was the deadline for a contest sponsored by The New Yorker to write the caption for a cartoon by Victoria Roberts.  I saw the drawing in my mother's copy of the magazine as we flew home together from Grandpa Pete's funeral.  It really made me laugh.  I liked the drawing so much that I wrote this poem (from which the caption I submitted was extracted) in my notebook while sitting down for a while at the studio after I got back home.  


You know Dr. Bacon
I still feel a little fragile
But I keep having this incredible
Dream that I'm meant to be a symbol
Of Cosmic Rebirth

Otherwise I'm afraid
That being an egg really isn't
All it's cracked up to be




Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Smoke Screen

I offer this poem up as a public service announcement.  It's written for the benefit of the readers of this blog who may be considering a trip to Midtown Manhattan (whether for business or pleasure) in the coming months and wish to be informed about the popular entertainments and diversions most likely to be encountered while walking through our busy streets.    



The Smoke Screen

 
One day early on
In our friendship
Richard Musto explained
To me how a smoke screen
Often serves as the basis for many
Of the most lucrative scams
Run on the streets
Of Manhattan 

And by smoke screen
Richard meant to say a diversion
Some kind of sidewalk
Sleight of foot or hand
Which then serves as a preamble
To greater flim-flammery

Such as when a man steps down
From the curb into the path
Of an oncoming clothes rack
And immediately starts to fight
With the guy pushing the rack
Which draws attention away   
From a kid in a red windbreaker
Who grabs the rack and streaks
Off down the block with it
As the pickpockets cut loose
Along the crowd's perimeter and
And a few minute pass by
Before the first patrol car appears

So the initial distraction
Provides the opportunity
For an ensuing sequence 
Of mild mayhem
And wealth redistribution
Enough to make Batman blush

It's precisely this sort  
Of maneuver that enables a lucky
Few working the City's   
Streets and bourses to
End up being so
Handsomely reimbursed


 * * * * * * * * *

And here to complete this blog entry is one of Michel's very finest picture capturing Richard in action with a bit of his own necromancy along the streets of Midtown.