• CEREMONIES Sky and earth are balanced. When one is moving, the other is still. Anonymous

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April 9, 2016

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Apr,2016

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I trudged down the country road about 10 PM.  It was summer 1985, and I was at a conference in Pennsylvania.  A bonfire was being held, and I thought that might be fun to go to.  It was located some…

April 5, 2016

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Apr,2016

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I wandered around in the old Woodstock Library.  It was fall 1983.  I found an old paperback named The Pillow Book.  The writer was Sei Shonagōn, a woman of the court of Japan about 1000 AD.  Ivan Morris had translated…

April 2, 2016

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Apr,2016

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Last night -April Fool’s Day, appropriately enough – I began the final journey to the end of Ceremonies.  That is to say, after all these years, I began the final revision.  When completed, I will order up print-on-demand copies and…

March 29, 2016

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                                              PIERRE LOUΫS Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925) was a French author, poet and photographer.  He explored various aspects of sexuality, especially focusing on lesbianism. Among others, his works included Astarte; The Songs of Bilitis; Aphrodite – Ancient Manners; The Adventures of…

March 28, 2016

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At Northern Illinois University, in Founders Memorial Library, on the top floor, on the north side, I sifted through Ceremonies.  Then I sat, gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows into the night.  Later, I walked down to the Private Collections Room. …

March 26, 2016

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Mar,2016

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Driving back from Rockford Library, skimming around the curves on Marengo Road, I thought about Ceremonies.  It was late summer, 1974.   A fair amount of material had piled up.  I kept the pieces in the order I wrote them.  There…

March 22, 2016

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Mar,2016

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On break, I curled up on a pile of boxes and read from my Mentor Book of Major American Poets.  That winter I was working in a plastics factory.  I also pondered the kinds of entries I was writing for…

March 18, 2016

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Mar,2016

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Some months later, I sat on the bridge over the Kishwaukee River again.  It was the end of summer.  Cicadas buzzed.  The sky was a bit overcast. I had been creating pieces for Ceremonies at random.  A sentence, a paragraph,…

March 17, 2016

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Mar,2016

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I wondered how to write about sexuality.  It was a few weeks later.  I was lying on the bed in my room.  Summer light filtered through the window.  I had read Henry Miller and D.H. Lawrence, both wonderful writers.  But…

March 13, 2016

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Mar,2016

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Writing about Ross gave me incredible joy.  I crouched on the bridge, bent over, cross-legged.  A breeze tumbled against my back.  Bluegills fluttered in the water beneath me, then soared away.  I could smell the prairie sage on the bank….