i said it before.
dividing peoples from peoples is like
dividing the air.
if i was a Christian or Muslim or Jew, i’de say,
anything that takes so much energy and force and violence,
to do this,
it is clearly against Gods will.
and
a wall is not really a wall, anyway.
it is fear manifested corporeal.

the HOPEFUL SHORE from CRANE
https://edaskew.bandcamp.com/album/crane

new songs for Spring and Summer 2016.

walking Back from breakfast today, in the rain,
i was impressed by how green it is 
all along Bennett Street
by the entrance to the 90th Street, A, subway stop.
green bushes and trees against the gray rocks.
the rocks make a wall that rises some eight stories
up to the complex of Senior Housing on top of the hill.

a few years ago some rather large slabs of rock, that face the cliff,
came sliding down into the cars parked along Bennett Street.
it was very exciting…
if you didn’t own one of those cars.

well,
shortly after this, and after the City had arrived with tow trucks
and civil engineers, i guess they were,

a group of elderly (you know , my age) people appeared
with picket signs foretelling the collapse of the “mountain”
and the doom of the Senior Housing, where they lived,
up on the hill.
(not much had been done by the City yet)

i’m happy to report, however, that all is well.
eventually the City inserted long metal rods into the rock,
witch, for a few years now,
has restrained the the hill.
the old people have returned to there apartments,
and people who park on Bennett Street have nothing more than
a possible traffic ticket to worry about. 

Ed 6/5/16

for Tony

  a little chill

i can’t help wondering if my former room mate got into heaven
with all the stuff he was holding on to when he died.
and i am wondering if all his icons, witch he had framed so nicely
 (in gold),
will convince God to consider his Petition.
the only difficulty, of course would be if
God counted the days by the Catholic calendar.
that would make him a heretic.
i was angry, at first,
to be left holding the bag, so to speak.
the truly frightening event of having someone
dying in the next room. and all those people who
suddenly showed up to try to save him.
and the eviction petition,
to evect a dead person stuck to the door,
 a few days later.

but i have to remember that i’m not the one who died.
and if i look at it
the panic i felt, and the tears i shed about MY situation
are nothing
nothing
nothing
gone in a minute.
but death, on this planet anyway,
is forever.

photo by Delineo

Brian W. Ferry Photography  http://www.brianwferry.com/            

ever since you left
i feel as if i had lost something.
like my keys had gone missing.
or i missed the last train,
and,
now what am i going to do!

but when i walked you to the train
and waved good by.
i knew you would be back.

maybe.

i mean, if thats what happens.

anyway,
as i told a friend,
i had been pleasantly surprised
by unexpected events.

    recorded directly to tape 2001. synth and electronic piano.

from Little Eyes

 

Cezanne could have walked here, in these Italian hills,
as seen from the train
on the way from Catania to Naples.

but no. i take it back.
where would he have found level ground to place his easel?

but if he had,
if he had worked here,
maybe Italy’s entrance into modernism would have been
more gentle than it was.
and perhaps
Marinetti would have written less aggressive essays
than he had,
in the 1930s.
and Italian artist’s would have made more poetic art.

but still,
the things they made were beautiful,
everyone agrees.
and certainly,
there paintings will be appreciated
long after the war has been forgotten.

NEW STUFF. UP TONIGHT.

Ed Askew Comments on "Ask The Unicorn". from ED ASKEW on Vimeo.

there’s an upside-down boy playing cards’
if you lookup at the reflective luggage rack
above the seats.
i try not to bother him, or his companions
with my curiosity, however.

were flying along on the Eurostar,
(buildings a-blur)

toward the Chunnel,
and London, where we are playing a show.

the Scottish lady at the gate,
where we caught the train,
said we were naughty
for showing up, the last minute, with a band.
but
with her help
we got by the check point.
and ran for the train just in time.
“come on Ed”.
Oct 5th.
(Photos: © Torben Christensen, Scanpix)
and Brian Ferry-

i sometimes think the  current iteration of the Republican party (and some Democrats) is an entity that believes the USA, and the people of the USA, exists only within it’s borders; beyond witch is a vast no-mans land of international terrorists, non-English speaking, hostile, strangers, and allies who spy on us so they can steal our secrets and superior knowledge.

my father (may he rest in peace) believed that Americans had invented everything, and that any non-American who had come up with anything new must have stolen it from us. 

anyway, it is my hope that we get over some of our fear of people who “are not like us”  soon.
after all, we are rapidly becoming  a country of people who are not like us. we (white anglos) may become the minority soon. and maybe, than, we won’t like how minorities are treated here.

Ed, 9/10/15

a bit of nostalgia and appreciation for all those who fill our lives with art and entertainment. a song is more than a song after all. : )

the lights go down
as the last show comes to a close
 
the singer plays
one last song that we all know

and the old man
on the stage takes his bow and goes

the lights come up
the saddest clown i ever saw

makes us laugh
and mends our broken hearts

he paints a smile
on our face as he waves good by

the company
takes one last bow, the play

comes to an end
the lights are turned down low

we rise to our feet
and give it up for this magic show

the lights go down
as the last show comes to a close

the singer plays
one last song that we all know

and old the man
on the stage takes his bow and... goes

photo: Ronan Mccall

George Sand -- "Avenue B" [OFFICIAL VIDEO] from Candace Thompson on Vimeo.