18th & 19th September, 2004

Rod 4/16/04 Photo by Billy Iz

A Thought for Today

There is nothing quite like kindness. We always recognize it when we see it.

STRETCHING THE SUMMER 

Every year I try to make the summer stretch a little longer. I come to Mexico in January and February to write - always assured I'll find the sun. My concerts in the fall are planned in countries like Australia to catch the places and people as their summer begins. At home in California, I'm at the beach or stretched out in the backyard the first day of March and the last sunshiny hour of October. I hate to see most seasons go, but summer runs the fastest. I would always rather be too warm, trying to find relief from heat, than cold beneath electric blanket or seeking out a someone to be my warm up jacket.

Edward says my blood runs thin and that I'm always cold. I don't bleed easily but when I do my blood runs thick and hot. I'm a summer soldier and every year I battle on to make the summer last a little longer.

                         - from "Seasons in the Sun", 1974

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Click on the links below for details of concerts and appearances.

ROD McKUEN CONCERTS

ROD McKUEN APPEARANCES

Saturday 18 September

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson o Lance Armstrong o Frankie Avalon o Robert Blake o Rossano Brazzi o Harold Clurman o June Foray o James Gandolfini o Greta Garbo o Samuel Johnson o John Albert Karle o Keith Kidder o Phyllis Kirk o Jada Pinkett Smith o Jimmie Rodgers o Michael Scigliano o James Shirley o Josef Tal o Jack Warden o Fred Willard

Sunday 19 September

Jim Abbott o Brook Benton o “Mama" Cass Elliott o Brian Epstein o Berqen Evans o Jimmy Fallon o Frances Farmer o William Golding o Rosemary Harris o Kevin Hooks o Jeremy Irons o Leon Jaworski o Leslie “Twiggy” Lawson o Joan Lunden o Randolph Mantooth o David McCallum o Joseph Pasternak o Freda Payne o Kurt Sanderling o Rex Smith o Duke Snider o Alison Sweeny o Blanche Thebom o Ernest Truex o Lurleen Wallace o Adam West o Paul Williams o Trisha Yearwood o Kevin Zegers

Self-pity is a recreation for the intellectually unemployed.

We are today, tomorrow -- not what tomorrow brings.

FOUR POEMS FROM
"... and autumn came"

september tenth . . . the year starts home.
morning broke clear today
no fog . . . no rain
only a clear cold september morning

it’s autumn all right
you can feel it
with the taste of summer still in your mouth
my lungs breathe autumn

the year goes back from where it came
like a battered kite being brought in
like a watch spring unwinding
like children to houses
when darkness comes

now night hovers
and madrigals begin again.

2. september 22

life is an animated cartoon

the young are born awake
live for a while
then know sleep

the march season starts quietly
lives wickedly
then gives way to april

the world’s promises go back from where they came.
miss america becomes an old maid
college boys peddle pencils

a bird calls... someone is born
a bell rings... somebody dies

life is a play by shakespeare
sub-plot by shaw
a comedy drama
directed by man
produced by christ

a bell rings
and somebody dies

3. september 23

1.

from my window I see the world
light and shadow
illusion and dreams
love
and hope
and more dreams.

a church spire jets into the sky
and little girls in patent leather shoes
chew bubble gum in the first pew

a stranger walks into a bar
and nobody looks from a passing car

two lovers kiss in the shadow of the lake
and look around
to see if the world is watching

a girl
husbandless
loverless
walks the streets
content with a profession that gives her both

2.

and
the world is full of people like me
star-crossed
muttering prayers under their breath
clutching anything close
when disaster threatens

the world is full of lovers
lying to themselves
people praying publicly
shouting their woes
that all may hear and pity them

how impressed we are with each other’s nakedness
how public the world is
like a railroad station

i see so many like myself
the world
is my window
and in the people that walk by
i see my own reflection

4. september 24

why was I alone last night
i know so many people
and yet among them
not a lover
or a special friend
why was I alone

what leprechaun or genie has put a spell on me
who has said don’t touch
why am I bewitched
why was I alone last night
   
soft from among the shadows love will come
quiet from within a dream will come peace
slowly from the night contentment

but . . . when

                                - from " . . . and autumn came ", 1954, 1969

AUTHORS NOTE: In the 1969 republication of " . . . and autumn came"  I revised some lines in these poems and omitted others. I have restored the poems here to conform to the 1954 original edition.