20th & 21st September, 2004
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Rod 4/16/04 Photo by Billy Iz
A Thought for Today
Love unreturned is not necessarily
unrewarded.
FROM the¨BOOKS
THROUGH THE FIELD
I walked home
through the field alone
looking at the row on row
of dead cornstalks
frightened by the frost
arrested by the first long breath of autumn.
And I felt a little older
but without new knowledge.
Passing through the now past summer
I’ve learned nothing.
True, I’ve memorized your thighs
your burnt brown breasts
your eyes, your eyes
but you were busy memorizing
other people’s hands
the kindness of their summer crotches
the sounding of their sighs
so without attending your same school
you as pupil and as teacher too
I came into the autumn knowing nothing new.
Bend to me
this first long autumn night
or let me bend to you.
Everything and nothing
has passed
between us
and tomorrow I’ll pass by again
through frosted fields
where even pumpkins
now detach themselves
from dead and
dying vines.
Goodbye is not the word.
Autumn says it all
for autumn detaches itself
first from summer, then winter,
autumn is the signpost for the leaving,
autumn says it all. -from “Autumn /
The Seasons” album, 1973 & “The 1975 Rod McKuen Animal Concern Calendar.
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ROD McKUEN
CONCERTS
ROD
McKUEN APPEARANCES
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Monday
20 September
Alexander the Great o
Red Auerbach o
Dr. Joyce Brothers o
Virginia Bruce o
Gary Cole o
John Dankworth o
Frank DeVol o
Gogi Grant o
Donald Hall o
Kristen Johnston o
Sister Elizabeth Kenny o
Pia Lindstrom o
Sophia Loren o
Anne Meara o
Ferdinand “Jelly Roll” Morton o
Peter Palmer o
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) o
Fernando Rey o
Rachel Roberts o
Upton Sinclair o
Stevie Smith o
Jay Ward
Tuesday 21 September
Leonard Cohen o
Darva Conger o
Dave Coulier o
David James Elliott o
Fannie Flagg o
Liam Gallagher o
Andrei Gavrilov o
Henry Gibson o
Edward Gosse o
Larry Hagman o
Faith Hill o
Gustav Holst o
Hamilton Jordan o
Stephen King o
Ricki Lake o
Joseph Mazzello o
Rob Morrow o
Bill Murray o
Alfonso Ribeiro o
Savonarola o
David Silveria o
Melvin Van Pebbles o H.
G. Wells |
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Love carried to its highest point is simple
anticipation. So too is fear.
The universe can change or perish, but
the soul lives on.
We always set upon and rob each other of that most precious gift, ourselves.
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MARDI GRAS |
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A Mardi Gras
is running riot in my head
made of goats on Spanish hills
whitewashed houses seen from trains
and bulls that run down pastures
still not green.
A Mardi Gras made of noise
and Christian names
not given and not learned
at the unmasking.
Whether I’m confetti killed
or trumped to death by noise
I ask that you believe
I wear no favor hat
or mask
when I come chasing after you.
Love I wear
as open as a wound,
a mad mistake I know
but love, like Lent,
only comes to those of us
who still believe.
In loving
the only banner we can hoist
is love itself.
Excelsior!
I take this hill –
but with a white flag only.
You may tear my life
but not my flag.
-from “Fields of Wonder,” 1971 |
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