For No Sake of Posterity.

For No Sake of Posterity

plunged into sights unseen
a foggy day sets in LA town
sub-conscious, conscious visions
fleeting, wafting into black
desperation. suffocation. congestion. self-annihilation?
fuck patience. fuck virtues.
i pity me.
“go away, bad dream!”
i need to put the bubble in the
jar – for no sake of posterity

Without beating this story like a dead horse, I blew out the retina in my only good eye January 11th while in Los Angeles shooting the short film, PASSER LE SEL S’IL VOUS PLAÎT, adapted from my short play, “Pass the Salt, Please.”. I had the smarts to walk into the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA on the 12th and say, "I believe something's wrong", and was rushed into surgery - which, according to Doc McCannell and Doc Hu – went superbly. However, I’ve been grounded in Cali until the gas bubble in my eye dissipates. (I've been cleared to go home - I'll leave this Monday or Tuesday...by train. For the hell of it.)

Thus began my convalescence following post-retina re-attachment surgery – first at the home of my director-friend, Tatjana, near Beverly Hills, and then (where I’m currently at), at the foothills of the Angeles Forest in Tujunga at the home of my goddaughter (Donovan & Maria’s).

During those first recuperative days, I'd often go sit on Tat’s porch. Since I needed to keep my head positioned down 50 minutes out of every hour (and sleep on my stomach) for the first three days (this was reduced to 30 minutes for the next five days), I had to switch things up any way I could think of. Tat was snapping pictures of her son one day and I called her over and asked her to take some pics of me – one or two days post-surgery – with the intention of preserving some record of the state of my present physical and mental well being. These photos are testament to the living hell I endured, as is the above poem.

From Los Angeles to Waterford, WI, then to Waterford, Ireland and back again.

I wanted to apologize for being absent from the blog. My recent move from Los Angeles back to Wisconsin, and then my 12-day trip to Ireland has left me little time to write. That - along with finding work, getting acclimated to the Midwest after 11 years of being away, looking for a place to live...well, you get the picture.

I look forward to contributing to Ditalini Press once again. Such a wonderfully creative outlet, isn't it? In the meantime, if you're interested in reliving my trip to Ireland, bookmark "Good Craic. Welcome to Eire". I'll be updating it regularly. I wanted to put a more artsy, maybe scenic picture up here. But this shot was the one day I wore my kilt. I think it looks good - especially standing in a 15th century castle in Oranmore, Co. Galway, and sipping port in front of a roaring fire. There's plenty of of cool shots on the blog.

The trip was great. My traveling partner is an asshole and I wanted him to O.D. on his medication. Yes - that bad. Katie...wish you had been along with me. We would have had SO much fun...