PORTALS ~ Volume IV
Volume IV in the ongoing series “PORTALS” ~ a portfolio of altered photographs that explores doors, windows, alleyways and other openings as passages to other times, places and dimensions.
Courtyard Window
Texaco Station
Bathroom Mirror
View From A Window
Lavatory Door
Gymnasium Windows
Through A Looking Glass
Closed
Stairway To A Small Room
Classroom Windows
Volume III in an ongoing portfolio documenting my journeys on back roads to far away places
Egret ~ Manihawkin Bay, New Jersey
Adirondack Lake ~ High Peaks region, Adirondack Park, New York
On Long Pond ~ Omega Institute, near Rhinebeck, New York
Tower In The Old Walled City ~ Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Along The Quayside ~ Gloucester, Massachusetts
Off Season ~ Fir Tree Point, Seneca Lake, New York
Volume III in the ongoing series “PORTALS” ~ a portfolio of altered photographs that explores doors, windows, alleyways and other openings as passages to other places and times.
Open Doorway
In The Back Room
Conservatory
3 Windows
Volume II in the ongoing series “PORTALS” ~ a portfolio of altered photographs that explores doors, windows, alleyways and other openings as passages to other places and times.
24 Panes ~ Quebec City, Canada
Back Door ~ Quebec City, Canada
Between The Walls ~ Quebec City, Canada
Boat House Door ~ Madison, Wisconsin
Red Door ~ Watkins Glen, New York
Side Door ~ Rock Stream, New York
My piece “E Mail From The Road” is published in the May edition of the The Writers Roundup Zine. Thanks to editor Edmund Jessup for including my work in his publication!
Volume II in an ongoing portfolio documenting my journeys on back roads to far away places
Genbaku Dōmu ~ Hiroshima, Japan
Down Under ~ Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington
Munich Underground ~ Munich, Germany
Schooner ~ Seneca Lake, New York
Fortress Tower ~ Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Meditation Hall ~ Kamakura, Japan
PORTALS ~ Volume I
Volume I in the ongoing series “PORTALS” ~ a portfolio of altered photographs that explores doors, windows, alleyways and other openings as passages to other places and times.
Nine Doors ~ Bratlleboro, Vermont
Through An Upper Window ~ Himrod, New York
Yellow Door ~ Brattleboro, Vermont
Samurai Castle Gate ~ Matsuyama, Shikoku, Japan
Doorway ~ Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Book Review ~ Everything Neon ~ Bud Smith
Everything Neon ~ Bud Smith (Marginalia Press 2014) is the best book of poetry I’ve read in a long time. Bud Smith unleashes his keen powers of observation and ability to describe contemporary life in narrative prose that takes the reader on a stream of consciousness magical mystery tour.
Rarely do I want to go back and start rereading a book right after finishing it, but I did with Everything Neon. For me it was like listening to one of my favorite vinyl albums that left me wanting to immediately flip it over, lay that needle right back in the groove of the first song, and do it all again.
Bud Smith writes poems that I wish I had written. He makes it look easy. Maybe it is for him, but these are poems that only Bud Smith can write. Bud Smith is a total original who is as comfortable in his own skin as he is with his own authentic voice. He exhibits a high degree of self awareness, but writes with a zen-like unselfconsciousness. The poems in Everything Neon are rendered with unstudied freshness and spontaneity and are never over worked.It’s like he’s on your living room couch and you’re just having a laid back, casual conversation.
Everything Neon is a collection of epistolary love poems and reflections on people and a sense of place. Smith’s poems somehow have a meandering way that manages to transform the everyday mundane into a transcendental experience. Everything Neon contains personal reflections on human intimacy integrated with, and somehow juxtaposed to, the ebbs and flows of living in a present day New York City neighborhood. Bud Smith ruminates on the day-to-day of urban living in the way that nature poets might describe the natural environment.
Intimacies shared with his lover are interwoven with reflections on finding and keeping a parking place or remembering where his car is parked, impressions of living in a pre-war Manhattan apartment building with all its noises and quirks and the idiosyncratic behavior of neighbors in close quarters. It’s also about the interaction of nature with his city; with references to the “moon scraping the tops of buildings”, the “silver river”, the storms of winter, the heat of summer and passing of the seasons.
However, don’t be fooled by what might, at first glance, appear to be minimalism or even simplicity. While Everything Neon may feel as comfortable as your favorite pair of jeans, the poems reveal hidden depth and subtle layers of nuance. Everything Neon is a celebration of being alive and fully present and the work resonates with me for the same reasons as the work of Gary Snyder, and (Hell yeah!) Walt Whitman. The poems in Everything Neon have a funky feel and a songwriter’s soul.
Smith writes with the sensibilities of a photographer and a film maker. Bud Smith’s narrative prose manages to take us inside his head so we can see through his eyes. Everything Neon is also about compassion, humility, humanity, ironic humor, a keen sense of the absurd, and a sense of optimism with hope for redemption. Smith is a prolific writer and a ball of fire with multiple collaborative projects in the works at any given time. You can expect a lot more from Bud Smith, but Everything Neon is as good a place to start as any.
Your Own Back Yard - Michael Gillan Maxwell 