I met Phillip Taafe many years ago at a book fair in New York. Allen Ginsberg was there as well as Hubert Huncke, Peter Orlovsky,and I believe even Gregory Corso. Hubert was laying on the floor, but the rest of them were gathered around the same table as me.
But at that moment, I was deep in conversation with Paola Igliori, a breathtakingly beautiful woman who had just published this new book by Mohammed Mrabet -who was himself breathtaking, a viruouso and writer of immense intuition, and of course, a friend to Paul Bowles. And it was Paola who suddenly introduced me to Phillip and everyone else...as I was introduced to Allen I realized he was standing right next to me, that I was surrounded by this great group of literati.
I knew this was the telling moment of my life, the moment of true feeling as Peter Handke calls it. I remember the observation of Phillip Taafe. I felt I was being seen as completely as I ever would be...and I felt I was falling short. Yet for some reason I felt comforted with Allen next to me, it seemed as if he were giving me support -he kept fresh air running through the room.
Yet I was ashamed. I could tell I was a failure. Thank god that my next stop that day would be to see my brother, the one person who had never seen me as a failure, but as someone who keeps trying...my father said once, that the important thing is to have one more iron in the fire than you can handle...
the ice cream iron
collage bfk rives 11x15
shine on
collage bfk rives 11x15
