Augusta Maine Report, 120707

Out my living room windows around noon.


Lithgow Library & Reading Room


The yellow car of Rev. Perry sits, parked outside Lithgow Library & Reading Room.


Nice & icy Maine eave, Sewall Street Augusta Maine, on my way to work.


Maine Wreath on Sewall Street Augusta Maine, on my way to work.


St Micheal School: My Grandma Pearl used to tell me I was named after Saint Michael. I thought that was cool b/c he was always fighting dragons.


Maine Capitol while walking to work on Sewall Street Augusta Maine.


To walk we push buttons in Augusta Maine.


Never Tundra: In Maine there is no tundra. Just cold frozen ground. Nothing wrong with that.


I've been counting, keeping tabs over the past few day and I believe there are about 8,000 Maine drivers to every Maine pedestrian.


The Capital Buffet and its tropical decor probably attract way more customers in Maine's winter months than in the summer.


Damons in Augusta Maine looks much better in the winter. Maine looks much better in the winter. (Where the hell is that moose?!)


Tim Hortons: If you get a coffee and a chicken fajita at Tim Hortons, get a donut too. Only 5 cents extra.


Watched Seinfeld's COMEDIAN as my Catholic contribution to Hanukkah.


You've heard of William Carlos Williams. Here's one by Creeley Bukowski Creeley ... Poe.

Augusta Maine Report, 120607

Development on Western Avenue Augusta Maine.


58 Winthrop Street Apartment Lodge: 'I manage a lot of the buildings in this area, but this one is my baby,' said Thomas, a property manager in Augusta Maine. 'You're going to see a lot of improvements to her over the next year.'
Thomas was standing on a ladder hanging light strands. 'Merry Christmas,' he said.


No man smoking reading his manuscript at the corners of Chapel & Court Streets in Augusta Maine.


Arrive at work and it's dark.


Scoop Face/ Jug Head


Late Night Snow Parade: Construction graders with snow plow attachments form a windrow of snow in the center lane of Western Avenue sometime after midnight.


Late Night Snow Parade: A front loader with an industrial snow auger attachment.


Late Night Snow Parade: A plow truck refines the snow windrows as the snow auger loads a line of dump trucks in a process similar to harvesting grains via combine. Efficient.


Late Night Snow Parade: Full trucks roll east on Western Avenue to dispose of the snow. Empty trucks head west on Western Avenue to reload.


Maine Nativity at Saint Michael Parish in Augusta Maine.


Apartment Lodge, side: A side angle of one of my favorite apartment lodges on Sewall Street in Augusta Maine.

Maine Weather Forecast: Arctic

Maine Capitol today.


Cliff of Hallowell uses an antique snow shovel from his antique store to clear parking spaces in front of his antique Hallowell Maine building.


Ben and his daughter Paige, my neighbors, enjoy the beautiful arctic night.


Chris waits for a ride after his shift at the Irving gas station.

Heating in Maine

Heating Fuel is delivered during the day,
so when people get home at night,
they are warm looking out their icicle windows.

Snow in Maine

Welcoming the snow cautiously.


My neighbor's dog loves the snow.


Augusta Maine snow.


I went to Java Joe's and introduced myself to Roger Katz, Augusta Maine's mayor, who was also in Java Joe's. When I left Java Joe's the small yellow car of Rev. Perry caught my eye. Perry went to Howard University in DC. He also took classes at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (I have a degree in Visual Communications from AIP). Perry asked me why I was in Augusta Maine b/c it is a place where people retire.


Hallowell Maine snow.


I went to Harlow Gallery in Hallowell Maine Sunday night for a life drawing session. One of my prints sold at their 8x10 sale. And another one is in the window there.


Renys is a local chain where I went to buy some Muck Boots.


Cars sleeping in the parking lot.

Chess in Augusta Maine

At Panera Bread, a coffee/sandwich place by the Wal-Mart in Augusta Maine, Barry & Norm play chess. They said they often meet at Barnes & Noble in Augusta Maine on Tuesdays around 5 p.m. and welcome challengers.

Although I think he was talking about music and not chess, here's a poem of Robert Creeley's:

A Piece
One, and
one, two
three.

Portland Maine, and Me the Disaster

A bike at Lithgow Library. Foreshadowing my future mode of transit.


In the evening in Augusta Maine I head down I-295 to Portland Maine.



Things Posted in Portland Maine.


I went to a bar called Points 5.
This restaurant & lounge
w/ holiday windows
lights & bows, no
wreathes & pine trims
out tavern-like
windows onto a
world that has
a picture-perfect
New England setting
that will soon be
pummeled with a
picture-perfect amount
of snow
Small City Streets
w/
Small City Street
lights that seem
to allow 2 or 3
cars to stop &
start with no
real rhyme or
reason
We, I have been set,
cast.
A character in
this world.



I went to SPACE Gallery to see a show. A show of local bands, hardcore. They make me think:
1.)
2.)
3.) ... *
*additional note:
-Retard your distributor.


The heavy metal sound
took the form of a smell
the metallic burning
of the soundboard.


The State on Congress Street Portland Maine.


Randy of Topsham Maine gave me directions back to I-295 north. He also told me a couple good stories about his travels to Boston, 'the big city.' Randy said it's not for him. The city. He said he's used to getting along without the niceties of a city.
Randy told me about a doorman from a fancy Boston hotel who saved him. Pulled him out of traffic when a crosswalk signal suddenly changed. And how once when he was going through a revolving door with a duffel bag, the bag got stuck in the door. A man tried to help Randy by pulling on his bag. Randy thought the guy was trying to rob him and 'decked' him in the forehead.
Randy said he could probably never move away from Maine. He's from here.
Randy's stories gave me perspective. I am as awkward here in Maine as Randy is in the city.

Augusta and Portland Maine, 113007

Shells I got near Acadia National Park are on my, now frequently-frozen, dashboard. Chlorides coat my windshield.


Glare of the low northern sun off I-95 (and my steering wheel) was wicked bright headed south to Portland Maine.


Truckin' through Maine. In Maine diesel fuel is around 50 cents more than gasoline, a gallon.


When I was way younger I thought it would be fun to be a trucker.


Maine golf carts migrating south for the winter.


The Portland Maine Greyhound Station: 16 hrs. from Union Station Washington DC; 18 hrs. to Augusta Maine. $100 to $120. About a third the price in gas it would take someone to make the 13-hour drive


La Bodega Latina on Congress Street in Portland Maine. I see a Puerto Rican flag above the bodega. I think Portland Maine would be perfectly suitable for Peruvians more so than Puerto Ricans. Peru has a similar climate. And I think Peruvians are used to smaller populations and a slower way of life. Although I am slowly realizing Maine has a lot happening. They're just super mellow, and I'm just working those hours.
Plus, maybe they would open up a Peruvian rotisserie chicken place.


SPACE Portland Maine: 12.7.2007 [ Fri ] First Friday: Free For All
SPACE Gallery opens it's doors inviting anyone and everyone to exhibit their work in a salon-style survey show. FREE FOR ALL is both a curatorial experiment and a democratic effort to organize and present work through an open call process with no submission fee. 5:00-9:00pm, free, All ages


I went down to Portland Maine this morning to submit a picture in SPACE Gallery's FREE FOR ALL exhibit. It is a picture of a woman staring through a construction fence to the White House. And I used to think of the picture as part of a triptych: as part of a display of three photos. I thought it was also representative of Communism and Democracy with the colors and, among other symbolism, a red jacket and black beret, the fence, the White House, the inability to reach the White House, etc.
However, it was also a picture of Kaye Adams, a friend I graduated with. She died before I moved to Maine. Now I think of it as a memorial to Kaye.


Strange Maine: I stopped by Strange Maine and bought a book of Edgar Allen Poe poetry. And I saw a gutted apartment lodge uptown (Bayside?), where I went to get a sandwich.


I found one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Maine. Up the hill, I'm told it isn't actually Bayside but past Bayside, (more beautiful than San Francisco) city living on the craggy coast. Amazing. Amazing.

I hope Maine winter attacks like a polar bear.
Resting peacefully, warm guts on the ground.
Blood becoming part of the soil.
Dark earth, green grass beneath the white snow.
Ahh, it's December.


... And the Blaine House, back before work in Augusta Maine.