 G.P.Skratz
in which we explore the published work of G. P. Skratz, both in- & out- of print, & listen in on him, daughter Katy, grandson Michael & best friends Andy & Mary Dinsmoor as they goof around with his tape recorder over the years. FUN
As Summer Brenner blurbs about this collection of recent poems: "G. P. Skratz is our planet's resident fool. His sly & crafty poems surprise at every twist & turn. He turns black holes into roller coaster, & his FUN house is haunted. My advice: wear a helmet on the ride." Here's a sample: ROUND MIDNIGHT in the body. out of the body. es gibt. "the old man * death was the first LARRY, THE STOOGE IN THE MIDDLE
As Amazon puts it: "Now back in print, this heavily illustrated, richly anecdotal memoir takes a fond look back at Larry, the wild-haired funnyman who helped make the Three Stooges the most popular slapstick comedy team of all time." Ghost-written for Larry Fine's little brother, Morris "Moe" Feinberg, this book grew from a wide range of sources. I'd sent Ann Miller a bouquet of roses in 1984 while she was performing in San Francisco, in hopes of securing an interview. It reminded her of her professional debut as a fresh-faced 16-year-old dancer in George White's Scandals of 1939, following a Three Stooges pie-throwing contest. Usually, a stagehand would cover the stage with a tarp for this bit, so that, afterwards, they could just pull the tarp to leave a clean stage. This time, though, they'd forgotten to lay the tarp, & the Stooges had left a stage carpeted with whipped cream just as the pert young Ann Miller came bouncing out to do her dance, landing squarely on her tush. The Stooges felt bad, of course, & sent her a dozen roses the following night. Allen Ginsberg helped, too, pointing us to Jack Kerouac's riff on the Stooges in his Visions of Cody & expediting our negotiations with Kerouac's estate for the right to reprint it in a special Appendix to this book (cf "History Lesson" on the Arundo page). Whoopi Goldberg--then with the avant-garde theater troupe, the Blake Street Hawkeyes, & one of the rare female fans of the Stooges--was ever ready to chat & provide moral support. & those are just the people we forgot to mention in our Acknowledgements... THE GATES OF DISAPPEARANCE This wonderfully designed selection of prose poems with illustrations by Kit Hirshberg, expertly printed via hand letterpress, has been out of print for 25 years. Here's a PDF scan of it...
GLOSSARY BEADS This wry collection of One Word Poems featuring typography by Tim Lemon and bound with rosary beads by Linda Lemon was published in an edition of three for Books As An Art Form, a juried exhibition at The Underground Gallery in San Rafael, CA. Here's a PDF scan:
G. P. SKRATZ'S FAMILY ALBUM SPACE POEM
I'd titled this, "Space Poem," after a chunk of Gary Snyder's "As For Poets" in his Pultizer Prize-winning Turtle Island (New Directions, NY, 1974, p.88): With the Sun and Moon in his belly, The Space Poet Sleeps, No end to the sky-- But his poems, Like wild geese, Fly off the edge. But some early responders haven't "gotten it." No, no: Michael isn't badly attempting the Queen's English: he's talking "Space Alien" language! So maybe "Space Alien Poem" might've been better... & as for English, here's Michael's latest at his not-so-tender age of 6: WHAT'S IN THIS STORY Hey, can you tell me what's in this story.
Chocolate gliders.
Cats chasing dinosaurs.
Here's a pink slip: you're fired!
Yellow bikinis.
Japanese bras.
Indians war dancing.
What's next?
Rich people.
--Michael Bybel,
Hear 'Space Poem' performed:
GOIN' FISHIN'
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DAY OF DAYS
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NOBODY LIKES ME
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GREAT GREEN GOBS
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DEATHBED RAG
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CLOWN MEDITATION
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