a beautiful day in the bay. today we took nicholas to the exploratorium in san francisco where the kid went nuts with all the hands-on activities. nicholas went into overdrive and i think charmed everyone with his exuberance. i mean he's a kid who enjoys himself so thoroughly that it is infectious. okay i'm more than a little biased, i'm his old man, but i swear you could hear his ecstatic squeals in that loud place. when nicholas was playing with a beach ball hovering on a jet of air everyone who passed his playing would smile and gesture at his joy.

but then okay, the air was crystal and a bit warm. it is fleet week in sf, plus there was a 49rs game, which translated to horrible traffic into the city. but once in: no problem. the exploratorium was lightly attended. nicholas had a lot of the activities to himself.

we could hear the blue angels as they blasted the air just above. we left a little after 3:00 pm right when they were in the midst of their show. the pacifist me rejects the display of military might, but man, watching them over the bay was just fucking awesome. the jets are powerful, loud and jawdropping in their precision flying. i couldn't take my eyes off them. and as we left the city with the blue angels still buzzing the bay we drove over the golden gate as the crowds stood watching the jets, there were thousands of people out, traffic was fucked, but the view of the bay, and san francisco, and the hundreds of boats in the bay, and all the people when the air was crystal and a bit warm we all felt just a tad lucky that we could have the opportunity to witness that all.

* * *

finished reading last night a book of prophecies by john wieners published by the excellent small-press bootstrap productions. if you haven't heard of this book, you have now. get it. wieners is one of the master makers for me. what is amazing is how the manuscript, a collection of journal jottings and poems, is about our present time, specifically the year 2007, but was composed in the early 1970s. the book opens with a poem titled just that: '2007' where the poet imagines that our cities would advance to 'extremes of stability' and we would be a 'generation of new, advanced hip persons' who usher in an era of peace and experimentation.

rather than becoming the detritus of a utopian's dream the book is a repository of love, lust, and hope in the bettering of humankind. creeley and olson make appearances in the texts which are sometimes printed in facsimile in wieners hand, thus maintaining the poet's complexities of composition. the facsimiles display wieners' love of list making and using the page as an open field where text is written in the middle of the page and the corners while keeping the cross-outs of lines and words.

skillfully edited by poet michael carr with an introduction by poet jim dunn, this book is a welcome addition to the growing pantheon of one: the indispensable john wieners. i'll leave you with a taste:

reaction

They must let us know you
I am the chase and you are pursuit.

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oh yeah, chase this book down. yr poetry library will be the poorer for yr not having it.