10th & 11th November, 2007

Rod at Dos Vidas. Photo by Thomas Kist from the 2006 Arjan Vlakveld film “Rod McKuen: A Man Alone” for Netherlands Public Television. Photo ©2006, 2007 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives. All Rights Reserved.

A Thought for Today

Why quit when you’re losing?

FROM the¨BOOKS

DISCOVERY

Hold on to me
as no one has
while we settle
soft and simple
amid the city grass.

I ask that you
stay long enough
to help me prove
that I have worth
         of some kind.
                     You decide.
Am I narrow as the
                        noontide,
am I high enough
to touch a single star?
Will I ever reach
the far field?

Do I have worth enough
to occupy an hour
                  maybe more
within the frame of reference
                  you call time.

Two people living
giving out the best
           to one the other
               a handshake
or a double handstand
taken to its farthest
and most perfect resting place.

The corners of your eyes
but just the corners--
                   frown.
Your nipples now erect
nudge your dress
as if to burrow through.
You haven't smiled
and yet you do.

I wish that I were
                plain enough
to show you I'm but me
or as fancy as I feel
you think I should be.

Can you carry me
across the water,
turn and run
along the sand
with me
our feet not touching even spray
                          this time.

Help me.

Sort me out
while I divine what's real
             or make believe
                 in you.

Better still deliver me
if not to your own self
then to the midnight's
                 other side.

I could now be saved
by hearing you say no
as surely as salvation lies
on the velvet forehead
              of a yes.

- "Coming Close to the Earth" was first published in England by Elm Tree Books in 1977. A greatly revised edition was published the following year in the USA by Simon & Schuster.

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ROD McKUEN CONCERTS

ROD McKUEN APPEARANCES

Saturday 10 November

Vanessa Angel o Bob Ashley o Marilyn Bergman o Richard Burton o Francois Couperin o Matt Craven o Donna Fargo o George Fenneman o Jane Froman o Oliver Goldsmith o Chris Joannou o Greg Lake o Dave Loggins o Martin Luther o J.P. Marquand o Billy May o Mackenzie Phillips o Claude Rains o Ann Reinking o Tim Rice o Jack Scalia o Roy Scheider o Johann Schiller o Pippa Scott o Karl Shapiro o Sinbad

Sunday 11 November

Mose Allison o Bibi Andersson o LaVerne Baker o William F. Buckley o Rene Clair o Vince Colosimo o Leonardo DiCaprio o Fyodor Dostoyevsky o Howard Fast o Narvel Felts o Calista Flockhart o Vernon Handley o Alger Hiss o Stubby Kaye o Susan Kohner o Demi Moore o Pat O’Brien o General George Patton o William Proxmire o Robert Ryan o Sam Spiegel o Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. o Peta Wilson o Jonathan Winters o Jesse Colin Young

Making peace with an enemy has more than once rendered him helpless.

Sometimes fear is punishment enough.

FORTY / FORTY

You know the sun
hangs lower by the minute
its only thought in mind
to give you one more
                         headache.
I'll run
and get an aspirin
the tallest glass
          of water.

Come with me
both of us have had
                   the sun,
our share of stale air
                 awaits within.

I'd rather live
and go on living
by pulling deep
         into my lungs
the air you breathe
than depend on the wind
from open windows.

No window opens
on a better world
than what we have
within each other's arms.

 - from "Coming Close to the Earth"