Roy Kelly
@stanyanfan49
Beats.Beatles.Bob.Brautigan.Bloxwich. Sixties.Writer.Poet. Drugstore Fiction, Bob Dylan Dream. Clouds.The cats. The tortoise. Frayn.Stoppard.
Here’s an old poem that appeared recently in the smart little mag Innocent Bystander put out by my friend @popasart.bsky.social #Miles
@valarie.bsky.social I started to read again the hardly remembered The Dharma Bums. I was struck by how teenage he sounded. Earnest, goofy, innocent really. But some of the feeling about the mountains reminded me of this. Blessed McGill, Edwin Shrake. A lifetime favourite. A western but more
The afterlife of some Routemasters, at our local garden centre surprisingly, although it has been the case for years.
Our only Lauren’s Grape poppy appeared this morning, a lovely change from the pale pink ones that have taken over.
@valarie.bsky.social Saw this was still in the store of my local library service and so reserved it. The 1959 Andre Deutsch UK edition that seems to have been added to stock in 1961. Still had in it someone’s bookmark that crossed an ocean from the Brooklyn Museum.
In the Imperial War Museum a painting by Leonora Green, which she called Lest We Forget, was to record ration entitlement, but seems now with its 1940s brand names and packaging like a very British, shabbily downbeat, pop art.
If anyone is in the Teddington area the Anglers pub is a nice place for lunch, or anything, right by the Lock bridge and the ghost studios of Thames TV, where we all thanked our lucky stars.
Just a few dandelions in the garden come up at, “Well that’s what I call a dandelion” size. Trev always tucks in. It’s the Summer Of Love for him.
@eggpod.bsky.social Last night in our local park there was a showing of A Hard Day’s Night. Which sounds eccentric with bright sunlight and being under Heathrow flight path. But it’s the park where some of it was filmed. Sound and vision actually excellent. Odd and moving experience.
I was thinking that with Hockney what used to be a family name that many people have, has now, like Sinatra, come to be a signifier for a world, a time, and a culture. Some if the books acquired over the years. Probably more up above our heads in the loft.
@valarie.bsky.social A friend of mine, Elizabeth Woodcraft, was writing a novel and she wanted her schoolgirl character to read a Beat type poem out to her class. I said she would probably have to pay a lot to use a known one. I offered to do a heartfelt homage. We assigned it to Larry Fabbrona.
I can’t compare directly because I’m not sure Dharma Bums is in the house anymore. It may be. But On The Road is at hand. 1979 printing. I think this ending (spoiler alert) shows it does. It’s a more cluttered book. And I’m fond too of the short pieces in Lonesome Traveller.
The poppies come out and rain and wind do for them in a day, but we like them while they’re here.
A lot of Neil does appeal to lightweights, although he is a person of extreme contrasts, like you. The other consideration is anyone who doesn’t know him probably isn’t interested enough to find out.
@levparikian.bsky.social Pics from a cafe table in high wind but a break from the morning’s robust rain.
Flower power with Trev. So hot this week he hides out in the day, emerging around now, before retreating again.
We have had so much Trudeau in different forms around the house over the years, which may not all still be here, though the big one is. He had Trump nailed decades ago. www.theguardian.com/books/2026/m...
