Deaths of tortoises do not always set things in motion. But obviously, Winnie, the tortoise of Vali Myers and Gianni Menichetti, had always been a little different.
Winnie was a confidant and a source of inspiration to Vali and Gianni and since Winnie had always been around, her death in February 2021 caused Gianni to realize that he was now the only living memory of Vali’s legacy. He had a sense that Winnie’s death symbolized the end of an era. In the period of reflection that followed, he wrote five poems.
This guest post by Bill Sasser was originally published in Raw Vision #115 and on billsasser.com. Posted here with permission.
Man Treading Water, 2015, oil on canvas, 38 x 60 in.
“Have you ever seen a whale?” Herbert Kearney asks perched on a stool in his huge post-industrial art space, just downriver from New Orleans’s French Quarter. “I’ve seen a whale, a big whale, off Alaska. Seeing it you realize we aren’t alone in the universe, big monster fins are skimming under the surface. That big eye looking back at you, it’s the biggest soul in the world. They’re beautiful creatures.”
Just sitting still, Kearney emanates a halo of manic energy. Hennaed hair twisted back in a bun, he wears a wool coat, hat, and gloves—February 2005 is cold and the old hosiery mill is unheated.
A sculptor, painter, and poet who had spent a decade and a half traveling the world, he had arrived two years earlier and found a permanent spiritual home, in a port city where the creative slipstream welcomes newcomers, and art lives in the streets.
Aliens in the Necropolis is the latest book of short stories by Anglo-Dutch singer/songwriter, ethnomusicologist, and composer Francis Kuipers. Nicknamed ‘Superguitar,’ he was guitarist for Beat Generation poet Gregory Corso for several years starting in the 1980s. His film credits include Godfrey Reggio’s Anima Mundi, Naqoyqatsi and Evidence, with Philip Glass, and musical compositions for Abel Ferrara’s Mary, Go Go Tales, 4:44 Last Day on Earth and Napoli, Napoli, Napoli. His conducted radio broadcasts include series programmes for NZBC New Zealand and for RAI III Italy.
From 1992 to 1996 he directed the Music & Sound Department at Fabrica, the Multimedia Communications school founded by Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani. His recorded music has been released by Red Records, Fonit-Cetra, and Gypsy Records, among others.
His first novel, Disaster Blues (2017), was published in the UK by Barncott Press.
This chapbook is an intimate look at Robert Yarra’s friendship with Gregory Corso. It is replete with anecdotes and tales from their many travels together in Europe, as well as time they spent in the United States, from New York City to San Francisco. 32 pages. Illustrated with color photos.
This chapbook was published by Counter Culture Chronicles, The Hague, Netherlands. It is available for purchase on both the Golda Website and for purchases outside the US, Counter Culture Chronicles sells through soundohm.com.
Buy Gregory Gave Me the World for $15. This price includes postage within the United States. Order with the Buy Now button.
The late poet Rosemary Manno moved to San Francisco in 1983. She grew up in Buffalo, New York and lived in Paris whenever possible. Most winters she would travel to her beloved Mexico with artist/musician Roger Strobel. They shared a home life in North Beach for many years.
Rosemary was a poet, artist, lover of foreign tongues, the natural world, and revolutionary struggle. Her work has appeared in numerous chapbooks, magazines, and anthologies.
El Sol is a posthumous collection of poems that Rosemary and editor Tate Swindell worked on during the final years of her life. Faced with a terminal diagnosis of brain cancer, her poems deal with the fragility of life with an uncompromising and unwavering fierceness that embodies the true spirit of Rosemary Manno.
ISBN: 9798985129304 Publisher: Golda Foundation Publication Date: October 24, 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 76 Language: English
Buy El Sol for $21. This price includes postage within the United States. Order with the Buy Now button.
The stories of this strange Valley of ‘Il Porto,’ where Vali lived and where I still live today, have been mostly preserved by oral tradition. There is nothing reliable about the stories in a true historical sense, but there are some interesting popular legends. I learned them from certain old folks I have known since my first year of living here, 1971.
Artist and poet Gianni Menichetti can be counted as one of ‘certain old folks’ himself now, one who knows and remembers so much, still living in the wild ‘Valley’ above the town of Positano with his family of animals. Over the years Gianni has preserved many beautiful animal legacies in both writings and in drawings, and this book contains some of his most treasured stories from the great vault of his memory.
Gianni Menichetti was born near Siena, Italy, in 1952. Since 1971 he has lived in the Wildlife Oasis of ‘Il Porto,’ a sanctuary of rare and savage beauty, the ‘kingdom by the sea’ of legendary Australian artist Vali Myers, whose extraordinary existence he shared for three decades. By her side, he dedicated himself to the protection of this wild place and to the care of countless animal creatures. Over the last twenty years, on his own, he has continued his promise to the Valley of Il Porto and its many animal inhabitants, and this book, edited by Romy Ashby, tells the stories of some of his favorites among them, illustrated with photographs and drawings.
“Since 1971 Gianni Menichetti has lived in the Valley by the sea in Positano, many of those years as consort to the mythic Australian artist Vali Myers, and for many years alone. First graced by Vali’s Saint Francis of Assisi gift of animal communication, Gianni has been nursemaid, midwife, caretaker, protector, and friend to hundreds of animals who have lived in peace in the beautiful wild Valley on the Amalfi Coast. In Animal Loves of My Life Gianni treats us to an intimate meeting with the unique animal friends from his and Vali’s life. This is a soothing book for harrowing times that will confer its magic on you forever.”
Penny Arcade NYC
ISBN: 9798985129311 Publisher: Golda Foundation Publication Date: October 24, 2023 Format: Paperback Pages: 142 Language: English
Buy Animal Loves of My Life at the special discount price offered by Golda:
Buy Animal Loves of My Life for $30. This price includes postage within the United States. Order with the Buy Now button.
