The Kramer Family Birthday Card. For decades, the KFBC has circulated amongst its members. (top right) The paper wheels change the birthday years; (bottom left) The wording reads: “Nothing different — nothing new” Our re-using of the card compliments the sentiment; (bottom right) The well worn, original envelope. Most recently, Audrey Boyce sent the card from San Carlos, CA to David Kramer in Rochester, NY for his birthday. The next sending will be in November back to California for Leslie Kramer’s birthday. (Copyright, Forget Me Not Cards, Cleveland, USA)
On September 28th, 2016 with “Ode to the Talker“, we launched what has become perhaps the magazine’s most enduring tradition: local poet Bill Pruitt‘s birthday poems. Today, Bill offers the fifth edition.
A few days ago, early in the morning I noticed an unexpected upsurge in views and visits to the home page. Later, when Bill sent “TALKER‘S BIRTHDAY,” I realized the sunrise reader was Bill, doing his homework in preparation for what he considers to be “the most serious poem I’ve written for Talker.”
(l-r, t-b) Our 4th birthday and Bill Pruitt’s “Happy Birthday Talker!”; Bill Pruitt’s Third Birthday gift: “What You Know If You Read Talker“; Happy 2nd Birthday Talker and “Talker Birthday Jeremiad” from Bill Pruitt and Happy First Birthday! Distinguished poet Bill Pruitt offers “Ode to the Talker“
TALKER‘S BIRTHDAY [with links to magazine articles]
Well, I’m about to get sick
From watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
Until my eyeballs fail to see
— Frank Zappa, “Trouble Every Day”
What you hear about in the news,
Talker hears sees smells tastes feels
He talks to others for more than ten seconds
reports on life through a non-binary prism,
through a sphere of infinite color
that brings so much more than
good news-bad news, scary-not scary,
rich-poor, black-white right-left
You will see what is there,
and what a witness feels
about what is there,
his associations not confined
to troubled Rochester and crazy 2020
but spreading out
through memory that artifacts
and current photos help support
You will learn when Babe Ruth came to town
and the history of Juneteenth
you will see primary documents
posters, poems from today
& back in the day
you will learn about the New Life Cupboard
at Temple Beth Sholom and the South Wedge
Food Program on Ashland Street
With Halloween approaching, Talker eying a green pumpkin in the Alison Clarke Garden. From The South Wedge Food Program helps people through the pandemic and beyond
You will also get flawed speculation
You will hear that Joe Biden’s campaign
has tanked and that Sanders is the front runner
and should choose as his running mate Cory Booker
Bernie Sanders rally at Monroe Community College, Sanders at podium, 4/12/16 From Sanders Would Be Wise to Consider Booker for VP
You will hear that the Angels are unbeatable on their way to the Series with Simmons and Ohtani
yes, this is the Angels’ year, you hear. My advice:
take all prognostications in the Talker with a grain of salt.
Speaking of advice, there’s good advice from Miss T:
don’t be so quick to jump into that affair “happily
married man,” and other nuggets of sound sense.
But most valuable to you dear reader,
Dr. Mathilde Weems, southern California. From Miss T says a long layover lover should stay grounded
Will be Talker’s taking in the events downtown
near City Hall, where you will feel tear gas in your eyes
and hear the sirens and run without knowing where or why
and take photos and talk to others who came to our community
from far away, and you will be reminded through image and word
6/5/20. Geary Bka Kholaa at the Black Lives STILL Matter demonstration on West Main Street across from the Monroe County Office Building. From A Black Lives Matter solidarity rally with commentary from Kholaa and a walk down Joseph Avenue
Of the First Battle of Bull Run, where comfortable spectators
had to scatter from their seats when the battle turned toward them
Of the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 when men’s lungs and eyes
first tasted chlorine gas in war, of the tanks at Tiananmen Square in 1989
Of the barricades at the Paris Commune, and the Mourning Wars
of the Haudenosaunee, fought not for material or territorial gain
but for psychological and spiritual resolve. Talker puts you there.
9/4/20.The bus stop on Court Street. From When Washington Square Park felt like Tiananmen Square
So here’s to Talker, with links to other times and places
and words and images of our town here and now
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TALKER!
Previous birthday poems by Bill
Bill Pruitt’s Third Birthday gift: “What You Know If You Read Talker”
Happy 2nd Birthday Talker and “Talker Birthday Jeremiad” from Bill Pruitt
Happy First Birthday! Distinguished poet Bill Pruitt offers “Ode to the Talker”
