LONESOME EMPIRE

Rivers flood. Empires crumble. The Empire State carries on, neither unhindered nor unbothered but because we must. ‘The revolution rides on square wheels or not at all,’ a poet somewhere said once1 and so we do. May art and poetry carry us through.

Goodbye Andrea Gibson, Poet Laureate of Colorado, who died yesterday. I encourage everyone to follow Gibson’s advice below.

WELLNESS CHECK
In any moment,
on any given day,
I can measure
my wellness
by this question:
Is my attention on loving,
or is my attention on
             who isn't loving me?
Andrea Gibson
(August 13, 1975 - July 15, 2025)

Thursday July 17 kicks off Upstate Art Weekend. Do visit the Campus in Claverack on the outskirts of Hudson, NY. This years’s exhibition, curated by Timo Kapeller, features tender photographs by Kiki Smith, a thrilling series of runes by Richard Tuttle, ceramic sculpture by Dana Sherwood, and an adjacent installation of banned books optimistically titled Temporary Storage by her husband Mark Dion. At the opening, Ms. Smith held court in her ‘classroom’, and many notable curators, collectors, and artists wandered the former school and grounds. Avalon colored cardboard houses outside with the other children, and this, she would insist, was the highlight (through October 26, 2025).

Then, head to Available Items, a thoughtful art and design boutique in Tivoli, NY. Upstairs is a considered series of furniture and art rooms, downstairs offers gifts, design objects, and a very LONESOME book nook. We met the owners Chad and Kristin on New Years Eve turn of 2020 at Judd & Greg’s house down the street. I was closing out the decade and my thirties. Judd played Smells Like Teen Spirit at midnight. Now I have a daughter, and they’re back in London but you can check out LONESOME Nº1 in the shop, and listen to the best. playlist. ever. here.

Last night washing dishes, froths of bubbles transfix Avalon and me. Mollie McKinley’s Gloop Entity has changed us. Using collage, sculpture, macro-lens photography of stream froth and stalactites, the body, the stars, McKinley has made us look further, deeper, longer. The work is voluptuous, alive, portals to other worlds, inner worlds, souls. We caught the show on it’s last day but you can experience more of Mollie’s work in the group show Banshees Remix at Asya Geisberg Gallery in TriBeCa (through August 8th, 2025).

The Cyprus Tree: A Love Letter to Iran by Kamin Mohamaddi is essential reading. The next session of Kamin’s powerful memoir class begins this Sunday. Writers, reach Kamin here to snag a spot (weekly for six Sundays).

Listen to my poem Twelve at the Kollection. There’s also a Poetry Gallery book (a Kollection!) to purchase.