“I have found out that Art is not essentially a piece of paper with a poem on it... I have found out that Art is facing horror with dignity and intelligence.”- C. Bukowski

“In this letter I included an artifact from my past, it is not exactly the most beautiful thing, but yet have let it go. Maybe somehow it belongs with you. It’s a Las Vegas pigeon feather, pulled from the gate I collapsed against, when I was shot five times, in June, it’s the only thing that remains from that life, other than the wisdom and experience.”- E.H.

We became pen-pals in November of 2008, E.H. and I, a quaint notion in this day of cell phones and e-mail... eccentric, indeed. It was his idea, inspired by the recent publication of letters in the form of a book entitled Beerspit Night and Cursing- missives between Charles Bukowski (aka Dirty Old Man of American Literature) and Sheri Martinelli (Muse Goddess to poets of the 50s and 60s).

We met, E.H. and I, on an Art/Literature community website called deviantART. I was the first to respond to his plea for a hard-copy correspondent. How could I resist? I pulled out all the stops in an attempt to write something charming and quirky for that first letter, and signed off by taping a brilliant orange leaf to the lined note-book paper- announcing that it had fallen from a ‘magic maple.’ Now there’s something you can’t send in an e-mail!

And then, after a few exchanges, he sent me the feather...

The talisman... that I was honored to keep in my jewelry box, though I knew that somehow I must, in time, return the charm to its rightful owner.

Not just send it back, of course. That would be like a rejection, or an insult.

I’m not an artist, but I am clever. Clever and creative. Maybe that makes me an artist, I don’t know... Anyway, the Bukowski quote jumped out of the Beerspit book and into the jewelry box with the feather... And in time I conceived the notion of how they could fit together... words scribbled on a piece of lined paper as though C.B. had just scrawled them... and the professional framer did the rest.

I sent it out to him, UPS, today. I hope he likes it.