Meeah, Jude, Nadine, Keith, Rebecca, Brooke, RCBz, Lynn, Dean, Stan, Thom and Angelica

[David Stafford]

Meeah Williams continues to amaze. Up top is her envelope. Ghostly landscape and Eyeball Guy. And then inside was:

this cool book...as well as…

Thank you, Meeah. And yes, vomit can be goodbye. But it could just as easily be hello. Think on these things while I…

Jude Weirmeir sent me this Dadaist whirligig with handy rubber band attachments commemorating 100 years of Dada. It's kinda of like a Dadaist merit badge. I have put it into my velvet-lined box which also holds the Ray Johnson swizzlestick and portions of Charles Bukowski's shadow. (provenance unknown). Thank you, Jude.

Like Diane Keys, Nadine has knack for collecting trash po that paints a regional portrait. She's been sending me these collections for a while now and I'm beginning to discern differences in the Elgin Archives vs Burbank's. For instance, in this collection there's a Tom Waits selfie. This is West Co Trash Po Supreme. (BTW, there are only two of these in existence and Nadine has all five.)  It might make an interesting mail art call "Paint a portrait of your city in Trash Po." 

Thank you, Nadine.

One of Keith's elegantly redacted poems:

A song whispers melodies
haunting
discreetly
the beginning of the machine,
               a brilliant obsolescence.

Thank you, Keith. Above and beyond.

Rebecca sent me this intricately woven tapestry landscape which my scanner captures poorly to not at all I'm afraid. It has a rich leather-like quality that is absent in my picture. Great work, Rebecca. Thank you.

Brooke Cooks sent me a Valentine! One of very few (cough) I received this year. I didn't sent any either so...we're even...However, Brooke, remembered and now has a comfy spot reserved near my heart. Just to the right of a still healthy pancreas. I'm a big fan of Romance Covers, Brooke. Why, just check out the Altered Comix at my flickr site. (Sorry, I'm taking a Branding Workshop...it's a homework assignment. ) (Warning: May not be safe for children. Scatological references may sometimes occur. Not recommended for those or those either. In fact, don't go. Stay here). Thank you Brooke.

Two world class photo-collages from the mysterious master of pixel manipulation! I give you RCBz. (Use Charlton Heston voice here). Once again, these collages are hard to capture in a scan but you can get a rough sense of the dramas he's capable of invoking in layers of juxtapositions that are almost classically composed. There's some dark humor here but there's also tremendous feeling. In the top image particularly, a sort of bleak requiem for the unplugged childhood. That's my take and aren't you glad I'm being brief.

Lynn sent me this piece which has an interesting backstory. Check it out. I'm so honored to be included in this send off for a work of art she found a creative way to part with. (BTW, the puzzle arrived with an assist from the post office but I couldn't figure out why, it was totally intact.) Thank you, Lynn.

Dean sent me this collage and it's a little like Nadine's portrait of Burbank except that everything is glued down and we're in exotic Paris, home of that traditional Christmas Ballet: David The Nutcracker. Please retrain your stubs. Thank you, Dean and Happy Birthday.

A cool collage from Stan. It makes no cents to me but I think I get it. And if I don't it's probably because of the epidemic of sense deficit disorder that comes from some vector yet to be discovered. Thanks for the early warning, Stan as well as all the cool (memo to self: expand superlative list beyond great and cool) ephemera you've passed on to my care.

Not a crumb was left of those babies. That's a phrase that will be stuck in mind for a while. Thom Courcelle, sent me this interesting remake of a bible tale. You see, he's taking this Henry Darger workshop up in Vermont and they require you to put a cow on everything. State law actually. (See cow in lower left corner)

I like the fact that Thom takes pleasure in making his envelopes and his lettering....Reminds me of someone but I can't think of who...Thom also obliged me by taking part in one of our periodic mail art surveys.

Puny, wimpy magnets are the scourge of mail artists everywhere but I really want to take up arms agains the Stainless Steel Refrigerator. In fact, someone needs to make a horror movie about SSRs. That's another blog. Thank you, Thom. I have to tell you that I put a cow on it and it crashed my photoshop. True Story...

Finally, Angelica Paez sent me a fantabulistic collection of collages and Flashpo comix. (Insider note: Angelica is angling for a spot on my Fan Club List that has been left open by a death in the family. ) And inside the envelope:

Top notch. POW.

Thank you, Angelica and everyone. I will be in California for the next three months taking care of my 99 year old mom. (100 in April). So...my address will be hers for a while. Send her a card on her birthday April 29th. Let me know if you'd like her address and mine for awhile. Unlike Stan's card, her marbles are intact so she still gets the jokes. No heart-shaped rocks please.

[Lynn Radford]

Excellent mail, wonderful post! Full of your delightful humor, as always. Loved Meeah's offering, quite a comprehensive packet you got from her. Lots of glorious mail art has graced your mail box in recent weeks... you are, indeed, very fortunate! Thanks for the shout out! :D

[Amy Irwen]

Great works all!

[David Stafford]

You're welcome and thank you, Toni.

[Dean aka Artist in Seine]

Happy it arrived, legs and all.  Thanks for posting.

[De Villo Sloan]

Gives a new perspective to the slogan: "In Trashpo, nobody wins."

[Toni Hanner -- tonipoet]

INCREDIBLY GREAT POST! What a  loot of ermagah hit yer mailbox! I would like your mother's addie. I promise not to send any rocks or anything too preverted.