The following links are to PDFs Duane Michals began sending in 2020:
Sent on May 29, 2026
Subject: Chance Beating
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Sent on May 22, 2026
Subject: The Woman Under the Tree
I was walking across 19th street on a desperately cold April evening. Leaning against the tree was a very beautiful young lady clad only in a slip. She was clinging to the tree, shivering.
I said “Can I help you?”
She said “No.”
I said “are you sure?”
She said “Yes.”
I went to the restaurant and called 911 and reported her.
When I returned, she was gone. I wondered what became of her?
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Sent on May 5, 2026
Subject: We Know Where You Live
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Sent on April 15, 2026
Subject: Du(ane)champ Descending a Staircase with a Suitcase
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Sent on April 9, 2026
Subject: Ansel Adams in a Hat
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Sent on April 2, 2026
Subject: Magritte will always be my favorite painter
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Sent on April 1, 2026
Subject: Who said ever Margritte was a great painter?
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Sent on March 31, 2026
Subject: Portrait of Darian, 2026
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Sent on March 27, 2026
Subject: Letters to the Editor
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Sent on March 26, 2026
Subject: Mr. and Misbegotten
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Sent on March 12, 2026
Subject: On Being Spooked
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Sent on March 6, 2026
Subject: My Sculptures
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Sent on March 2, 2026
Subject: The Prodigal Son Returns
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Sent on February 26, 2026
Subject: The Blizzard of 2026
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Sent on February 20, 2026
Subject: Behind the Photograph: Joseph Cornell
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Sent on February 18, 2026
Subject: 94 years old! What is your first memory?
Self portait as the devil and an angel on the occasion of my 94th birthday
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Sent on February 17, 2026
Subject: Self Portrait as the devil on the occasion of my fortieth birthday
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Sent on February 13, 2026
Subject: My Woods
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Sent on February 12, 2026
Subject: The Edge of the Woods
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Sent on February 11, 2026
Subject: Behind the Photograph: An Exhibition in the Forest for Animals
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Sent on February 9, 2026
Subject: CLOWNING-A-ROUND
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Sent on February 3, 2026
Subject: Behind the Photograph – Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty
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Sent on January 20, 2026
Subject: Helen of Troy
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Sent on January 16, 2026
Subject: On Seeing Don Henry for the First Time
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Sent on January 15, 2026
Subject: On Falling Asleep
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Sent on January 9, 2026
Subject: A New Poem
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Sent on January 5, 2026
Subject: Mousecapades
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Sent on January 2, 2026
Subject: On Seeing My Mother’s Ghost
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Sent on December 22, 2025
Subject: Deck the Balls!
Joyeux Noël!
from
Duane and Honore de Balzac
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Sent on December 17, 2025
Subject: Heaven’s Gate
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Sent on November 20, 2025
Subject: Scaramouche! (a new photo sequence)
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Sent on November 13, 2025
Subject: Bee Bobba Ree Box
Bee Bobba Ree Box
(a photo sequence)
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Sent on November 11, 2025
Subject: Book signing this Thursday at DC Moore Gallery!
https://www.dcmooregallery.com/exhibitions/duane-michals-the-nature-of-desire
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Sent on October 30, 2025
Subject: Peek-a-boo!
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Sent on October 24, 2025
Subject: Mistaken Identity
Sequences Redux
In my archives I discovered this 1978 sequence Mistaken Identity. My french friend Phillipe Stoeckel was in New York, and introduced me to his two friends that were identical twins. I was excited by the possibilities of working with them.
Here are the results of my best efforts. Today I would photograph it differently, but I find it a provocative failure.
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Sent on October 17, 2025
Subject: The Nature of Desire – New Exhibit at DC Moore Gallery Opening Today at 6pm
Never before seen work from the vaults!
Please come join me for the opening of my new exhibition tonight from 6-8pm at DC Moore Gallery.
https://www.dcmooregallery.com/exhibitions/duane-michals-the-nature-of-desire
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Sent on October 10, 2025
Subject: William Blake’s Garden
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Sent on October 3, 2025
Subject: A KA CHOO OF COLOR
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Sent on September 23, 2025
Subject: Chopping Down the Family Tree
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Sent on September 19, 2025
Subject: The Prodigal Son Returns to Mckeesport
This is my farewell look back to where I grew up, Mckeesport, PA. Photographed at the site of where I was born.
Goodbye to all that.
Special thanks to George Lange for his assistance.
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Sent on September 11, 2025
Subject: The Grand Cabinet of Mythical Curiosities
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Sent on September 5, 2025
Subject: Once upon a time in a backyard in Mckeesport
Once upon a time in a backyard in Mckeesport, in 1936, Jack visited Margaret and Sonny. They did not live together yet.
Jack died in 1974. Margaret died in 1999. I outlived both of them.
Whatever became of Sonny?
-Duane
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Sent on August 27, 2025
Subject: The Immaculate Deception
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Sent on August 25, 2025
Subject: Tales of the Empire State Building
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Sent on August 22, 2025
Subject: The Woods on High Street
The Woods On High Street
I am Duane Michals. I was born in McKeesport in 1932 and graduated from high school there in 1949. After two years as a second lieutenant in tanks during the Korean War, I returned to New York City and worked for TimeLife for 2 years. In 1958 I went to Russia and became a photographer by accident.
Although I have not lived in McKeesport since high school, I maintained a grand affection for that community. Although our house has collapsed into a woods and became a feral force, at 93 I have a need to salute the city and the site where I grew up. To that end, I would like to insert in the woods there some pieces of my sculpture as an act of homage and gratitude.
Over the years, the wooden sculpture will weather and collapse back into nature.
This will not be The Gardens of Versailles, but rather a living, evolving poem.
McKeesport should become a destination in the Mon valley, not a grand symphony like Falling Water, but a modest song sung for those who would listen to the past. Eventually the woods will be photographed and in time the triumph of nature will be recorded. To that end I need financial support and encouragement from the community. Thank you.
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Sent on August 18, 2025
Subject: Asked and Answered (a new photo sequnce)
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Sent on August 15, 2025
Subject: Rusky Business
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Sent on August 11, 2025
Subject: The Grand We Be Jazz Band!
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Sent on August 6, 2025
Subject: New Movie Coming Soon…
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Sent on June 26, 2025
Subject: The Illuminated Man : Behind The Photograph
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Sent on June 16, 2025
Subject: The Prince and the Magic Feather
The Prince and the Feather.pdf
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Sent on June 6, 2025
Subject: A Menagerie of Extinct Mythological Creatures (Fluxtus)
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Sent on June 5, 2025
Subject: A Menagerie of Extinct Mythological Creatures
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Sent on May 20, 2025
Subject: Re: Interview is Posted!
Thank you!
Duane
On Sat, May 10, 2025 at 4:03 PM Brainard Carey wrote:
Dear Duane and Josiah,
Here is the interview posted in its entirety with audio as always and with the Instagram post as well (which was posted a few moths ago).
Thank you – https://museumofnonvisibleart.com/interviews/duane-michals-4/
Best,
Brainard
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Sent on May 20, 2025
Subject: Behind the Photograph: The Police
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Sent on May 14, 2025
Subject: My Woods
When I was a boy I wandered into the woods at the end of High Street to count butterflies, when I emerged from the woods years later I had become a wizard covered in butterflies.
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Sent on May 6, 2025
Subject: The Revenge of the Bearded Lady
The best defence against common sense is nonsense.
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Sent on May 1, 2025
Subject: All At Once!
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Sent on April 17, 2025
Subject: This Photograph is My Proof: Behind the Photography
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Sent on April 11, 2025
Subject: One Penny Opera
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Sent on September 9, 2024
Rosebud.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 16, 2024
The Lieutenant Who
Loved His Platoon
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Sent on April 30, 2024
Follow the Yellow Brick Road!
Click here for new film
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on March 22, 2024
Hi All,
Welcome to the inferno.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/dante
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on March 21, 2024
Dear All,
Primavera hello!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on March 8, 2024
Hi All,
Homer the Troy boy.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 23, 2024
Hi All,
In 2021 I published a book The Idiot’s Delight with French publisher Edition Bessard. Here is a selection of the photos for you to enjoy. Which idioms can you guess?
Official site (sold out):
https://editionsbessard.com/product/the-idiots-delight-limited-600-copies/
The only copy I could find for sale in case you are interested:
https://www.setantabooks.com/en-us/products/the-idiots-delight
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 20, 2024
こんにちは
さようなら!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 16, 2024
Dear All,
Meow meow! Here is a Fauxtotoon!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 9, 2024
Dear All,
The Furur farts and the Republicans salute!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 6, 2024
Dear All,
Hooray for Holly Woody!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on February 1, 2024
Dear All,
When my mother died I saw her ghost.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on January 30, 2024
Dear Humans,
Open the box.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/speceial
Ye Alien Duane
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Sent on January 18, 2024
Dear All,
Who took a bite out of my apple?
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on January 18, 2024
Hi All,
Have you noticed you never see Duane Michals or Barabara Walters at
the same time?
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/2020
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on January 15, 2024
Dear All,
I forgot what to write.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/whatthefairyforgot
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on January 9, 2024
Dear All,
Flotsam and jetsam.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/almanac
Pass it along.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on December 22, 2023
Smile it’s Christmas perk, smerk!
“A tour de farce” – Pauline Kale
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/theconcert
Ye Olde Santa Duane
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Sent on December 13, 2023
Hello All,
Tell your friends! Tell your enemies!
Just come!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/booksigning
Saturday, December 16, 4-5:30 pm
Walkthrough of the exhibition Magritte + Warhol at 4:30 pm
Catalogues available for purchase while supplies last
DC MOORE GALLERY
535 West 22 Street New York NY 212.247.2111
See you there.
https://www.dcmooregallery.com/exhibitions/magritte-warhol-by-duane-michals
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on December 8, 2023
Dear All,
May I see your ID?
vimeo.com/duanemichals/themanhattanproject
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on December 7, 2023
Dear All,
Check your chimney before you go to sleep…
vimeo.com/duanemichals/satansantachristmas
Ye Olde Chris Crinkled
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Sent on December 1, 2023
Dear All,
Seeing is not believing.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/itsnotmybirthday
Ye Olde Duanus
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Sent on November 21, 2023
Dear All,
The veneer of civilization is half an inch thick.
Man still thinks with a club and his prick.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on November 15, 2023
Dear All,
Toot toot Alice goodbye!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/alice
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on November 6, 2023
Dear All,
Let me introduce you to Mr. Magritte and Mr. Warhol.
Opening Reception
Thursday, November 16th, 6-8pm
DC Moore Gallery
535 West 22nd Street
Hope to see you there!
Ye Olde Duane
https://www.dcmooregallery.com/exhibitions/magritte-warhol-by-duane-michals
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Sent on November 1, 2023
Hello hello,
Tippy tap toe.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on October 30, 2023
Dear All,
My very good friend Arthur Truss has an exhibition at The Getty Center that opens tonight, and if you can, you really should go see it.
https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/tress/index.html
You can stream a conversation with Arthur tomorrow night via zoom:
https://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/ev_3980.html
I recently was interviewed about what it means to grow old as an artist for the New York Times, and mentioned my over five decades old friendship with Arthur. You can watch it here:
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/growingoldinamerica
Attached is Boy with Basketball, Bronx, New York (detail), 1970, Arthur Tress.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on October 20, 2023
Dear All,
Paradise gained, paradise lost.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on October 4, 2023
Dear All,
At the end of time
the last man on earth
escaped to the moon
and didn’t look back.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on September 26, 2023
Dear All,
Don’t light your candle at both ends.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on September 22, 2023
Dare All,
Sept 15 2023 was a Sunday
At 7pm I arrived at the Il Cantinori
To meet my friends Tom and Gail
For an early celebratory birthday dinner
The restaurant seemed busier than usual
At the door I was accosted by a burly man
Who wanted to know what my business was
“To eat!” I replied.
Tom and Gail soon arrived and we realized why the all the fuss
Joe Biden was eating in the restaurant too.
Suddenly there was a hullabaloo
The President arrived.
Everyone stood up and applauded
The protector of the free world was in the house
Hooray to the chief!
Hooray to the chef!
After dinner, the Biden entourage left to a similar ovation.
As he approached where we stood I waved my napkin
And shouted “GIVE HIM HELL JOE!”
The President broke ranks
And gave me a hearty handshake.
The place erupted!
You’ll have to take my word for it.
As El Presidente retreated
With toots and flashing lights, he murmured
“I wonder if that old fogey thought I was Harry Truman?”
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on September 21, 2023
Dear All,
Proceed at your own risk!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/flibbertigibbet
The Lowdown
First there was a first
Then there was a second
Which became a third
Old age has fallen, upon me, like a sunset
My shadow lengthens
Facsimiles of stars awaken to guide me
Through the soot of dreams
My schemes come what may
Silence heard!
I look back at me “used to be”!
A crack appears
A point of light
First a slim beam
Just a string
Vibrating like a fart beat
Making twang noise
Flash flash!
A rumbling sound like thunder!
An eruption interrupting me!
Someone calls my name Here hear!
All built on a scaffolding of feathers
Over here hear!
I hear extinct birds warbling!
I talk vanity
facts as fractals
Come what may
You are reading a grand fickle fiction
Now is my end
Soot!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on September 8, 2023
Dear All,
Duane who? Who cares?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/06/opinion/seniors-photographers-growing-old.html
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 24, 2023
Dear All,
Below are two of my paintings on photos, my first gif, and some thoughts about my garden.
WILLIAM BLAKE WOULD LIKE MY GARDEN
William Blake would like my garden. It is a green mossy cabinet of floral curiosities where every ordinary bloom has a soul and is more bizarre than any black hole full of falling stars. Living people do not know that the glow of fireflies is the light of flower sprites’ last good-byes before they die. Should children catch a firefly in a jar, that night will be dimmer by one star. With the first gleam of morning rays, the garden is a prism of a thousand hues refracted in tiny dots of crystal dew, a dazzling quilt of millefleur colors covering the sleeping flower beds.
These bouquets seduce both butterflies and me with their siren scents and mesmerize my eyes with petal shapes that curve with the grace of adolescent thighs. Flowers construct the most charming geometries: circles like the sun, ovals, cones, curlicues and a variety of triangular eccentricities, which when viewed with the eye of a magnifying glass seem a lilliputian frieze of psychedelic silhouettes. Some blossoms twinkle in the gloaming’s velvet shade and spiral flowers build their towers ever higher towards the ceiling of the sky to greet Icarus near the sun. Other creepers crawl like the tortoise, which left all alone soon toddles into every corner. Posies pulse with a slight vibration, a sensation more sensed than seen by poets and their kind. It is a sign that in this place, as in heaven, all things grow with grace and are in rhyme. Most flowers have such lovely names, like hyacinth and Queen Anne’s lace, though I do find spider wort and deadly nightshade sort of scary. Alas, some flowers also use an alias: witchhazel’s nom de plume is Hamamelis; foxglove also known as digitalis. Even the common dandelion changed its appellation from Dent-de-lion, its Gallic derivation. Metaphysicians know that the sounds of words can reverberate with a subtle power. In ancient Druid days, in the bleakest winter hours, shaman priests would offer up an incantation of floral names, a mantra chant to lure the sun’s return so life would warm and grow, as it still does today. In this green menagerie there are colors only bees can see, too slight for human sight.
Some Dad iiin a Diann tones, like blitz blau and quark bone, can only be observed by ladybugs in the dark. Then there’s the color grim, which, much like soot and pitch, is blacker than de Sade’s sins; also shimmering reds and that translucent faithful opaline. The florets of the nearby fickle plant change color like a chameleon when tickled by a tender zephyr’s touch—first tangerine, then zebra stripes, now true salmon pink with freckles of spotted blue. It seems as if a rainbow fell to earth here in a clump of col-ors each on top of one another. Flowers are all natural in displaying their desires. But sorcerers warn us to be wary of the lovely lithium, that most cunning voluptuary. It arches its stamen in the air, quivering with light, and should your hand be passing there, with the slightest touch you will be kissed with pollen dust. If the garden troll should see this telltale mark, in a jealous pique, he will cast a nasty spell and make you and your lover part. When I take my midnight walk to see what se-crets I can see, the garden slumbers in July’s full moonlight, washed in a haze of lunar white as if there had been a summer’s frost. I too look the color of chalk. The garden is a nighttime negative of its daylight self, and all is hushed but the cricket reveler’s company. In the shadow of a shadow, an invisible cat catches a mouse and brings its trophy to the house.
All seems quiet, calm, serene, with posies cast as players in my midsummer night’s dream; poppy plays the part of Puck, a zinnia is the zany Bottom, and daisy was all wrong as Oberon. This should be the perfect moment for enlightenment, and that is why no light is seen, no sign is sent. Sometimes on a summer’s noon, clouds bloat with moisture like swelling black balloons and burst with rain and thunder tunes. At first, drops of water fall so slowly you could count them one by one. Suddenly, a Hiroshige print deluge—concentric circles crowd the mirror of the pond. Little pools form in the crotches of begonia’s besotted leaves, and tree trunks shine like licorice sticks. Tiny fountains splash everywhere, off every leaf waterfalls drips, and little rivulets lick the budding stems. Fissures appear in the yellow sedum paths, impromptu streams with flotsam twigs spin past, and monk’s hoods curtsey in raucous gusts of wind. Stoic robins sit in their jostled nests, while enduring nature’s tantrum test. Even jack-in-his-pulpit isn’t dry, and I gland under the cherry tree drenched in the silver rain, at last noticing that I am wet.
This monologue which you have read of my jardin extraordinaire has been but prologue to a secret which I now share. Of all the wonders in this wondrous domain, where I reign the gardener king, the flower I love most is the Lycoris, the mysterious Resurrection lily: that perfect symbol of the Christian myth. This bloom, in a feat more amaz-ing than Houdini’s gifts, sprouts in June such lush green foliage, then retreats and vanishes as if it had been just a memory in a forgotten dream. And where it was, nothing now is seen. Then all at once in late August’s heat, tall leafless Stalks crowned with iridescent pink and purple blossoms burst from their purgatory in the earth. This arcane act of nature, though perceived by us as ordinary, is a manifestation of Maya’s phantom play, the great immensity expressed in every way. My garden is the universe. I am the universe. I am my garden. All things are the same.
Flirty Fleurs, 2023
two photos
Portrait Of John Shea with Flowers, 1981
oil on gelatin silver print
Cut Flowers, 1984
oil on gelatin silver print
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 21, 2023
Bon jour,
Il est mon cher Dewaere.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 18, 2023
Hi All,
A tale twice told, told again.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/ahamletter
Ye Olde Duane of Yore
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Sent on August 17, 2023
Dear All,
Myther Magnus.
What do you see?
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/magnus
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 7, 2023
Hi All,
Here’s my homemade Hamlet, filmed in Homestead.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/ahamletter
Horatio says hello!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on August 2, 2023
Dear All,
At the end of my senior year in high school I was seventeen. Sue Mathis was my girlfriend, but I was in love with Jack Donoghue, who was in love with me.
We had a romantic rapport. Once, Sue said to me, “All you talk about is Jack, are you in love with him?” “Of course not! Men do not love men,” I thought. When I first met Jack’s mother she said, “so you are the Duane that Jack talks about all the time.”
The ancient Greeks thought infatuation to be a temporary derangement of the senses, a condition not to be sought after. Jack and I shared a temporary derangement of the senses in a manor of the classic myth. We wanted to be together.
After graduation Jack and his mother drove to South Bend, Indiana to visit Notre Dame, his alma mater to be. He returned on a Friday night and came straight away to my house to tell me about his adventures in Hoosierland. I had gone to the library to return some books and then when I returned home mother said, “did you see Jack?” I said, “no.” “He was just here, looking to tell you about Notre Dame, and he went to the library to find you.” In the meantime I came home. We were ships in the night.
In a few months I went off to Colorado to school and Jack went off to South Bend. Life had conspired to send us on opposite trajectories. Ten years later I found myself working as a photographer and I was sent to Ft. Lauderdale on assignment from Esquire magazine. There I found my friend Jack had married the girl next door, owned two Duncan Donuts, and was a father.
I called him and he answered the phone politely, and said he was too busy and had no time for a cup of coffee. Not even at Duncan Donuts. We had both become other people.
Recently I was cleaning out an old rag bag of tattered t-shirts. There I found the t-shirt that Jack had brought me as a souvenir from South Bend when we were both seventeen.
I hear that Jack has died and was a grandfather. What a delight to wear my South Bend souvenir from Notre Dame.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on July 26, 2023
Hi All,
Liar liar pants on fire.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/thefirebirds
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on July 21, 2023
Hark!
They said it couldn’t be done! From the master showman who brought you Yort, Tickets to Heaven and Ghost in the Machine comes a spectacle to challenge the imagination!
Filmed on location in New York, Mckeesport and 17th Century Ye Olde Elsinore, coming soon the world premiere of Milk Shake Speare’s Ham-Omelette!
Stay tuned!
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on July 20, 2023
Dear All,
People should mind their own business.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 20, 2023
Hii All,
Bug off!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/acupofkafka
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 19, 2023
Dear All,
PICTURE THIS. A Photo Experience with Duane Michals in McKeesport. Tell a personal — story, dream or fantasy
This photo experience in McKeesport will encourage you to make photographs or other digital media that tell a personal story.
Stories that evoke magic, create alchemy, exploration, discovery, innovation, wizardry, fantasy, life, love, despair, death, joy, anger, wonder, whimsy, ecstasy, hope, lightness, or possibly clowns.
Weaving characters, symbolism, and sequences creating a dialogue between the creator and the viewer. Students will work with digital cameras or even smartphones whatever they choose to make the images they imagine. We will review, discuss, critique, and celebrate by looking at photographs and videos created throughout the weekend.
There will be opportunities for one-on-one conversations with Duane and the co-educators.
We will do our best to accommodate the various cameras and software you may use to complete the projects. You are encouraged to pursue your own vision throughout the workshop weekend.
Friday evening through Monday afternoon, July 14-17
McKeesport, PA
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on June 14, 2023
Dear All,
I’m dead, again.
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on June 12, 2023
Dear All,
The artist as a paint in the ass.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 9, 2023
Dear All,
No puppet was injured in the making of this movie.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/grandpagoestoheaven
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on June 6, 2023
Dear All,
Fool moon for Sarah.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 1, 2023
Dear All,
Gotcha!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 30, 2023
Dear All,
A L E R T !
How do you do?
My time fleas, flies, flu.
Here is who I want to photograph before I say so long.
If you know any of them
to say how do you do to,
would you recommend me,
if any are your friends,
and make my dreams come true.
Woody Allen
Viggo Mortensen
Jake Gyllenhaal
Angelica Houston
Ralph Fiennes
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Lena Dunham
Bill Murray
Carey Mulligan
Cate Blanchett
Wes Anderson
Gael Garcia Bernal
Daniel Day Lewis
Catherine Deneuve
Kristin Scott Thomas
The Ghost of Duane Michals
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Sent on May 26, 2023
Dear All,
Line forms to the right!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/whatsmyline
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on May 23, 2023
Dear All,
Salut!
Fotospiel
Play nonsense
Tintype redux
+ talk
+ windsor newton
+ a b c
typos hello
the door is a jar
the game is a foot
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 16, 2023
Dear All,
Do you have someone you wish you could hug one more time?
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/whatbecameofdavidburkett?
Ye Olde Duane
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Sent on May 9, 2023
Dear All,
Recently as I was about to discard an old book and this photograph fell out of the back pages.
It is a long forgotten picture from 1956. The first photo I took after getting out of the Army, when I had just arrived in New York. My best friend and I Tom had gone meandering through Central Park on a lovely summer Sunday in July.
I saw this statuesque beauty who gave me the eye. Impulsively I asked Tom if I could borrow his camera. He is the same Tom Lacy who Lent me his Argus C3 camera when I traveled to Russia.
Here is the one picture I took.
Imagine my surprise later when I recognized my model to be Julie Newmar, the quintessential Broadway show star who went on to have huge success as Catwoman.
Meow meow, she was the purrrrrrfect model.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 8, 2023
Hi All,
The paints are out of the closet, and so am I.
I’m queer, Vermeer, get used to it.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/ipaintaphotograph
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 3, 2023
Dear All,
Today’s greatest performer in the historic tradition of Commedia dell’arte!
Photographed 4/4/23 at The Irish Repertory Theater where he was performing in Becket’s Endgame.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 28, 2023
Subject: Melancholia
Dear All,
Cheer up.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 19, 2023
Subject: The Whale
Dear All,
I knew Brendan when he was a guppy.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 14, 2023
Subject: Looking for a venue to screen my films
Dear All,
Where to show, where to go, what do you know?
https://vimeo.com/817451022/46087d05fe
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 6, 2023
Subject: The Shoe Story
Hi All,
I wear a size 7 1/2, how about you?
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/theshoestory
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent March 24, 2023
Subject: The Yinzers
Dear All,
Look up, look down, look behind, look inside out.
Look here.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/theyinzers
Ye Olde Duane
King of the Yinzerverse
————————
Sent March 23, 2023
Subject: Coming soon to a Universe near you…
Dear All,
Look up, look out!
Coming soon…
Duane
————————
Sent March 8, 2023
Subject: Balthus, The King of the Cats
Hi All,
Meow, meow!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent March 3, 2023
Subject: Giorgio de Chirico
Hi All,
“What shall I love if not the enigma?”
-Giorgio de Chirico
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent March 1, 2023
Subject: The Garden of Eden (new film)
Hi All,
2 8 1 apple.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent February 17, 2023
Subject: 91
91
TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Observations on being me, on the occasion of my ninety-first birthday.
Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third.
THE CLOCHARD
It is my habit to often have a late morning coffee.
About two weeks ago, as I walked down east eighteenth street approaching Broadway, I noticed a young bum, aka clochard, asleep on the sidewalk.
He was perhaps in his early 40’s with a beard.
People walked by him not seeing him.
He was invisible.
I wondered how he got there.
No parents bring their children up to be hobos.
What was he dreaming?
He looked biblical and safe in his dreams.
Among the whims and safety of your reverie.
What was his name?
Where is he now?
In nineteen sixty-eight I photographed my friend Ray Barry in the subway. I was beginning to come aware that our true state is that we are all stars.
I still believe today more than ever, except that my early optimism has become a kind of melancholy for our species.
I photographed Sims as a baby, today he is a man.
His promise gives me hope.
Hooray for Sydie and Gerrit!
I am touched by de Chirico’s empty plazas and the mystery of his nietzschean truth.
Our true state is to be alone, that’s why love is so important.
For the length of time we care for somebody, and they care for us,
we are less alone.
I reminisce a lot about my first infatuation in high school, Jack Donoghue.
We two boys clinging, and I still dreaming, dreaming, dreaming.
The best defense against common sense is nonsense.
I suspect I have amnesia.
I suspect there must be some profound
metaphysical reality I have forgotten.
It doesn’t matter.
I have been destroyed by the Webb telescope.
Only a hundred years ago did the Hubble telescope inform us
that the Milky Way was not the Universe.
Now the Webb telescope reminds us we are prisoners of our own imagination and logic.
Abandon all logic ye who enter here, and surrender to the mystery.
I can not imagine what my next project will be. Something from nothing.
Hurray, quo vadis!
Duane
————————
Sent February 16, 2023
Subject: In Search of Lost Time
Hi All,
I found lost time in the lost and and found.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/insearchoflosttime
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent February 10, 2023
Subject: The Coronation of the Dauphin
Dear All,
Goodnight sweet prince.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/thecoronationofthedauphin
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent February 3, 2023
Subject: The Odyssey of Yesterdays
Dear All,
The Odyssey of Yesterdays
Tick tock, tick tock,
As foretold in the ancient myths by Ariadne
When yesterdays did not exist
There were only Nows without Thens, Tempus Fugit
Olde Duanus began to begat, past tense
His dreams were caught in a trap
Tick tock, tock tick
Circe grew jealous, Zeus zapped
And all the clouds clapped and clapped
During a fortuitous alignment of Mars and Venus
Thunderbolts locked Olde Duanus in Hera’s cave
Time stopped.
It was not until the soothsayers’ predictions were fulfilled,
and Olde Duanus escaped disguised as a thunderbolt
And wandered the galaxies carrying Now and Then in a cage,
That Stopped clocks started again.
Arriving aglow sotto voce in Soho,
Olde Duanus now as Ancient as Methuselah freed time,
exclaimed “tick tock, tick tock, wind all the clocks!”
The irony was that when time became Then again
Olde Duanus vanished in the labyrinth of his own myth.
Tock tick, tock tick, tock tick!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent January 27, 2023
Subject: Rimbaud (a new film)
Dear All,
Ready for your close up?
Ye Olde Duane of Yore
————————
Sent January 23, 2023
Subject: Spooky Action at a Distance (FINAL CUT)
Dear All,
Revisited.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent January 20, 2023
Subject: Spooky Action at a Distance: A New Duane Michals Film
Hi All,
Duane Michals was or wasn’t here.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent January 12, 2023
Subject: The Phoetmesmermagician
Dear All,
2 C or not 2 C?
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on January 6, 2023
Subject: Arthur Tress
Hi All,
My long time friend and brilliant photographer Arthur Tress is long overdue to have a film made about him. Finally there is one under way! If you don’t know Arthur’s work, please look him up, and you can watch the trailer and help contribute in the links below.
Here’s a link to the film’s site and trailer:
https://www.arthurtressmovie.com/
Here’s a link to become a contributor:
https://www.arthurtressmovie.com/shop
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on January 5, 2023
Subject: Thus Sprach Vlad the Impaler
Hi All,
The Putinfuhrer speaks!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on December 22, 2022
Subject: Fashion to Die For
Bury Christmas!
Doctor Duanus
————————
Sent on December 9, 2022
Subject: The Thimble
Hi All,
In the manner of Harold Pinter.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on November 22, 2022
Subject: Who doesn’t like cake?
Hi All,
This week is a double header.
A new film and a story.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/theghostinthemachine
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on November 14, 2022
Subject: Apollinaire
Hi All,
The flâneur’s follies.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/apollinaire
Le Olde Duane
————————
Sent on November 11, 2022
Subject: Sarah in Saint Louis
Hi All,
Moon over Saint Louis.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/sarahmoon
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on October 31, 2022
Subject: The Man Who Invented Nonsense
Hi All,
Jibber Jabber,
What’s the matter,
All this clitter clatter woo.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on October 28, 2022
Subject: Charlie Chaplin Eats a Louboutin
Hi All,
One size fits all!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on October 20, 2022
Subject: More nonsense…
Hi All,
More nonsense….more or less.
The Kitty and the Camel
A Red Snapper Reads
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on October 19, 2022
Subject: Hat Couture
Hi All,
Jibber Jabber
OR
How Do You Do?
The only real defense
Against common sense
In a senseless world
Is nonsense
K R E D E N Z A!
Ye Olde Duane of Yore
————————
Sent on October 14, 2022
Subject: New Mini Movie
Hi All,
Fall down, go boom.
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/fall-down-go-boom
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on October 5, 2022
Subject: The Rabbit Died
Dear All,
Now it can be told.
My latest film, premiering today.
Ye Olde Duane of Yore
————————
Sent on September 8, 2022
Subject: ZEUS POOPS
Dear All,
This Is number two.
Ye Olde Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on September 8, 2022
Subject: ZUES POOPS
Dear All,
It’s alarming how Charmin I feel.
Ye Olde Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on September 2, 2022
Subject: The Hobgoblin’s Garden
Dear All,
A midsummer night’s scream!
Dr. Duanue
————————
Sent on August 11, 2022
Subject: Mr. Archnidhea
Dear All,
WARNING: the following program contains strong imagery not suitable for children, arachnophobes or to those susceptible to suggestion. We take no responsibility for any film induced psychotic episodes.
View at your own risk.
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on August 5, 2022
Subject: The World Premiere of Cafe Voltaire!
Hi All,
After much anticipation…welcome to Cafe Voltaire!
https://vimeo.com/duanemichals/cafevoltaire
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on August 2, 2022
Subject: Coming Soon…
Hi All,
Hold your breath, and repare to be dazzled…
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on July 26, 2022
Subject: I Love you 3
Hi All,
Here’s some love 4 you!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on July 19, 2022
Subject: The Man Who Wore a Fish for a Hat
Dear All,
Something smells fishy in Denmark.
Duan
————————
Sent on July 7, 2022
Subject: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Hi All,
What fools we mortals be.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on July 1, 2022
Subject: Soliloquy: Much Ado About Nothing
Hi All,
What do you think?
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 24, 2022
Subject: Five Years Later
Hi All,
Frederick Rense Gorree
4/23/31-7/2/2017
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 17, 2022
Subject: Shopping with Mother (Me Keesport Installment #3)
Hi All,
Here’s an article on my project in Mckeesport:
Boy lost in aisle three!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 9, 2022
Subject: Me Keesport (a sneak peak Installment #2)
Hi All,
Now it can be told!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on June 1, 2022
Subject: The Ship of Fools
Dear All,
Wish you were here!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 27, 2022
Subject: The Wizard Drawz
Dear All,
The wizard drwz!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 26, 2022
Subject: Texas 1964
Dear All,
Deep in the heart of Texas!
Here’s Texas as it has never been seen before!
A new book of my time in Texas in 1964.
https://enitharmon.co.uk/product/texas-1964-/
Enjoy!
Duane
Empty Texas 1964 Prospectus.pdf
————————
Sent on May 20, 2022
Subject: Mephistopheles and the Well Hung Man
Hi All,
Introduce me!
Ye Olde Duane of Yore
————————
Sent on May 18, 2022
Subject: Not My Cup of Tea
Dear All,
Drink up!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on May 6, 2022
Subject: The Delusion of Dorian Gray
Dear All,
Humpty Dumpty.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 27, 2022
Subject: Zelenskyy and the new RasPUTIN
Hi All,
Killer clowns!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 21, 2022
Subject: Les Enfants Terribles, Le Grandmere and the Devil
Hi All,
A gift from grandpa.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 15, 2022
Subject: MYSELF AS HAPPENSTANCE Or the Sense of Me as Being Me
MYSELF AS HAPPENSTANCE
Or the Sense of Me as Being Me
I step into space and move from here to there
And step again and step again.
I stare at you, you stare at me
I focus and a flux moves through and into and out of myself
I move once more and acknowledgement of sorts.
My arm reports to my brain
Attention Attention!
I make no mention as I sigh or why then here
Goodbye to there and soon at once
It is well past noon now always midnight
And when was yesterday and why tomorrow
And what of this sorrow for why or ever
How and when a melancholy
And what was it about you that caught my eye
You silly goose, goodbye goodbye
Did I hear you call my name?
Duane, Duane?!
I exclaim YES! I’m here my dear
Not there or over near in the shadows
Don’t you see me? See my salute
For now a little bit less lonely
And then I disappear WHOOSH!
As if a cloud that was and was not
As was again.
It all seems so sad to me
Funny, I never noticed this before
Because I was too busy being busy
And then being not me
Away aloft a way soft as a memory
Now I see you there in the shadows
So soon, so soon, PEEKABOO!
What a funny tune I hum
Now and then the sun hums too
I flutter in the breeze like a butterfly
I fly alert astute and alarmed
I am a particle at once future simultaneously past
More more more
Is there a chance you are listening?
I hope so.
All of this is a thought.
Could I be the demi-urge
Once long ago then I am what I was
That not at all.
I write this, I right this, I wrong this
This tastes good when or not or yet again
McKeesport as being here not there
As where like another time but the same place
McKeesport as a memory of once upon a time
The Mon still wet as some not at all place
Gone like the rest
I am this.
I like to do what I like to do because I like to do it.
Stop staring at me.
We as being physical in a metaphysical world
or vice versa in the back of a hearse.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on April 8, 2022
Subject: The Vain Butterfly and the Sailor
Hi All,
Aesop fabulous!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on March 30, 2022
Subject: My exhibit KALEIDOSCOPE opens this Friday!
Hi All,
I have a surprise for you. Come on Friday to see it!
Duane Michals: Kaleidoscope
Opening Reception with the artist April 1, 6-8pm
April 1 – 30, 2022
DC Moore Gallery
535 W 22nd St, New York
https://www.dcmooregallery.com/exhibitions/duane-michals-kaleidoscope2
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on March 25, 2022
Subject: The McKeesport Pipe Palace
Hi All,
ME Keesport!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on March 18, 2022
Subject: Tears for Ukraine
Dear All,
Ich bin ein Ukrainian.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on March 14, 2022
Subject: Putin is a Killer
Dear All,
Putin is a killer.
Duane
————————
Sent on March 10, 2022
Subject: DO IT!
Dear All,
ATTENTION!
Please send this email to everyone you know
And have them send it to everyone they know.
I make a citizen’s arrest of Vladimir Putin.
He is a thief.
He is stealing Ukraine from Ukrainian people.
He is a killer of innocent children.
He is a lunatic at large.
He is uncivilized, a feral beast.
I denounce him and call him an unevolved degenerate thug.
As a citizen of this planet it is my right to accuse him.
He’s just another man, he has a mother as we all have mothers.
And yet kills mothers.
NO NO NO NO!
-Duane Michals
————————
Sent on February 25, 2022
Dear All,
The Pittsburgh Pirate of Penzance
“I’m adrift to say a thankful thanks to you
for ACW’s epaulets and sailor’s top hat too
with a horny hornpipe toot”
Taran Tara, Taran Tara
I am the perfect model of a model perfect birthday gift
Full of generosity / without pomp-os-ity or thrift
I’ve taught a school of fish, and know the mysteries of the sea
I sail the ocean blue in a pink and blue tu-tu
And eschew a tattoo on my chest
And celebrate a nautical piece of cake
With Billy Budd in my bed
I rant Taran Tara / Taran Tara
I’ve information subliminal / animal and vegetable
And sip me hearties hard-on treat / a seashell brine so TERRIBLE
Anchors away with this motley crew
Ahoy ahoy, I say Adieu
I walked the plank / while the ship sank / without a single thanks / or howdy do.
I joined an admiral overboard
Where we became shark stew.
————————
Sent on February 18, 2022
Dear All,
Sent on February 17, 2022
Dear All,
Ninety
We number 3 are 1 + 2 equal you.
Oh say can you C, 4 equals 5 while I’m alive.
Minus 3 and we are back to 2 = 4
Close the door, number 10,
pick up sticks again, WHERE?
8 close the gate,
too late the cat got out and ate 9 mice,
not nice if you’re a mouse.
Listen, listen again,
I hear mother calling,
It’s time to eat soup.
It must be 7 o’clock.
————————
Sent on February 13, 2022
————————
Sent on February 11, 2022
————————
————————
Sent on January 20, 2022
Sent on January 14, 2022
Sent on December 10, 2021
Sent on December 1, 2021
Sent on October 18, 2021
Hello all,
Sent on September 21, 2021
Sent on August 31, 2021
————————
Sent on August 27, 2021
Sent on August 24, 2021
————————
Sent on August 20, 2021
Sent on August 2, 2021
Sent on July 30, 2021
Sent on July 19, 2021
————————
Sent on July 16, 2021
————————
Sent on July 13, 2021
Hi All,
No trees were harmed in the making of these puppets.
Duane Geppetto
————————
Sent on July 5, 2021
Hi All,
————————
Sent on June 24th, 2021
————————
Sent on June 18, 2021
————————
Sent on June 3, 2021
————————
Sent on May 26, 2021
————————
Sent on May 21, 2021
————————
Sent May 11, 2021
————————
Sent April 23, 2021
————————
Sent on April 14, 2021
————————
Sent on March 26, 2021
Hi All,
Boom, boom, Baudelaire.
————————
Sent on March 10, 2021
Sent on March 5, 2021
————————
Sent on February 26, 2021
————————
Sent on February 23, 2021
————————
Sent on February 16, 2021
————————
Sent on February 10, 2021
Sent on February 5, 2021
————————
Sent on February 3, 2021
————————
Sent on January 29, 2021
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Sent on January 25, 2021
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Sent on January 15, 2021
Howdy!
Duane
————————
Sent on January 11, 2021
Hi,
You’ll all be wearing this next year.
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on January 5, 2021
Dear All,
Go, yes, NO.
1.5.21
Duane
————————
Sent on December 29, 2020
Dear All,
It was her flaw that made her exquisite and saved her from the banality of perfection.
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on December 23, 2020
Dear All,
Merry Xanadu!
S. Michals
————————
Sent on December 17, 2020
Dear All,
Fart art.
Duane “The Artful Dodger” Michals
————————
Sent on December 7, 2020
Hi All,
Quickie quantum.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on November 25, 2020
Dear All,
This is not about you.
gobble gobble,
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on November 23, 2020
Dear All,
Sign on the dotted line.
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on November 17, 2020
Dear All,
Home sweet home.
Sonny (aka Dr. Duanus)
————————
Sent on November 11, 2020
Dear All,
Mirror mirror on the wall
Dr. Duanus is the fairest of us all.
Dr. Duanus sunauD .rD
————————
Sent on November 4, 2020
Attention!
Now it can be told!
I’m announcing to the world that I am gay.
I’m here, I’m queer, get use to it!
The Delightful Delirious Duane
————————
Sent on October 28, 2020
To occupant or current tenant….
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on October 22, 2020
Dear All,
God Bless America!
Uncle Sandwich
————————
Sent on October 16, 2020
Hello All,
2 + 2 = 5
Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on October 6, 2020
Dear All,
“I am dying, Egypt, dying.”
-Mark Antony
Antony and Cleopatra (IV, xv, 41)
William Shakespeare
Duane of the Nile
————————
Sent on September 30, 2020
Dear All,
Beauty and the Beast, noblesse oblige.
Dr. Duane DeLovely
————————
Sent on September 24, 2020
Hi All,
Man oh man, Manet.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on September 22, 2020
Dear all,
The only hope is to vote.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on September 18, 2020
Dear All,
ADAD
Ye Olde Dada
————————
Sent on September 15, 2020
Hi All,
Go Steelers!
Duane the Mckeesport Kid
————————
Sent on September 9, 2020
Dear All,
Paint the town red!
Ye Olde Artiste Supérieure
————————
Sent on September 2, 2020
Hi All,
Tanks for nothin.
Ye Olde Lt. Mike
————————
Sent on August 28, 2020
Dear All,
You are what you don’t wear.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on August 25, 2020
Dear All,
Fancy this.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on August 21, 2020
Dear All,
Experienced photographer looking for work.
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on August 17, 2020
Dear All,
Do not pet the poison ivy.
Mr. Green Thumb
AStrollThroughtheGardenintheRain.pdf
————————
Sent on August 10, 2020
Dear All,
What time is it?
Duane
————————
Sent on August 6, 2020
Hi All,
Something for everyone!
Duane
————————
Sent on July 31, 2020
Ladies and Gents!
SHOWTIME!
Life is a three ring circus!
Duane
————————
Sent on July 30, 2020
Dear All,
I am the new eighth age of man. GOOFY.
Duane
————————
Sent on July 28, 2020
Dear All,
I found religion.
Duane
————————
Sent on July 24, 2020
Dear All,
Sweet dreams.
Duane
————————
Sent on July 23, 2020
Dear All,
I salute my heroes!
Duane
————————
Sent on July 15, 2020
Dear All,
Next year you will all be wearing these hats!
Oooh la la!
Duane
————————
Sent on July 13, 2020
Dear Friends,
Grab your togas!
Check out this retelling of The Odyssey by me.
I, Dr. Duanus
————————
Sent on July 7, 2020
Dear All,
Here’s a little catnip.
Meow meow!
Ye Olde Duane
————————
Sent on July 1, 2020
Dear All,
“Not us!”
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.
Duane
————————
Sent on June 29, 2020
Dear All,
Phoetry #5
ABOUT JACK
Now it can be told. A true story.
Duane
————————
Sent on June 25, 2020
Dear All,
Merry Christmas.
Ye Olde Duane
