Possessions of My Unprepossessing Self

Everything! I want to sell everything I have. I want to sell all the Art I've collected over the years: the elegant Robert Kelly painting with the references to the Persian Gulf and the monoprint---but not the small blue painting Robert gave me for the 25th anniversary of the Gallery. I'll store that somewhere. But everything else I will sell including the Wifredo Lam, the Jose Bedia and all the other Cuban works of Art I have accumulated---even the stunning self-portrait (with pearls) by Rene Pena.

Yes, I want to sell it all even my 5000 square foot house on five wonderful pinon, chamisa and juniper acres with views of three mountain ranges.



But NOT my soul---my soul is not for sale.

And I want to keep my self-respect when I sell my possessions---when I sell all my furniture, including: antique desks and chairs; a funky mesquite table; an old English tavern table; lamps; beds, overstuffed couches and chairs...And I want to sell the stone and metal garden benches that several artists made for me...Oh, but I won't sell the old chest with the inlaid wood, spelling out the name of my great, great grandmother. That I'll give to my daughter, the family historian. But I will sell all the Burmese art: paintings, puppets, sculpture, photographs, books...


Oh, BOOKS! I will sell all my books, including my well-loved set of the O.E.D. and all my ART books--even the ones signed and inscribed. And I will leave the various notes and cards and articles that I wanted to save (for long forgotten reasons) inside the pages. Oh, and the poetry and philosophy books and my strange collection of books on topics that, at one time, intrigued me: Patagonia (I'll include the framed maps and rare prints); Scotland (especially books on Picts and Celtic myths); mountain climbing books. There was a time when I could hardly concentrate on anything but dangerous climbing, adventure and lost-in-the-wilderness subjects. I'll sell the bird books and the word books and all the political books...I think I'll select twenty of my favorite books and I'll put them in a box until I can return for them...because I want to travel long and lightly...long and lightly.


Yes, I will sell evething: china; silver; jewelry; dolls; my Wonder Woman collection. Oh, I might hold on to the special Wonder Woman figure that Carol Sarkisian made. And I don't think I could bring myself to sell the little sculpture that Erika Wanenmacher made of me--all silver with orange wire hair and a chest that opens and exposes a big red heart...And I'll keep one or two Eugene Newmann paintings and a few John Connell works on paper but I'll sell the Tasha Ostranders and the Allan Grahams and the painting of the mass graves in Iraq that I acquired in Baghdad and I'll sell the Haitian items. I'll keep the framed letter of recommendation to college that Oscar Hammerstein wrote about me and somehow I'll hold on to the boxes and boxes of letters and photographs that document the decades of my wonder-filled life. Some day I'll sort through it all. Not now, though, not now.

I will definitely sell the televisions and miscellaneous electronics including my excellent CD player and all my CDs. I'll sell everything I've mentioned and all the small things I haven't mentioned...

And I will honor my debts and take what money remains and...I will wander and explore and encounter and celebrate and wonder...

"How is it that all that happened happened or didn't happen and how did it all dissolve or solidify and become condensed into this wonderful NOW that leads inexplicably to all the next nows that I yearn to encounter...Now, how do I begin!??