And I Like This Rather Spooky One

...which Eric did for the Miller Brewing Company.

I like the odd placement in this drab hallway.

And I like how he added real elements like keys and towels hung on real hooks, when the same items appear as elements in the trompe l'oeil interior vista.

I am a huge Peto fan by the way.

I adore Wilmerding's book on Peto.

It's wittily titled Important Information Inside, after something that was teasingly written on one of the envelopes in a Peto trompe l'oeil.

I talked to some of Peto's remaining family on the phone several times (Tom's River down in New Jersey) when I was in a very ardent phase of my Peto admiration.

There used to be a Peto sculpture in Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia but it's long gone.

I read at the Borders right off Rittenhouse square one night many moons ago.

And I like Haberle, but much less than Peto.

Haberle is more technically proficient than Peto, but has nowhere near the poetic sensibility.

Peto is a severely underrated American painter.

The poet/critic Johanna Drucker wrote a great piece of art criticism on Peto, Haberle and other trompe l'oeil painters.

The essay said a lot of interesting things, but I believe the focus was on money in trompe l'oeil paintings and the semiotic of trompe l'oeil.

I have it photocopied somewhere.

I was researching Peto at one of Penn State's libraries way back in my twenties and I came upon the article and I was like "oh...by a poet I know too!"

That made me happy.

Johanna used to publish quite a bit in John Byrum's classic poetry magazine, Generator.

Byrum is a great verbo-visual poet and he had great taste as an editor.

I think the curating he did for the Generator issue focusing on language poetry back in the day was just amazing.

That is a classic issue.

He knew exactly what to select by Charles Bernstein, Laura Moriarty (not usually configured thusly), Stephen Ratcliffe (ditto), Jessica Grim (ditto redux), and others.

John Byrum, I hope you are well and flourishing!

And I apologize that I have lost you off my little radar screen.

But I think of you often and I have great work by you (edited by you, and your own great writing!)