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John Vanderslice's warming weather

Johnvanderslice

Trance Manual
by John Vanderslice, 2005

Cross the palisade
At the Holiday Inn
See the Mujahidin barricades
Just walk right through

Past the bullhorns
And sleepy 47s

Right by the coalition guards
I’m in the back of the second floor basement
I’ll have my editors
Arrange for payment

Come to me now you are warming weather
Come to me now
The kind that comes with
Sandbags along the river

Wear your aqua mirabilis
Dotted on your pulse points
A miraculous transformation
Ahh my aching joints

You are a vision in the air
Cheap lipstick, bleached hair

Ohh dressed like that
You are a flag of a dangerous nation
Oh dressed just like that
You are some kind of declaration

Here cowboy bars
And dance clubs don’t exist
The trance manual says just stand alone
And then shift and shift

Filed under  //   John Vanderslice   Music  

Jeremy Kennedy's sweet ride

Notforsale

One of my most prized pieces of art is an 8 1/2" x 11" B&W photocopy that has been slapped on my fridge for coming on three years now. It was lovingly made by the inestimable Jeremy Kennedy of Knee Shy when he was in a mad flyering phase. Take a good look and drink in the genius. Give him a holler to chat.

(Thanks to Adam at Decorporated for finally snabbing a pig of that.)

Filed under  //   Artwork  

Adam Voith's dad piece

Img_1741

Dad's Shots
by Adam Voith, 2010

Last year Dad got cancer
and they took out his prostate, 
now it’s a shot given somewhere 
to get it on with my mom.

Together forever, 
he says the shot scares her, 
and she can’t watch him do it 
or she can’t go along.

I’m on the couch
with my own broken balls, 
in the house that they bought
out by Deer Creek.

In high-definition
we watch festival footage
of a classic 
Neil Young sing-along.

My dad asks 
“Who is that?” 
and not surprised, I just tell him, 
and later he won’t recognize The Boss.

He points one town over,
just back over his shoulder
where the modern brick building 
still stands.

“That’s why I don’t know this,
for all those years it was Jesus.”
He says: “Church made me miss rock and roll.”

Filed under  //   Adam Voith   Poetry  
Filed under  //   Artwork   Film   Michael Haneke  

Ernest Hemingway's earnest liberal

Ernest_hemingway

The Earnest Liberal’s Lament
by Ernest Hemingway, c. 1922

I know monks masturbate at night,
That pet cats screw,
That some girls bite,
And yet
What can I do
To set things right?


(via BCNC)

Filed under  //   Poetry  
Filed under  //   Artwork   Music  

Bob Dylan's mama

Dylancash

Mama, You Been On My Mind
by Bob Dylan, 1964

Perhaps it's the color of the sun cut flat
An' cov'rin' the crossroads I'm standing at
Or maybe it's the weather or something like that
But mama, you been on my mind

I don't mean trouble, please don't put me down or get upset
I am not pleadin' or sayin', "I can't forget"
I do not walk the floor bowed down an' bent, but yet
Mama, you been on my mind

Even though my mind is hazy an' my thoughts they might be narrow
Where you been don't bother me nor bring me down in sorrow
It don't even matter to me where you're wakin' up tomorrow
But mama, you're just on my mind

I am not askin' you to say words like "yes" or "no"
Please understand me, I got no place for you t' go
I’m just breathin' to myself, pretendin' not that I don't know
Mama, you been on my mind

When you wake up in the mornin', baby, look inside your mirror
You know I won't be next to you, you know I won’t be near
I’d just be curious to know if you can see yourself as clear
As someone who has had you on his mind

Filed under  //   Music  

Khaled Mattawa's ecclesiastes

Khaledmattawa
Ecclesiastes
by Khaled Mattawa

The trick is that you're willing to help them. 
The rule is to sound like you're doing them a favor. 

The rule is to create a commission system. 
The trick is to get their number. 

The trick is to make it personal: 
No one in the world suffers like you. 

The trick is that you're providing a service. 
The rule is to keep the conversation going. 

The rule is their parents were foolish, 
their children are greedy or insane. 

The rule is to make them feel they've come too late. 
The trick is that you're willing to make exceptions. 

The rule is to assume their parents abused them. 
The trick is to sound like the one teacher they loved. 

And when they say "too much," 
give them a plan. 

And when they say "anger" or "rage" or "love," 
say "give me an example." 

The rule is everyone is a gypsy now. 
Everyone is searching for his tribe. 

The rule is you don't care if they ever find it. 
The trick is that they feel they can.

Filed under  //   Poetry  

Vic Chesnutt's run off and left her

Vic-chesnutt-0410-lg-80587215

When I Ran Off and Left Her
by Vic Chesnutt, 1993

When I ran off and left her
She wasn't holding a baby
She was holding a bottle
And a big grudge against me

I tried to learn from the psychiatrist
How to stay calm and minimize risk
But I should've kept all those appointments
I'm gonna need 'em I'm coming disjointed

When I ran off and left her
I didn't look backwards
Till I was halfway to Chattanooga
On the Atlanta connector
That's when I started flashing
On the little things that she did
All her little sayings and I started to wig
I should've kept all those appointments
I'm gonna need 'em I'm coming disjointed

Filed under  //   Music