Category: Music

moonshine: a love poem

I want to put on a Van Morrison record
from back in the day when the stage lights
caught the rhinestones on his jumpsuit
made them sparkle like the ball going down
on New Year’s Eve

then I want to pull you close to me
till I can’t tell where my skin stops
and your skin starts

I want your hands in my hair
our legs intertwined

and when Van starts singing about
“Moonshine Whiskey”
I want to kiss you until neither of us
cares anymore about breathing

18 May 2013
Auburn, AL

Bonzo

throw a bucket of thunder
down a flight of metal stairs
into a stack of pots and pans
balanced at the top
of a pile of bowling balls
the whole thing topples over
onto a kiddie pool
full of cowbells
then the floor collapses
kit and kaboodle hurtle down
into the chandelier shop
on the level below
that’s the moment when
the walls give way
crumbling inward till
the entire building comes down
in a cacophony of shattering
windows, exploding concrete blocks
screaming metal bars
until finally a spark hits the gas main
and the whole thing blows sky-high
with a wrath-of-God boom
that can be heard for miles

10 May 2013
Auburn, AL

/ / /

This poem was inspired by listening to this:

NOTE: I wrote this poem while listening to this track for the first time. I recommend listening to it while you read the poem.

Lamru

the boat goes up
the boat goes down
and you are here
and I am here
we are here
as the boat goes up
as the boat goes down
you see the sun
you say the sun
I see the moon
I say the moon
we are on the boat
it goes up and down
you wash your bowl
I wash my bowl
there is tea in the pot
there is no tea in the pot
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
you steer the boat
I steer the boat
into the wind
away from the wind
the shore recedes
until it is gone
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
the boat goes up
the boat goes down
the boat goes
the boat
the

8 May 2013
Auburn AL

You can listen to this poem using the player above.

begin to make it better

I learned to play “Hey Jude” for her
a song I never liked all that much
mostly because of that part at the end
where they just keep singing one syllable
and it seems to go on forever
when I learned to play it, though
I was forced to read the words carefully
and I realized in 2013 what most people
figured out all the way back in 1968:
they’re fucking gorgeous
the story is that Paul wrote this song
for John’s son when John and his first wife
were splitting up
although in later years Paul changed his story
so who knows what’s true
it doesn’t matter anyway
the point is that the words are about
dropping your defenses
to admit another into your most sacred space
the words are about not letting your insecurity
or your ego or your uncertainty about the future
prevent you from loving and being loved right now
that I learned to play the song
so I could play it for her
feels like exactly the point
for both of us

5 May 2013
Auburn AL

at the Boogie

we’re all crowded into a big field
banjos and washboards and dancers
cans of beer deep-fried chips
basil-lemonade popsicles
it’s everything the South should be
everyone we ever knew
in our whole life is here
the honest and the dishonest
the lovers and their spouses
all the people we could be
all the ones we want
children fill the trees like birds
laughing like the world is only this

20 April 2013
Waverly, AL

what might have happened if
(for Jason Molina, 1973-2013)

I’m listening to Jason Molina
it’s my first time
he died the other day
he was the same age I am
he went to Oberlin
he played the guitar
sang wistful mournful longing songs
and other songs too
the L.A. Times says he died “after
a long battle with alcoholism”
it’s in the obituary twice
I don’t know the rest of his story
but I know there certainly is one
a rest of the story, I mean
and a rest in the other sense, too
a sad death, a flurry of mentions
makes me wonder
what might have happened if

20 March 2013
Auburn AL

/ / /

You can stream and download Jason Molina’s music here.

the koala bear and the joshua tree

the moon is so bright
that every crater and every sea is clearly visible
to the naked eye
even from Alabama
where we are listening to U2
and dancing in the driveway
on behalf of all right-thinking people
everywhere
and if you don’t believe it’s true
we encourage you to put on a funny hat
look up into the sky
and move your feet to the rhythm
till a smile takes over your face

28 February 2013
Auburn, AL