Category: poetry

jalopy dreams, poetry, poets, poet, spoken word, punk poetry, blues poetry

alabama shakes, and other updates

hello

today’s music selection, alabama shakes, from their album “sound and color”. singer and guitarist brittany howard fronts this band, she has powerful, passionate voice that really winds me up, and she plays a pretty mean guitar too. alabama shakes have two studio albums, “sound and color” and “boys and girls” brittany also has a number of solo projects, and she also fronts another band, thunderbitch, which i also recommend

humble apologies from a ghoster

ok, so sorry i keep ghosting on all of you, allow me to explain: i am an extreme introvert (not shy really, or anti-social, just, i like my space) i enjoy being social, i do, but for reasons i can’t explain, doing so leave me completely exhausted, mentally and physically, and i have to runaway to mountains to hang with the critters and recharge my battery, or i just kind of isolate myself and ignore the world until i feel social again. now, when this happens and i just disappear, i’m not upset or depressed, actually, i’m in pretty good spirits, anxious, but good, so there is no need to worry about me, i’m fine, just need my space, that’s how i am wired i guess.

reason #2 – i did the whole starving artist thing in my younger days, with my poetry and my artwork and my music… and it was a blast. but i can’t live that lifestyle anymore, as much as i wish i could. i can easily lose myself into artist endeavor, stay up all night working on projects (this still happen to me) stop bathing, stop going to work, stop eating, stop paying bills… nothing but trouble. so i have to step back when i start getting ultra-focused and hyper-creative, make sure my mind stays in the real world. if i could make a living being an artist, that would be a different story, but not all of us get that lucky

and that is why i take such long breaks

coming up…

so i finally bought a new microphone and will start making recording of poems again (and i think i’ll start with my new favorite, polyester) not sure if i’m going to keep using soundcloud, i have a hard time trying to get their app to manifest properly on wordpress, i can’t post the recording with the poem without the soundcloud app consuming the entire page, not sure why that is.

still working on getting some poems published, my research into potential zines to publish in didn’t generate a lot publication that i like, but i’m ready to dig in and try again

and, i’ve been writting some short stories. nonfiction stories… about that time i owned that little coffee shop in that public library way out in the burbs (actually, it was a used bookstore inside a coffee shop inside a library… how fucking awesome is that!) these stories will be about how a jalopy poet like myself ending up in that situation, the fascinating and diverse people i met, the gifted and inspiring kids that worked for me, and how it all came crashing down in the great recession. i haven’t written stories in nearly 30 years, so i’m rusty, so these are practice stories. in my poetry i don’t pay much attention to proper grammar or punctuation or (eye-roll) capitalization, so i need to get my skills back (breaking out my old copies of elements of grammar, elements of style and elements of editing, got lots of homework to do)

so stay tuned in, kiddos, lots of fun stuff coming

(and honestly, if i ever meet the guy who invented capital letters, i’m kicking his ass)

blue

blue copyright ziggy zagmyer
(she)
(is)
(blue)
her heartbeat
blue
lucid eyes
blue
her random mind
wandering around bluewise
all her memories of olympus, blue
her name, in any language 
a shade of blue

“i’m a fighter, not a lover” she says with the vox of a dark blue animal
if you steal from her magnolia tree, she’ll burn your house down 
step on her toes and she’ll knock your teeth out 
her mermaids swim with sharks, her city bewildered with dogs 
she keeps angels on kite strings, they guard her temple of bluedom 
her kung-fu is the best, it’s insensate and blue and cripples the senses 

her decisions
are blue
her reasons
blue
her secrets
obscure  orphans of omniblue
she bends the blue 
blends into the blue
her holy business
is true blueness

“i’m an artist, not an intellectual” the crook of her smile insanely blue
she paints the world with her eyelashes, blink by blink
she hides little blue murders in black and white photographs
when she’s lost, her footprints turn into blurry brush strokes
this landscape is blue by her command

she goes down with the sun, keeps it under her pillow
little blue afterthoughts can’t escape the shadow puddle of her bed
and when the moon is the only thing in the sky
she is the long blue shadow of a blackbird

if she disappears, it is for good 
but not forever
and if the damage is done, then she is done
but not completely 
a fire will rise and remember, reclaim and recover
and she will return, when everything is yellow

posted for:

shay’s word garden word list

earthweal open link

dverse open link