We were once wild here.

Taylor Mali - “Like Lilly Like Wilson”

I was waiting to be struck with inspiration before posting again, and today left me electrocuted.  For those of you who don’t know, I’m spending this year teaching at a high school in Portland, Oregon.  After watching a bit of a documentary today, one of my students engaged me in a conversation about how angry he is with the state of the world, how he understands what “ignore is bliss” means, how he wishes he were a lot more than just one person so he could change it all.  And while reassurance is no longer an option for me, the conversation left me feeling charged and on fire.  What I’m trying to say is, I know what Taylor Mali means now.  Enjoy.

Andrea Gibson - Maybe I Need You

I’ve done nothing but think about death for the last 24 hours.  Death and love and hesitation and why.  And I just love this poem, so.  Here.

Derrick Brown - A Finger, Two Dots, Then Me

Poetry is going to save us.  I’m going to stay silent on this one.

“Brother” by Sarah Kay

Sarah Kay is the type of poet whose childhood you can imagine really clearly if you listen hard enough.  I think we would have been friends.  I like this one because it’s easy to think that she wrote it during the subway ride over to the club that night, after realizing she didn’t have anything to read.  You can see her looking down at her brother’s shirt and up at the subway car cathedral, carefully crafting metaphors and anecdotes.  It sounds like a rough draft, actually, which is probably perfect.

Let’s see if this sticks.  I have a full-blown obsession with slam poetry, and since moving out to Portland I’ve gotten to see a lot more of it in the flesh.  In the pouring rain, heart-cracking flesh.  And I want to talk about it in a space that isn’t Facebook.  So!  Here’s the first (and far from last) dose of Amy Everhart, a chick from Denver who could win anyone over with energy alone.  She performed this poem solo at Backspace Cafe a few weeks ago for her final bout in the Portland Poetry Slam.  She won, so she took home some Kashi cereal, the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS, and a tiara.  Don’t know if she’s the tiara type, but there ya go.  Enjoy.

I don’t know what I’m doing with this “blog thing.”  But I’d never seen this video before, and Sam Beam’s head looks like Mr. Peanut.  I saw Iron & Wine in concert this year; they electrified/jazzified all of their old stuff to accompany their newest album, Kiss Each Other Clean, which is equal parts jazz and electricity.  I continue to have mixed feelings, mostly of nostalgia and itchiness, but this song I can listen to.

Du calme…du calme.

My favorite part of Take Away shows is when they’re crowded.  Into a van, a coffee shop, a wine cellar.  It’s either cramped or empty midnight streets.  I like both settings, actually.

“The current has us now / It’s okay” - mhm.