first romance

she screamed. the sound cut a swath across the playground. everone fell silent and looked over. swings stopped and balls bounced low. if oliver had been paying attention, he would have seen out of the corner of his eye mrs. Swetnam's round mid-life body bouncing toward them.

"but i saved you."

leona knew this was a plea.

"well," as tears slid over her freckles, "i'm saving myself this time."

the moment that mrs. Swetnam grabbed oliver's arm and dragged him stumbling acress the kickball field, the whole of the third and fourth grade population that had been standing staring ran toward the scene. "i heard he kicked her." "where's the blood?" rumors flew as the children crowded round to see what remained of the fighters. the kids and mrs. Swetnam were equally dismayed with what they found. neither of the combatants said a word about what happened. leona had a steel trap expression while mrs. Swetnam couldn't seem to get oliver to keep his jaw from sagging open.

they didn't speak or even look at each other until the ice cream social a full two and a half months later, and by that time their thoughts of each other were as flavorless as the imitation butterscotch topping that dribbled down oliver's chin.

from the guilt

i think about writing
to recover the overwhelming sense of guilt
i get
from not writing
and i learn

i like the guilt
or the pressure from undulating vowels
syllables
and mechanistic grammar
using my uvula as a punching bag

resting on my clavical bone
stretched out on the fantastic idea of romance
and heartache
and the times when i think so selfish
sink so slow

i think about writing
and the prophetic escapism it allows me
torture in the abstract
bruises from theory
and palpitations from the conceptual

i like the guilt
and i know it wont serve me well
wont slip a pen in my hand
and keep me from wandering into dirty conversations
dirty and deceptive monotone squealing

resting on my clavical bone
i wait impatiently for the tune to a key
and for a key i cant reach
driven from the guilt

coltrane

the space
the colors
differing feel drums paint and splash
warm soft Latina feel
laid back and driving Modern pop art piano
rationing sound, blocks of solid
Thumb Thumb big wood box
play with time
on off at the same time.
then, John, the lovely strands play the air, shinning
from the spinneret and blowing
this or that hit then drip down to
rest
a thought goes
but planted buds forth,
opening, then, to a geometric blue.
at once cool and ernest, taut and supple
a slow drink of the fragrence,
a woody potion
set the head to cruising.
and beneath that -
room to breathe.
a crisp slice of blue.

"by it's fruit we judge the tree"

thumb moves in
fingers seperate tender flesh from fruit.
gentle fragrence floats
tart citrus spits.

Revealed! is the glorious work.
jewel of the sun god
stardust shimmering in the
palm of your hand.

flesh against flesh,
bone and seed -
equal parts creation.

pirate cone

i've included to your right a link to jake speed's "speedy delivery", a weekly topical song from cincinnati's best-loved red-haired high school english teacher. it looks like the cliftones will be recording one with him soon. huzzah!

art of the mix tape

1. ohio river waltz - jake speed and the freddies
2. at
3. terraplane blues - paul pena
4. gules
5. mal hombre - lydia medozza
6. drunkard's special - coley jones
7. yankle
8. movement III., quartet no. 15 in a minor - beethoven
9. hora
10. idumea - sacred harp singers at liberty church
11. a change is going to come - sam cooke
12. hesitation blues - doc & merle watson
13. it wasn't god who made honky tonk angels - kitty wells
14. mentsh
15. dry bones - boscom lamar munsford
16. while my lady sleeps - chet baker
17. bad luck and trouble - lightnin' hopkins
18. one too many mornings - bob dylan
19. shpeyt
20. movement V. louange à l'éternité de jésus - quartet for the end of time - olivier messaien
21. en gallop - joanna newsom

midsummer nights' dreams

ive had vivid, narrative dreams lately. i cant remember all the details naturally, but a few of the brightest images. in one my jazz band was playing a version of "whoopin' blues" that is on a eureka brass band record. it is one of those tunes where the band plays a lick together and the whole energy of the band and the crowd unite and bursts out uncontrollably. what a band eureka is.
in another moment i was playing something like a giant organ, and i was leading what felt like the whole of the united states in singing a slowed down meaningful version of "america". i dont think its square to be patriotic the way i am. maybe old fashioned.
last night i dreamt i was living in the woods in a tent. i think the rent was pretty low. you, lauren, and some other folks were living in the same woods a bit away in a building, and i would come over to use shower and kitchen or whatever a concrete building had to offer. we were together in a room where there was a couch. someone had spilled some food all over the couch; it looked like a curry-based something with peas in it. you, lauren, laid down on the couch, unknowing, and got it in your wonderful hair. i felt bad that i wasnt able to prevent it. but later on i ran into an affluent looking fellow walking in our woods, and he said that he had been looking at our blog and wanted to provide us with funding to continue and expand our ventures, because he thought there should be greater emphasis on our brand of publication. i felt good when i told you the news. dreams can be very affirming.

i have been away from this for a while because i have been working 6 days a week. everything runs together when you are occupied. i have thought every day about writing poetry or stories or anything, so it feels like i have been involved, even if i havent. i wanted to say thank you for letting me visit, and i wish it could have been longer. also, extend my thanks to ryan for the direction to the website. being a social creature is much easier with friends like yours.

unknown to me, there was a brief video recording of my jazz band 'the cliftones' made at the breakdown gig in june. one of banjo dave's friends made a forty second clip from the middle of one of our hymn tunes and put it on youtube.com. famous. so if you go to youtube and lookup 'cliftones' and 'southgate' it will pop up. it is a little strange coming in at the end of a solo, but you get the idea. note the ceiling fan, girls in dresses, standing room only, and benny the tuba player.