Becoming a Musician

For you, there is the idea of people and each of these people are likely to have hands and feet and eyes and bodies. Some people are without things. But others, like certain drummers, have drumsticks and drums and foot pedals and cymbals. You don't care if that shaggy green rug has been cleaned extensively or not. If the dog piss or the rotten milk smells it doesn't matter. There is that certain sound. This music is hardcore drum bullet smack. The other things are glue too. Everything sticking everything. The whole world goes black, or not, but the punk music in the early 1980's matters. Not that it matters. Move 100% to the inner ear, or nothing. Everything on the inside is barefoot. The love you have is red.

Returning from NY and DC

There are many gracious people involved like, Amy King, Rebecca and Ellie, Daniel Nester, Michael Schaivo, Aaron Belz, Aaron's friends and cousins, Douglas Rothchild, Reb Livingston, Maureen Thorson, and, like a dream at the end, the beautiful Sami Miranda. Also, there's the baby sitter Jo, and my mother in law. And my wife is always just being greater and greater. Also, I suppose, airplane pilots and airplane crews, bus drivers, taxi cab operators, subway managers, and Amtrack trains. And the people who make pizza and fresh ingredients and Italian sandwiches. There are also the places that sell coats when you're cold and postcards, t-shirts, books, and delicious chicken salads. Also, there are bartenders and people you don't know who buy you drinks and other people who you engage in pleasant conversation. There are the nice people who buy the book and the ones who say something kind and thank you and say hello or something else. There is the crazy woman in the restaurant who is very entertaining while physically assaulting her male companion. There are the German tourists who walk out during the second poem. There are the car rides over bridges, through tunnels, underwater, down highways. The roadsigns, the convenience stores, etc. There is Michael's i-pod playing, etc. Conversations about cougars, work, directions. Also, Daniel's Brian May guitar. Also, the two cute kids on the subway and those shady guys who got off at successive stops, all watchful, whatnot, and nervous. There is Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan. There is Astoria and Williamsburg. There is 6th Avenue, Greenwich Village, Union Station, Penn Station, and 8th Avenue. The Metro card system. Addresses. There is Tom Koontz's red pick up truck, and Tom Koontz in other ways. There is Jen Knox. There is a thrift store involved, a hidden bottle of bourbon, wireless Internet service, licorice toothpaste, and photographs. There is hope of other things. There is getting lost downtown, at midnight, half-drunk, but quickly saving yourself. There is the ability to unlock a door that at first seems un-lockable. There is the forgetting of things. There are also car horns. There's the kids at home. There's the beautiful wife again. There's the desperation. There's the sleeping. There's the thumbing the pages of a book. There are showers and small farts.

East of Indiana

It is possible that I will see you this weekend.
I hope it happens.
Even as I'm lonely when I look out the window,
I find a landscape I can wear like
ear phones. This is way better
than a Walkman. But I do remember when
a cassette in a Walkman was terrific.
But that's not the New York City I know.
Of course, I don't know New York
City or D. C. .
What I'm aware of is a thumbtack.
Perhaps, you could attack this
from other angles, but you'd still find
something else.
But not this weekend, I'm thinking.
If you see me.
Well, that's not exactly right, but
I am open to new seeings.
What I'm saying is obvious as long as you're
privy to my thoughts.
Which is not the thought I'm having.

Important Photos in Your Life

Here are pictures from my brother's family's visit last week. My brother took all these pictures. He's a great brother. He always has been.

You're probably not interested in these, and I probably wouldn't be if I were you, but to me they represent a kind of perfection in the universe, one that involves your son's last soccer game, the awarding of his trophy, and the multiple pictures of him holding his groin as if he needs to pee. Other perfect events taking place are your daughter, who is the baby in these pictures, your wife, the beautiful blond woman in these pictures, your brother, the bald guy you see only once or twice, your sister-in-law, the beautiful brunette woman in these pictures, your son, the blondest kid in all of these pictures, your nephew, the nearly eight-year-old boy in these pictures, your niece, the beautiful six year-old girl here. You are in these pictures too. I mean me.

This has nothing to do with Hitler's mustache. This is the reverse of Hitler's Mustache. These are the answers you've been looking for, even if you're not looking. I'm not talking about being rescued, I'm talking about not being lost.

Travelling

What I haven't mentioned, but what I should've said
was that I'll be reading with very good poets on my trip.
There's Aaron Belz and Michael Schiavo and Jennifer Knox
and Daniel Nester. This isn't the list,
it's the list of the people I feel like I know.
I feel good about this situation.
I feel good about it.
My goodness, you can't expect me to be something that knows
every you.
Anyway, there are people.
I am aware of all sorts of situations and yet what
I fathom is like the word fathom.
I can't seem to put it all together. I know I have tickets. I know that
planes fly. I am absolutely aware of the industry of
taxi cabs and the turnstiles into the subway. Even
the predictable nature of strangers astonishes me.

Your average cartoon uses decent colors because
everyone knows that a simpler world is a happier one.
I don't think you should take that as serious wisdom or advice.
I'm surprised you're even reading this.

Hitler's Mustache: Readings that Will Happen Soon

Friday Oct 26 @ Stain Bar(766 Grand St., Brooklyn, NYC) 7:00 pm.


Saturday Oct 27 @ The Capital District Federation of Ideas (3825 Madison Ave., Albany, NY) 4:oo pm


Sunday Oct 28 @ Zinc Bar (90 W. Houston St., Greenwich Village, NYC)


Monday Oct 29 @ Bar Rouge in Dupont Circle (1315 16th St. NW, Washington D. C.) 8:00 pm.

Terrific New Records

My brother and his family
are here tonight
and no doubt photos may
follow, but it's good
to have a brother and family
and it's good
for me
to have kids and have
kids play with my kids
and act like a kid.
As a kid I had my
brother and he chased me
on hockey skates.
What about humans?
That's what I'm talking
about. The way
a robot-free future
sounds on the phonograph.

A New Review!

"gravely hilarious"

The Poem You Write on Sunday

I was busy.
That's what I was saying.
I was busy is what I was saying.
And I was.
That's how come I didn't do it.
Seriously.
I didn't do it because of that.
Which is lame.
It is lame.
I mean, it's lame.
I mean, everyone is busy.
I know, I was busy.
That's what I'm saying.
I was so busy.
When I looked at
my watch I saw
a stunted teenager.
The emotions
are inferior.
I was super busy.
Anyway,
that's what I
was saying here.

What Happens in the Future

It is possible that car accidents
almost happen but then don't.
Also, we are all aware of the way tires
might skid and the way there may
or may not be another car in
the other lane. And yes, there are
bridges and intersections and off-ramps
and whatnot. And the radio, it
is always on. It is also true
that other possibilities exist and that
some of them don't have real names.
This business of naming is tricky.
Not so much the currency changing hands,
but the feelings involved.
I'm telling you, I'm no pond of sin
but when certain people are floating on me
casting their lines in
I can't help but want to hurt them.
Also, when the traffic wants to kill me
I get a funny feeling in my lip
and start to snort some.

Things That You Missed

It is very likely that you weren't at the MT Cup tonight for the poetry reading given by Joshua Marie Wilkenson and Noah Eli Gordon. People, it was terrific. You really missed something. When they read together they're a bit like Run D.M.C., which is sweet. It's the sort of thing that works you over and gives you the business. Business is good.

Hospitality

There are people in St. Louis who are very
friendly and welcoming. They have daughters
and a son who have read(sic) hair (seriously).
There are moments in time driving
into St. Louis when you luckily avoid a horrible car
wreck.
Those moments are very fast
but they happen quickly
if they don't happen permanently.
And it didn't happen permanently. Instead
the moment was a moment.
I was thinking the whole time
that I wasn't thinking that
there is a world out there that is real.
The country music on the radio
is just like country music on the radio.
But the actual radio signal is different.
The twanging vocals or Telecasters
are different than the sounds on
other radio stations.
I signal for something,
but no one sees.
Now, one whole sea in a tub.

When You're Nervous

If you're like me you're
contriving to be human, thinking,
well, there is no reason not
to be human and what do I have
to lose? Which is exactly true
except that you know there
are things to lose.
Even when you have nothing,
still something is grazing
in your pasture.
Ah, you say, but I'm no farmer!
Yes, I say, and I'm no farmer.
I'm not even going to get into
the decisions a president must make.
Still, there are poets like Liam
Rector who kill themselves.
Even other people are dead.
Some people maintain summer gardens.
It all starts to melt together.
Documentaries make it clear that
there is a branch of reality called history.
Even if you're not a fan of
assassination, you consider bullets.

Something in St. Louis, Seen from a Telescope

I'm reading here on Thursday evening. That should be cool. It'll be good to see Aaron Belz. If you'll be in St. Louis maybe you will see Aaron Belz too. Good for us two. I'm going to drive the good car and leave my wife with the truck, who's going to trade that with my friend Darren so that she can use his car. She can't fit both the kids in the truck. Darren can easily fit himself in the truck. He is a normal-sized man and it is a normal-sized truck.