She Keeps Bees

She Keeps Bees - Is What it is

bow to the power
make sure it knows
how heavy it is
be not completely
consumed
do not surrender
is what it is 
it is 
it's that kind of life
you are worthy
i am worthy
put me in the middle
you better push a bit more
how we are now
do not surrender
is what it is 
it is
it's that kind of life
you are worthy
i am worthy
needed to have it happen

Sea Wolf

Music consists of structures - harmonies, melodies, rhythms that we inbibe as we listen to it. We internalise the structures; they imprint on our souls, and this is what lets us reproduce the sounds - tap a rhythm, hum a melody. This is true of all music.

This is why, what excited me about the new Sea Wolf album was not just the novelty of listening to a new album by a great band, but also - the anticipation of the new person I would become while hearing it.

The new album is called 'Song Spells, No. 1: Cedarsmoke'.

Sea Wolf - Visions

Braids

Braids - Victoria

My father always said
To get out of my head
Maybe he meant to see
What's next to me
A beautiful three
With their roots extending
I hope forever
Happily

Coeur de Pirate - Prince Arthur

Coeur de Pirate - Prince Arthur

I'm speaking of stories that begin
where someone's blood is let
where some children must grow up too fast
and the words freeze time
she was leaving a family war
left without feelings feelings, even bad (ones)
sitting, on that same late evening
she finally saw her prince in the night
He had but only to throw a glance
for he never goes out this late
and she expects (lit. waits for) nothing
eyes covered in leather look towards the sky
he approached her
and he took her hand
that false hope to be there until the end
they became the jealousy of the jealous
like ordinary Serge and Jane
to make love by yelling
and yet they cried laughing
the months had passed and she sank
while he disappeared
teary eyes, clenched teeth
water of life (blood?) that she had let
for him she would have confronted the emptiness
that gnawed since
she let out all his secrets
to the heart of a man consumed by all his vices
that he would always have
and she knew very well
that those promises would one day end

http://lyricstranslate.com/en/prince-arthur-prince-arthur.html

The Thermals - Desperate Ground

Yeah right, I know it sounds like the new soundtrack to Game of Thrones^*. But the voice! The guitars! The garage-ness of it. I can't help but be amazed by The Thermals' new album Desperate Ground.

Published on April 16^th, the lyrics are more fit for Gimli than Legolas; they conjure up images of the Queens of the Stone Age going to war. Listen to Born to Kill, The Sunset, and of course the closing Our Love Survives. In the tradition of epic tales like Beowulf, the Lay of Hildebrand, and the Heike Monogatari, it isn't exactly dream pop. I like it. And yes, a good song can be shorter than 2:30!

^*) I haven't actually watched Game of Thrones -- only read the books. So forgive my ignorance if it really is the soundtrack.

R.L. Slater - Dying in Berlin

I got a chance to ask poet R.L. Slater about his work. Slater has recently published a book of poetry, 'Dying in Berlin', and is currently at work on his second book. 'Dying in Berlin' can be purchased here:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/minggeedoodee



IC: Soooooo what's your book about then? :)

Slater: it's about love, lost love, death, fear and how all these things manifest in an awesome drunks brain.


HOW DRUNKS HAVE SEX

We got naked and lonely and felt just fine
sometimes being lost, just where you need to be
the beer and the whiskey chased down the wine

I saw her miss me from across the bar
I felt her close but we'd never met
we got naked and lonely and felt just fine

Drifting and drinking, you get what you get
cold stairs, cold bodies, cold pillows
the beer and the whiskey chase down the wine

Mistreated, lied to, cast aside, still
we somehow find a partner at the bottom
we got naked and lonely and felt just fine

They will laugh at our drunken choices
they will scoff in their superior tone
the beer and the whiskey chase down the wine

Sneaky sunlight makes our choices real
after sex brews in the sheets with us
We got naked and lonely and felt just fine
the beer and the whiskey chased down the wine


IC: This poem seems to be one of your more structured poems, with the refrain that cadences in the last two lines.

Slater: It's one of my villanelle - it's a form of poetry ... 19 lines. Most of my stuff is free form random shit that pops into my head. It can tend to be pretty arrogant. I liked the idea of having a structure to exist in and, frankly, I think some of my best poems have come out of it.

IC: I love how it works with this poem - to contain the contrasts - the cognitive dissonance of encountering alienation with comfort.

Slater: I feel that alienation and comfort can be strange but wonderful bedfellows. Life is full of contrasts that are only a razor's edge apart

IC: Your poetry is often about life - do you think of yourself as a philosopher, or voice of the people?
Slater: I think of myself as both....and would hope that my poetry would convey both as well, but 'voice of the people' is a really broad field

IC: Who do you think the ideal audience for your poems are? Who should be reading your work?

Slater: hrmmmmm....my shit is pretty dark, but I think I can see everyone connecting to it, as far as my demographic - fuck if I know honestly....I could see see angry teenage boys connecting to it and 40 something housewives getting it as well.

IC: Do you work alone, and how do you feel about that?

Slater: The dark places I go to for some of my stuff, I don't think I'd want to take anyone else there

IC: Do you feel that your home town has informed your work?

Slater: Growing up in a town of 295 people in central Minnesota had a huge effect on me - it was a cultural vacuum.

IC: Your current book is entitled 'Dying in Berlin' and is for sale now.

Slater: it is

IC: With your move to Berlin - is the book a reflection of you after the move? Why 'Dying' in Berlin?

Slater: it's more of a metaphor than real--I don't feel like I'm dying here, I feel like I'm reborn, but the old me is dying and I welcome that. Evolving..shedding old skin....becoming something better.


IC: Has the publication of the book felt like the end of that process? like a new beginning?

Slater: it has...it took me 44 years to publish one fucking book, but because of Dying, I will have another one by the end of July.

IC: How, to you, is your new book different from your last?

Slater: I don't think it's very different at all - it's an extension - and I wouldn't want it to be different. I want to have a style that is noticed. Maybe when I'm on my death bed I'll write some other shit, like Bukowski did, but until then, I want to have a vibe that is 'me. You know it. THAT's an R.L. Slater poem. That's what I want people to say.

IC: The new poems you've shown me today - they seem like you, if anything *more* in your style, like it's been honed

Slater: That may be my only difference between Dying in Berlin and the stuff I'm writing now. I think I have gained a bit of brevity.

IC: In terms of your poetry - who would you say has influenced you the most? Who are your influences?

Slater: Charles Bukowski, hands down. There are others, of course - Dylan Thomas, Sandberg, Shakespeare, Vonnegut, but CB is a god in my mind.

IC: What are you reading at the moment?

Slater: 'Where I Lived and What I Lived For' by Henry david Thoureu is what I'm currently reading.

IC: Do you have advice for other poets, who might be thinking of publishing a book?

Slater: Just fucking do it. Waiting is wanting, and wanting is always disappointing. Live, love, fuck, evolve... those are my closing comments.

IC: Thanks for the interview. (smiles)

Slater: It was my pleasure.

'Dying in Berlin' can be purchased here:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/minggeedoodee