℗ Originally Released 1934 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
daydreaming w/ Bob Arnold
F R E D E R I C K W I S E M A N
Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
Caitlin Ochs for The New York Times
A Tale of Burnt Skin
carry me through the forest in your throat
there in the dark blue grass ants crawl over yellow bones
and bright sweet strawberries grow among corpses spilling a sweet smell
but let me collect the wild strawberries
God I really want to stay alive
don't breathe don't speak
you are the girl who tamed the Steppenwolf
didn't they tell you that you shouldn't burn skin
bitch where is your red scalp go remove his sticky promises
on the black twisted trunks by bygone trees
couldn't you wake him when he fell asleep with gum in his mouth
for it was already the apocalypse
now take a jar and strain your poisoned milk
over your cold first born
the one who doesn't know the way never gets lost
I carved maps on your back when I started to come
and kept the scars for myself
let them not judge those who were sentenced to death let them judge me
your venous arterial one . . .
lose me lost I am so tired of going back . . .
somewhere in a magical kingdom there lived a boy with a dimple in his chin
with a crater in his chest
with insects on his head: one half of the world — for mother
the other half — for father
he played the flute put birds in a box
but from his music wild berries sprouted
something quiet and unnoticeable like the creation of dust
happens in the hours when you let me go
the rain finally becomes rain and happily soaks into the earth
the sand cleverly stirs and grasps shoes in its lips
a wolf embroidered in cross-stitch is nailed above the bed for protection
until the time I am jarred awake again
carry me through the forest
the music broke out beat rustled
better never-ending music came from birds' eyes
in the blockaded space
and the one who initiated it
couldn't stop the blood
_________________________
Anna Malihon
Girl With A Bullet
translated from Ukrainian by Olena Jennings
World Poetry 2025
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHNNY CASH
Johnny Cash, A fly-on-the-wall account that follows the near-legendary singer on tour in the USA during the late sixties. Crammed with superb music footage the film also takes time out to relax with the man behind the most famous voice in Country music.
s h a d o w & r e a l m
i
here even now i see a place,
a free place,
here in the shadow.
ii
this shadow
is not for sale.
iii
the sea too
casts a shadow perhaps,
and so does time.
iv
the wars of shadows
are games:
no shadow
stands in another's light.
v
those who live in the shadow
are difficult to kill.
vi
for awhile
i step out of my shadow,
for a while.
vii
those who want to see light
as it is
must retire
into the shadow.
viii
shadow
brighter than the sun:
cool shadow of freedom.
ix
completely in the shadow
my shadow disappears.
x
in the shadow
even now there is room.
____________________________________
HANS MAGNUS ENZENSBERGER
translated by Michael Hamburger
poems for people who don't read poems
Atheneum 1968
A Poem for the Man Who Shot My Father
I don't know where you are now,
so for the purposes of this poem
I will imagine you are dead.
The circumstances of your death
should be ironic. A bullet smashes into
the back of your skull. A bullet
smashes into the back
of your skull. A bullet smashes
into the back
of your skull.
A coincidence.
For the purposes of this poem, but only
for the purposes
of this poem,
I will imagine you in a hell
where you are scraped and torched
each second, every second,
and you feel it all,
you feel everything.
For the purposes of this poem
I would like you to describe
my father's face
the moment he turned
and saw you
wild-eyed and thirsty
the moment he knew
the moment before he turned away
to run
And for the purposes
of this poem, I hold
that picture in my head. I will live
over
and
over
that look of an animal dazed
in the headlights
because, even though
I have imagined you dead,
you are probably not too dead to remember
that there is a hell
here too.
_____________________
Patricia Smith
The Intentions of Thunder
New and Selected Poems
Scribner, 2025
℗ 2001 Warner Records Inc. Assistant Mix Engineer Mixer: Brian Grimmel Mixer: Jimmy Boyle Performed By: John Frusciante Producer, Vocals: John Frusciante Masterer: Vlado Meller Writer: John Frusciante
House of Peeling Walls
I leave this house to the birds in the birdbath
To the leaves that float down like feathers from the sky
To the Lakhori brick I hold in my hand
To the black ants that live inside the walls
To their ears that hear thunder before there's thunder to be heard
To the irises that climb over stones when they get in the way
To the shingles that came down rivers when there were rivers
To the flowering clover that spreads like fire
To the buttress root that uprooted the garden shed
To the dawn that widens the crack in its road when light seeps in
To the bougainvillea twigs thorning the ground I step on
To the woodpile stacked against a leaning wall
To the new leaves of March that arrive with a cracker burst
To the rose vine that doesn't know where to stop
To the water in the iron bucket
To the squirrel that darts round the corner of a medium-sized country
______________________________
ARVIND KRISHNA MEHROTRA
Of Least Concern
Centre for the Creative and the Critcal
2025