"after all, it is the adventure that counts"

Photo

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:20:24 -0400

ten more days in oshkosh, wi. there will always be a bit of my...

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:13:14 -0400

ten more days in oshkosh, wi. there will always be a bit of my heart here.

"My earliest poems were a way of talking to somebody. I suppose to myself."

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:31:50 -0400

““My earliest poems were a way of talking to somebody. I suppose to myself.””

- Philip Levine (via theparisreview)

repayment

Wed, 15 May 2013 01:29:10 -0400

Today I fidgeted nervously in front of a bald man at the bank while he explained to me the process of student loan repayment. This added curious spice to the situation of failure and inertia that I am currently in; suddenly, now, the thousands of dollars I slung willingly at education are in need of repayment.
I am not a unique case. Thousands of us mildly talented, academically successful types find themselves spurned by the plan they thought would carry them through the next phase of their lives. It was so easy to think that because I cared, because I tried, it would work out. But it simply isn’t like that, which is one of the oddest discoveries for a thoroughly American youngster. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work, you can’t be the self made man. You can only pick up the scraps.

My scraps are many. I feel sort of dismantled by these circumstances, incapable of moving forward because the bottom fell out entirely. I was supposed to be listening to the bald banker as he explained the details of my debt. But I spent the better part of that 20 minutes nursing a steady undercurrent of questions: What am I even good at? What did I do for 4 and a half years? Why am I sitting here discussing interest rates?

The odd thing, the very strange and terrifying thing, is that I’m the only one who can answer those questions. It was always easy to mouth the plan I believed in, the goals I had, the aspirations I arranged to fit what seemed best at the time, because the circumstances I was in seemed to echo them. That’s what college is, really - an echo chamber, where whatever you’re yelling loudest for comes back to you, making it seem true. Now, without that comfort, determining that I can only listen to my own voice - well, that’s another kind of repayment entirely.

in which i am my own worst editor

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:23:00 -0400

failed project proposals made to myself, by myself:

- an inventive portrayal of the day-to-day of a record store clerk in a small town
- a series of short stories about haunted churches
- personal narratives as album reviews
- ernest hemingway fan fiction
- Thought Catalog
- responses to particularly bad Rolling Stone write-ups
- a lengthy piece on the topic of ‘rejection’ full of Keats references and almost gleeful self deprecation

me, forever, to everyone

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:19:25 -0400

me, forever, to everyone

subpoprecords: The always wonderful J Mascis.

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:38:01 -0400

subpoprecords:

The always wonderful J Mascis.

"In the novel or the journal you get the journey. In a poem you get the arrival."

Tue, 07 May 2013 14:26:36 -0400

““In the novel or the journal you get the journey. In a poem you get the arrival.””

- May Sarton (via theparisreview)

theimpossiblecool: Strummer, 1985. photo by Josh Cheuse

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:48:46 -0400

theimpossiblecool:

Strummer, 1985.

photo by Josh Cheuse

"I joined a band to tell everyone to fuck off, and if somebody said to me, “Your image is shit,” I’d..."

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:24:52 -0400

“I joined a band to tell everyone to fuck off, and if somebody said to me, “Your image is shit,” I’d have gone, “Fuck off, knob head!” and if someone had said, “Your music’s shit,” I would have nutted them. That’s what’s lacking in groups. They’ve missed out that growing-up stage of being bloody-minded and fucking clueless. You have to have ultimate self-belief. You have to believe right from the word go that you’re great and that the rest of the world has to catch up with you. Of us lot, Ian was the best at that. He believed in Joy Division completely.”

- Peter Hook, Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division (via nedhepburn)

"All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why."

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:50:49 -0400

““All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.””

- James Thurber (via psychotherapy)

copycats: Ignition (1901 Remix) by The Hood Internetoriginally...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:11:27 -0400

copycats:

Ignition (1901 Remix) by The Hood Internet
originally Ignition by R. Kelly + 1901 by Phoenix

BOUNCE BOUNCE: We don’t usually repeat tracks, but when R. Kelly and Phoenix did a live mashup at Coachella we pretty much didn’t have a choice but to recreate it. Hopefully this means R. Kelly is at the stage of his career where he just shows up and sings “Ignition (Remix)” over other people’s songs all the time.

The Mixtape Volume Seven drops April 30th.

work/closing alone while listening to r. kelly

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 23:45:07 -0400

work/closing alone while listening to r. kelly

“It is interesting how much of an ordinary enough life can be a poem and have its own kind of...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 22:42:37 -0400

“It is interesting how much of an ordinary enough life can be a poem and have its own kind of beauty and be useful to other people. I guess I am someone who likes to push to the edge of what it is OK to have in a poem. That is my mischievous side, to teeter on the edge of good taste, on what is permissible.”
- Sharon Olds

what my circumstances currently feel like

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 14:20:59 -0400

what my circumstances currently feel like

chiseler:

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:58:36 -0400

chiseler:

Lust For Lascaux: Speaking American by Bob Hicok

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:39:49 -0400

Lust For Lascaux: Speaking American by Bob Hicok:

poetbabble:

When he learned I’m a poet he asked if I knew
this other poet. We don’t all know each other,
I told him as he informed me she likes cheese
similes. Love is like cheese, time is like cheese,
cheese is surprisingly like cheese. Then I said
I know this poet and he went, see. “He went, see”
means he…

take yourself places/milwaukee art museum, april 2013

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:07:21 -0400

take yourself places/milwaukee art museum, april 2013

little edie, the early years, or, four hours of sleep

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 01:22:56 -0400

little edie, the early years, or, four hours of sleep

Photo

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:29:30 -0400