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Dusty papyrus and
Ancient hieroglyphics
Kept in three chambers
Of the heart

A pilgrimage
To pyramids
And catacombs

The night embalmed
Dark corners and
Crowded bazaars
Music and dance

An urn full
Primeval symbols
And spirits
And fragrance

To preserve.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Mad Men, a drama on AMC about a Madison Ave. advertising firm in the 1960s, is quite possibly the best TV drama I’ve ever seen. Don Draper, the terribly flawed and intoxicatingly likable main character, appeals to something primal and existential in us. The following is a clip from the 1st episode of season 2.

Highly recommended.

Gone Baby Gone

This movie will surprise you. I was very impressed with both of the Affleck brothers - Ben in directing and Casey in the lead role.

This kid is 14…

Seven days of falling

I would basically echo everything Mike said about the tragic passing of the irreplaceable Esbjorn Svensson.

Mike and I saw the Esbjorn Svensson Trio at Blues Alley in early 2006 and I was blown away by their music and equally as struck by their humility and demeanor. I’m disappointed that I’ll never see Svensson again live, but his albums have been with me in cloudy skies and on rainy nights.

They still will be.

Asleep at the wheel

“You wake up at Seatac, SFO, LAX. You wake up at O’Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth, BWI. Pacific, mountain, central. Lose an hour, gain an hour. This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time. You wake up at Air Harbor International. If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person?”

Edward Norton: “Fight Club”

After over 50 flights this year I feel as if I’m in a constant sleep walk - a waking malaise characterized by heavy eye lids and hotel bars. A sense of place, the anthropology we create around our home, our friends, our city, is inextricably tied to our sense of self. I’m getting used to that sense of self being a piece of checked luggage.

Don’t Trust Myself

I was lucky enough, despite the inclement weather, to see John Mayer at Merriweather Post Pavilion this past weekend. Soaked and poured on by much more than the rain that night, per usual at his concerts. Here is a clip from his recent DVD release, Where The Light Is.

In Your Atmosphere

Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am
In my relationship to you

Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch your life play out
In pictures from afar

Wherever I go
Whatever I do
I wonder where I am
In my relationship to you

Wherever you go
Wherever you are
I watch that pretty life play out
In pictures from afar

–John Mayer “In Your Atmosphere”–

Four letter word (or an homage to Saul Williams)

i gave all things
for a feeling
greater than the sum
of every thing
all things leading
to a four letter word

four letters of
everything
takes me to
ever
forever
being the word
i took from love
evolve
being the word
i found when
i looked at love in a mirror

my looking glass stood
half empty
of helpless
heart full
of a feeling
that didn’t leave
when she did

What if?

I’m at home over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, spending time with my dog and my family. It’s been a reflective few days, saturated in malaise and thought but not much sleep. As I navigated the landscape of those thoughts late last night I started browsing through my old bookshelf and pulled a number of Shel Silverstein books to browse through, including A Light in the Attic.

Paging through this old, dusty book, inscribed lovingly by my grandmother, reminded me that for all the effort we may pour into trying to vocalize our feelings or explain our philosophies, sometimes language that a child can understand is the most piercing.

One poem stood out in particular, entitled “Whatif.”

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I’m dumb in school?
Whatif they’ve closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there’s poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don’t grow taller?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won’t bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don’t grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!