Riffs & Rants from the Road: Episode 15

Never mind

the torn-out pages of the book, forget

the tender bruise of facts—

to wit, that poetry

is not enough—

it's what she's got,

it's all there is

—Portrait of the Heart #7

Hello friends! Weird day for a Riffs & Rants drop, again, but the truth is that I rarely know what day it is anyway, so here we are. The past few weeks, perhaps because of my current immersion in politics & news of the world, I’ve found myself searching for a little solace in the form of poetry; I know that to be where it’s always found. I can never shake the echo of William Carlos Williams’ famous line: “It is difficult/ to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day/ for lack/ of what is found there.

So I send these in that same spirit. Listen and watch, watch but don’t listen, listen but turn off the damn video while you drive—do what you gotta do, I’m not the boss of you. May they bring you a little solace too, even if it’s the kind you get from singing the blues.

See you back here tomorrow with the weekly essay post—I’ll post audio of that one, too. Peace.