warmthofrelease raze what you just wrote on the_story_of_my_mom is searing in its honesty and intensity. those words ran right through me. i don't know who you are. but i'm glad you're here. in all senses of the word. 240130 ... epitome of incomprehensibility I second that! You're a powerful storyteller and the piece captures tangly emotions in a few words. Made me wonder what we carry forward from our parents. My mom was a bit the opposite, anxious about little things (e.g. when I was a baby, she worried why my baseline temperature was lower than "normal" - turns out the normal on that can vary). Anyway, please do stick around to write more things (if that's something you want to do). 240130 ... raze i like your old_shit. it's good shit. (and maybe i just wanted an excuse to say "shit" a bunch of times here, BUT YOU DELIVERED.) 240222 ... releaseofwarmth thank you for the kindness. there is more old_shit where that came from. in fact there's a stack of paper 5x as thick that you won't see, compared to the stack of things I -might- be able to do something with. but it's kind of the only productive thing I'm doing in this goddamn d(r)ead of winter. so if you like it I'm glad, and good news for you--more to come. 240223 ... raze down_the_slide_of_freedom is one powerful poem. holy_shit did i feel that one. 250113 ... e_o_i raze beat me to it, but seconded. Hell yes. It reminds me of a worry seesaw of my own (similar, not the same - slide vs. seesaw, see) where I'm going side to side with the something like "If too many people depend on me, I'll let them down. If no one depends on me, I won't have motivation to DO anything." 250113 ... e_o_i edits (ignore the "the" before "something") 250113 ... raze i hope this is taken as the compliment it's meant to be — i read antagonizing_lions_is_not_a_total_waste_of_time as a hip_hop song that played on the dusty, half-broken radio that lives inside my brain. and it was glorious. 250423 ... warmthofrelease Thanks. Absolutely taken as a compliment and entirely accurate. Glad that the musicality of that piece could translate over text, but it still requires the reader to have music in their heart in order for it to work. Conspicuous influence: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KlQESTshOPw The man's been dead for nearly 7 years and his legacy just keeps growing, his absurdly prolific ~10 year discography is aging like well maintained real estate in Denver with many bottles of fine wine on the property. You don't need to know he's the GOAT. May he rest in peace. 250424 ... e_o_i damn, i_wish_good_luck_to_all_the_spiders is so good 250506 ... ovenbird I was just about to say the same thing! Spiders everywhere must be so excited to have a place in such a beautiful poem. It seems to me that they are not celebrated at much as they should be. Those last few lines were so good! 250506 ... warmthofrelease Thanks! So often some of my favorite things that I've written (and other people's favorites) are things that just roll off the tongue. As if they had already been written somehow and I'm just the messenger. Like it had already been in me for a while before it was written. That piece was one of those things. I'd like to think that kind of sincerity translates. Or maybe it's just that it's a lot less abstract than I usually get. Either way, I'm grateful to have an audience at all, even more grateful for a complimentary one. 250508 ... raze i was going to say you've been killing_it lately with the "i searched my notes" poems, and then i woke up to how_is_the_water and ... i don't even have words for that one. what a powerful piece of writing. thank you for letting us see the water that makes you move and moves through you. it's beautiful. 250612 ... ovenbird Same! I've really been enjoying reading your poems in the morning and how_is_the_water viscerally described a feeling that I'm very much familiar with! There are so many forces at work when trying to figure out what to do about love. I think I've stood in that same river, figuratively if not literally. It was beautifully written. 250612 ... raze "kissing muddy windows in the long since stolen cities we once built" goddamn, man. that's so good. 250615 ... e_o_i It's a pleasure to read the "i_searched_my_notes" series, like i_searched_my_notes_for_the_word_down - the blend of abstractness and image, the play with words even when there's hurt at the world's unreasonableness. Keep at it (in which "it" can mean this or other writing - not to be limiting). 250702 ... ovenbird I thought i_searched_my_notes_for_the_word_strength was a particularly provocative entry. There are some fascinating internal rhythms going on in there. And the second piece was deeply thought provoking. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your words! 250923 ... warmthofrelease Thanks. I'd be lying if I said that entry wasn't special. I think I'm almost done with the notes series. I had been kind of saving "strength" or waiting for the right time to post it. But I wanted that to be a sort of conclusion. And then one epilogue or encore or something like that, which I'll post sometime soon. 250924 ... ovenbird Consider this a standing ovation for the whole "i_searched_my_notes" series. I was fascinated by the way that unfolded and evolved and seeing the whole thing listed in one place provides a whole new dimension in that it allows for reflection on the words you chose. I'm looking forward to whatever is next! 250929 ... ovenbird Just wanted to say, it's nice to have you back! I always look forward to your album reviews. 251028 ... raze i_believe_perhaps_because_i_must really struck me. that's such a great and evocative linked poem. (also, it's so good to have you back around these parts.) 251116 ... warmthofrelease thanks. I liked what you guys were doing about a month ago with things like apples_and_honey_slept_creepy_and_weird and go_on_without_me so I pieced that thing together but at the time I didn't like how it turned out. then I read all_of_us and was inspired again, I revisited what I made with fresh eyes and decided it wasn't so bad and posted it. glad you liked it. I do think there's something sharp and penetrating about it. it's hard to know what kind of time and energy I will or won't be able to give to this place but there's great comfort in knowing it's always here. 251116 ... ovenbird I was really moved by felt_compelled_to_leave_a_memento I think it's such a beautifully human thing to want to leave signs and symbols in the world. And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're here! 251221 ... e_o_i I'm digging the vim and unexpected images of rhyme_champagne_with_lasagna. It isn't up my alley, strictly; it's floating above the alley in a multicoloured air balloon with a spectacled pig and a piano inside, and I like it better that way. 251230 ... ovenbird Just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying how the "finally home" series is developing. I'm fascinated by the way you build meaning with small blocks of text that are distinct but sing to each other. There's something architectural about your approach. As if each segment is a carefully placed brick and we can't yet see the whole. 260128 ... ovenbird I appreciated the reminder about Fragile. I don't have a copy but as soon as I looked it up it knocked a bunch of memories loose. My dad had that one on vinyl and the cover art somehow burned itself into my brain and is stuck to a memory of picking through his record collection. I had a listen while making breakfast and it's funny how you can forget an album exists for a while and then have it resurface along with chunks of your childhood. My son plays the bass. I told him he should give that one a listen! 260525 ... warmthofrelease Thank you! I feel like music has its own unique memory banks, the way smells do. You can go without breathing one in for so long and then be hit with it and feel a rush of familiar that takes you back to the land of how_long_has_it_been_since. Music can unlock you and take you back in the same way. That's why it's a good thing to share, and to pass along recommendations. More than happy to do my part. 260525 ... raze i really enjoyed your record_store travelogue. reading that made me feel like i was there with you. i always assume i've got "heartattack and vine" on vinyl, and i'm always surprised when i discover it isn't so. i need to remedy that one of these days. that was my very first tom_waits album. it blew my fourteen-year-old mind. 260618 ... ovenbird I also found your record store tour an absolute delight. I know that feeling of barely maintained restraint so well! My problem is compounded by having two excellent record stores in very close proximity to each other, which means going through the process of restraint (and frequently failure on that front) twice when I make it to that end of the city! And I love that Big Thief album. It’s one I think probably needs to be added to my own collection at some point. There’s really nothing like sitting down and listening to a new haul of albums…and now I’m very tempted to trek out to visit my own record stores! 260618 ... warmthofrelease thanks ya. wanted to notate and write about a record_store trip ever since raze blathed it. I'd been hungry to music shop for weeks. Invested enough to still go 20 hours removed from my most recent sleep. Took little notes as I went, looking forward to writing about it later. It reads as a list. In theory, writing a play by play of my thoughts, where my focus is, and what's drawing my attention sounds like a terrible read. But when I'm in my element, when the aficionado is aficionading, my thoughts and vision are permeated by a passion that I think I can translate into some nonfic. I'm glad you liked it! And I do hope you choose to support your local record stores too! Or hell even if it's a regional chain, just keep some of these poor guys lights on please they're sowing and tending the fruits that my spirit needs and they're getting bullied squeezed and suffocated by the online resale market more and more every day. I don't want to live in a world where my only option for a shopping experience is one great big internet vending machine, where you say what you want to buy and you pay what you're told. 260619 ... ovenbird Re: record_store This most recent entry was just as delightful as the first. I tend to enjoy a stream of consciousness tour of something that brings a person joy. I think the way you experience record stores maps on quite closely to how I experience used bookstores. Maybe that deserves its own blathe one day. There’s just something special about going into a place that’s full of synchronistic possibilities. I like stumbling across the unexpected, finding just the right piece of creative beauty at the right time. 260627 what's it to you? who go blather from