SONG OF THE DAY: Noches de Media Luna

Wrestling with goats underneath the cheshire cat moon, blasting cumbia from a Bluetooth speaker to drown out the failure demons.

SONG OF THE DAY: Rap-O Clap-O

As I get older, I hate the cold weather more and more, so these last couple weeks before winter solstice when it’s dark early and cold, they feel like hell (ironically) to me. The only thing that really cuts the cold is electro funk. I’ve been tinkering with an old ham radio, a Numark CDJ I got at the thrift store, a couple old turntables, Casio synth, and a few assorted oscillator barometric pressure type doohickeys that were in the basement when I bought this place, trying to figure out a way to somehow condense electro funk into heat. I’m getting closer, but I’m afraid to leave it all hooked together while I’m not watching it, because this shit might catch on fire. I thought about running a drop cord out into the most spacious part of the yard to leave it plugged all together to see what happens, but sometimes I worry about electrical cords actually be Yakubian trick fuse lines to eventually blow myself up. You always gotta worry about shit like that, especially after having spent the whole morning reading Malachi Z. York’s Dr. York vs. The Computer earlier this week. The news has stories of all these giant data centers being built to support AI technology, and then there’s old ass he of ill repute Dr. Malachi Z. York foretelling of computers replacing sacred texts, and “Mechanized Makkah” people make pilgrimages to. Of course a lot of that particular tract is the old school “mark of the beast” computer tech type shit from the ‘90s era pre-computer conspiracy realm. It’s ironic that conspiracies actually gained traction once online become the foundation. People go to the beast to learn to be wary of the beast. But I have gotten sidetracked, because I pulled the freestyle rapping prompt “rap-o clap-o Joe Sataan style” from my gallon pickle jar full of folded up neon index cards with prompts written on them. No idea what I was thinking when past me wrote that as a writing prompt, but today me appreciated it and ran with it. But “rap-o clap-o Joe Sataan style” plus Dr. Malachi Z. York treatises in pdf form, well it’s a tough combo that the average person can’t navigate. I really need to get this electro funk heater finished though.

SONG OF THE DAY: Rock Your Baby (kudzu'd)

In the summer, I’d call it foggy brain, but it’s cold as fuck so it feels more like mush brain. The thoughts don’t chop through as cleanly, and get hung up on the briars of memory or fear or delusion or shit man I don’t even know. In periods like this, I try to be chill to myself and just survive the sludge. We expect too much from ourselves sometimes, especially those of us who make a habit of handling way too much because we never could trust others to come through with solid support. You get to a point where you depend on yourself to be impossibly solid, inhumanely solid. It ain’t sustainable at a forever pace. So when it all turns to sludge and the ability to plan much less do gets mushy, fuck it man, just ride it out. Most of what you think you need to do, you don’t need to do. Maintain the minimum, and rest. Not just not doing stuff but worried about it anyways idleness, but deep lean into it rest. Sink into the covers and let the mush envelope you. It’ll clear out. It always does.

SONG OF THE DAY: I Heard My Mother Call My Name In Prayer

The thing I love about music, and really all art, is this is essentially just “Mama Tried” but in the most moanful lonesome dramatic ass way possible. What a jam.

SONG OF THE DAY: Chirpin'

I’m glad I’m not in charge of capitalism, because I would’ve used this jam as a Nextel commercial back in the day, and thus ruined the pure beauty of this overlooked classic. Capitalism ruins everything around me. Dollar dollar bill y’all.

dirtgod's illegitimate artz emporium (aka online shop)

Last week, I updated MY ONLINE SHOP to be more of everything I have. Mostly, I’m glad to be able to have all the available haiku spikes more easily organized for sale, with an option to order custom ones as well. Earlier this year, I had some friends request a pair of spikes to commemorate their marriage. It hadn’t been too long after going to a poetry slam in Charlottesville, and hearing Breeze the Poet talk about playing with contrapuntal poems, where two or more poems also combine to form a separate poem. So it made sense to me to try and write a pair of stand-alone haiku that also combined into an intentional poem. I really love and appreciate this couple, as they have a number of interesting projects going on, including visiting old cemeteries for “vernacular graves”, and they grow a lot of food where they live, with a consciousness towards climate change (because the mountains around them were literally on fire not too long ago).
Sometimes though, the Universe just lines up for you. Two haiku came to mind pretty quickly that also interlocked as a larger poem, and honestly I had it all written the day after their request. I know being able to do stuff like that takes practice and me putting in the work at trying to be attuned towards it happening. But it’s also really hard to take credit on an egotistic level when something like that happens, because it feels beyond me. It’s as much (or more) the Universe in action as it is me consciously doing anything. Here’s the first haiku spike:

walking together

finding inspiration and

strength in a path shared

And then the second one:

in difficult world

cultivating hope to grow

futures intertwined

I thought a lot about them growing food, and writing “futures intertwined” also called to mind the three sisters method of growing. The two haiku spikes go together as such:

walking together

in difficult world

finding inspiration and

cultivating hope to grow

strength in a path shared

futures intertwined

I think this is a great example of how magic haiku spikes can be, especially for custom requests about specific subjects. The past year, I’ve been working to lean more into them as intentional magical objects. So if you’re financially able and interested, go get some magical art at the new shop.
I also launched a new thing, which is an extension of what I’ve been doing here already, where folks can order postcards with tanka poems on them. I have stacks of vintage postcards with various themes (and seriously a box of thousands more to sort through to create more options). I figure with the changes we’re shifting into in America, it’s going to be a taxing ass time, and the digital doomscroll is gonna feel bleaker than it already does. So getting actual physical mail will hopefully be a welcome thing.
Copies of most all my books are on there for you to get directly from me. I’m hoping to get versions of the two most recent books up on IngramSpark soon, so they can be distributed at book stores as well, even if the quality of IngramSpark seems to be less than Kindle Publishing. I’ll still use Kindle Publishing for my copies I sell at events, which means I’m still dealing with Amazon, and they’re available there. I have friends who run independent book stores, so I’m completely understanding about boycotting Amazon. But even if they bought up the old Create Space, the remnants of that is still the best for having physical copies of self-published books. Once I get the books on IngramSpark, I can at least feel better about pushing folks to buy the books at book stores.
To be honest, everyone shilling “small business Saturday” or black Friday stuff this year feels more desperate than ever. I think things are harder than most folks realize out here right now, and I also fear they’re going to get very worse before they get any better. I had wanted to be set up at some markets to try and make some income, but I didn’t know where to apply, and I’m not really connected with folks who pulled me into their little loops. That’s fine though. I’m probably better off outside of those realms anyways, as my shit is kinda fucked up and not real trinkety or matches well with vintage mentality. Nonetheless, I’ve got a shop up and running now, so share the link if you feel it, or poke around. And as I always say at markets, if the price of anything feels like a burden, reach out to me. I’m usually willing to work with folks who genuinely love and want my art, because I don’t think wealth should be required to beautify your life with magic.