Courage 3: Bung-hole Breathing

My submerged state isn't like a genius in his technologically advanced vessel as much as a reptile breathing through its asshole.

The Process of Polishing

Months ago I polished my silver-plated trumpet for the first time since I bought it. I didn't do "seven minutes in heaven" with a new horn at a music store in spring of 2004. Mr. Danny Barber and I arranged a parking lot rendezvous outside of "Lunkers" restaurant in Edwardsburg, MI. He played this 1974…

“If You Can Do Anything Else”

I started writing yet another reflective essay about how I'm not writing the way I wish I were writing. I decided a free verse poem would be more compact -- thus, this column of thought.

Write to Live: Musician’s Intuition

I want to unpack this notion of "writing to live", presently. It cannot be a hollow, "just do it", reductionist-species of motivational phrase. This fresh axiom also needs separated from another, superficially-similar suggestion to "write like your life depends upon it." These two sentences come from different poetics. To write as if my entire life…

A River to Wash the Pain

I feel like I need to get this off of my chest: I lacked courage all along. Just now I asked myself "why don't I feel like writing even though I know I want to be an author?" yet another instance in scores of times. This time I answered myself honestly: "because I don't want…

A Project Begins…

So, here we go: I’m going to write a piece about reverse culture shock either in the third-person limited perspective or in first person. I am writing this opening muse-storm on December 9th of 2013, deciding to pursue the art and life-style of a writer even as I continue with other practices. However, this story…