2023-03-22 00:47
It’s not a mistake to reach intothe little you know
of how a piano works
to use a metaphor aboutthe music
of a felt hammer on a wireto describe your own work
How by itself each sounded… Read More
Blog Directory > Books & Literature Blogs > Contemporary Blogs > Dark Matter | You've been warned. contemporary Blog >
2023-03-21 01:58
Your mother handedher happiness at birdsongdown to you.
You kept ithidden away but todaypulled it out froma hidden pocket and put it on:
a wren locketon a cardinal chainand now is that… Read More
2023-03-19 17:02
And you get to see and hear me, too.
https://youtu.be/CrxivqUiWBA Read More
2023-03-19 11:28
Here’s to the follow-up
The one-hit wonder’ssecond release fromthe same pocketthat held the first
The one that soundedenough like the hitto garner some attention
but not enoughto… Read More
2023-03-18 13:13
Most loyalty will turn outto have been misplaced.
The edge is alwayscloser than you thought.
The drop is usually not as long as you’d feared
although you’ll stillbe bro… Read More
2023-03-17 21:52
Anyone out there interested in joining my Patreon? I’ve got live performances and a Patron’s only workshop coming up.
Worth your time. Read More
2023-03-17 19:49
Nearly time to make
a serious mistake. It’s
the only way to move
forward, my teacher
used to say. See what
happens, then choose
a way to go to recover
or move on. It’s… Read More
2023-03-17 12:38
What kind of bird this isthat won’t fly away when I approach?
It looks uninjured, is unafraid; in factI’m sure that not long ago I saw it land exactly where it sits nowon th… Read More
2023-03-16 11:51
Standing there in frontof a hole in a wall
No light in thereNo sign to explain it
You choose to enter
You wonder if beyondit will be what you’ve been promisedA place where you hope you… Read More
2023-03-14 13:30
I get upWrite a poemMake some coffeeHave some foodPut another round into the clip
I get upMake some coffeeWrite a poemMake some foodCount some pills into a plastic cup
I get upHave some wate… Read More
2023-03-14 12:43
Isn’t snow alwaysremarkable? Althoughit’s not snow charming us, maybe,as much as its volume, howit falls so silently when there’s nowind to push it. Then aga… Read More
2023-03-13 12:11
Listen: somewhere inside me it’s already happenedthat the first seed of my deathis sprouting. Somewhere inside a cell has hardened intoa dagger and I can hear the sharpe… Read More
2023-03-12 13:23
soon enough a pair of Malinoiswill come into view
holding a banner between themthat will bear an illegible word
you will squat before themand from that vulnerable positionattempt to decipher… Read More
2023-03-11 11:39
The word of the day:“froideur.” On loan from French, it describes
“a coolness or distance between people.” As inhow we develop rote answers to
“how’s the… Read More
2023-03-11 02:03
Imagined body: pensive, fat-assed,sweaty with compassion
for all. Real body?Cold layers likeDamascus steel,
cold eye when turned toward others’ pain,cold and round and dry-ey… Read More
2023-03-10 12:55
The news is all redin spite of the daffodilsbutting in with green.
All of the new budsby the lake, showing red firstbefore they go green.
Old mulch by the walkis not as red, and it’s c… Read More
2023-03-08 12:26
With apologies to John, Michelle, Cass, Denny…and all of you
All the world is curdsand the air is wheyI hopped on a busand ran on Guy Fawkes’ DayI’d be under fireif I&rsqu&hell…Read More
2023-03-07 23:41
Wherever the edge was a decade ago, a year ago?It’s just ahead, almostunderfoot now.
I was born for the edgeof the edge, to hang my toesover the great fall to the bottom, an… Read More
2023-03-05 14:54
For the love of the wall of darknessin the mouth of the bedroomthat is the door to the bedroom
that has been created by the light in the kitchenthat will soon be turned off leaving onlyone s… Read More
2023-03-04 12:31
It’s a neighbor with a bad carparked on the streetwithout plates, the copshovering around then having it towed.It’s the couple screaming at each other on the sidewalk and&nb&hell…Read More
2023-03-02 11:42
Wish I could take backeverything I’ve ever said —each word, ill timed grunt,sigh in passion, moan of distress.
It’s language that has cutall my crops down, set the firesin… Read More
2023-03-01 23:44
Revised, from 2009.
The five purposes of close order drill are to:
1. Provide simple formation from which various combat formations could readily be assumed.
Look for their fear.Slip your ha… Read More
2023-02-28 11:35
I don’t have an answerDon’t know the right questionsto get from one end of this to the other
It’s not that simple Not an equation
Stuck in my head withA jumble of… Read More
2023-02-27 13:59
Ok. Gonna try something here…
I’m still working on various other rewards for Patrons — waiting on the site itself to announce some new things. But…I’m curren… Read More
2023-02-27 12:25
I don’t know who they arebut they keep yelling at me:
Enough, enough! What’s withthe moaning, all the doom-poems?
You are sitting in a warm-enough room.You are still warm to… Read More
2023-02-26 13:23
Some context for this:
How To Lose Your Pants By Being Dumb
If I were to become a bullyI’d do my businessrighteously, historically.
I’d fill my raging bellywith ghost egret… Read More
2023-02-25 13:07
Bags filled withbroken promises andhands full of random illnessesand injuries: that’s where I am in this late middle age. I havethe residuals of bad choicesto weigh me down… Read More
2023-02-25 01:25
When the end comes will you be able to sit with it
and keep telling yourself it is all going to be OK?
Are you willing to find a park bench upon which to sit by yourself… Read More
2023-02-24 13:19
When you look outsideexpecting trumpets and fireand all you hear is the droneof photo opps legions seeking clicks and likes and affirmationsfrom the devils or angels they prefer
Peeking… Read More
2023-02-24 12:51
Thanks to all, patrons and non-patrons, who came out to the Rip-Up Reading last night. At one point we had 29 people in the Zoom Room.
I’ll be writing up a more formal recap later tod… Read More
2023-02-23 16:46
Follow this link to the details for the Rip Up Reading. Last call. Hope some of you can attend.
onward,T Read More
2023-02-22 12:05
On February 23 at 7:30 PM EST I’ll be doing a live via Zoom reading (tomorrow night) of a special set of poems. No one has seen them; they will be printed, read once, and destroye… Read More
2023-02-21 12:41
Having a big bowl of mythologyas the first act of the dayis better than taking a shower, better than anything one can doexcept for having sex and because the bowl of mythologyconta… Read More
2023-02-20 13:55
the form I see before meis not the true form.
do you see what I do not?it is possible my eyes deceive me.
it would not be the first time for those little liars, those deceitful balls pl… Read More
2023-02-18 13:56
What an uneven dayit has been already.Rose late and made coffeebefore I showered because prioritiesand rituals must be honored to make things workas they should
and now I’m sittin… Read More
2023-02-18 00:23
The Rip Up Reading I’ve been touting is next Thursday and the date is February 23rd. I’ve been screwing it up in announcements.
My apologies.
T Read More
2023-02-17 16:40
Link to a full explanation of what’s coming up…
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0zAipVPeUxyVoKFPz4gz3FT8BQW3qr97tkvn864AK47D95Sgp4PvxqcJFmjrDxLQal&id=734… Read More
2023-02-17 12:57
As we approached the time that had been announcedfor the end of the world,I packed away the largecoffee mugs and took out the smaller ones, hopingto reduce the chanceI’d be awake… Read More
2023-02-16 13:15
Think aboutall the bodies you’ve seen,human and otherwise.
Think beyond the human bodies in funeral homesor hospitals, perhapson battlefields or in
car wrecks or other accidental… Read More
2023-02-15 23:46
Here’s an explanation of a special event happening next Thursday night. If you’d like to attend via Zoom, message me.
The Rip-Up Reading Read More
2023-02-15 12:51
come so far so hard uponthe trail of whereI went once withoutcare for how it would lookto others
damn it was easywhen I was young and all I had for care was residual longing… Read More
2023-02-15 12:31
On February 22 at 7:30 PM EST I’ll be doing a live via Zoom reading of a special set of poems. (You’ll have to be there to understand why it’s special.)
I’d planned t… Read More
2023-02-13 13:23
There are very few cluesto look at it in exploring how his lifebecame this narrow.
His permanent recordbarely explains anythingas no one ever felt much need
to put notes in there.His e… Read More
2023-02-13 12:36
On February 22 at 7:30 PM EST I’ll be doing a live via Zoom reading of a special set of poems. (You’ll have to be there to understand why it’s special.)
I’d planned t… Read More
2023-02-12 12:21
It’s not Chernobyl.What it isis East Palatine,Ohio and it’s big,it’s as big as miles around.
It’s not nuclear butit is a big-ass gas burstwith a lot of dead chickensu… Read More
2023-02-11 12:14
Last nightI dreamed that therein my hand I had conjureda gnome in a red hat,something from a bookI’d read long ago. He began to spinthere on my palm and when he at last … Read More
2023-02-10 00:49
It’s a blessing,this fatiguethat has come so easily after a day of twistingin hard country wind.Soon enough I hopeI’ll drop into sleepand settle myself belowthe hammering gu… Read More
2023-02-08 12:26
First I take out the trashand then I sit down to write.
I hold off on coffee until afterI’ve done something poetic.
I have friends who swearthe coffee must come first
but the coffee co… Read More
2023-02-07 12:58
https://patreon.com/TonyBrown?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
A reminder that my Patreon site is a major sou… Read More
2023-02-06 13:54
Mom asks,who is Beyonce?
She’s a singer,I tell her.
Would Iknow anything she sings?
No, I don’t think so.
Oh, okay then.Goes back to dozing
in front of the game s… Read More
2023-02-05 12:58
In some part of The Landthere’s been more rainthan they can handle
but not here, where we longfor rain and pray for The Landto come back into Balance.
What if this is Balance?Som… Read More
2023-02-04 15:25
That must be my body in that mirror, that nest of misdirections;
here, what looks like a too-short bindle of twigs;
there, something more like a poorly daubed mud cluster… Read More
2023-02-02 12:42
At the crossroads now, moonlightdrenched, soaked in all its storied charm and hazard.
I’ve stopped here on my way West after long years in the East.
I never much though… Read More
2023-02-01 13:45
At three AM“Diamonds and Rust”won’t leave my heador hands. Sitting in the far room on a desk chairthat makes more noisethan an unplugged Telecaster can. Fingerpicking… Read More
2023-01-31 18:33
The seagullon the parking lot fence:laughing, angry, or neither;commenting on your face, stature, speech; or worseon none of that; on something unseen in the airaround you. As if&n&hell…Read More
2023-01-31 11:57
At the top of the stairs,all my lasting errors.
I used to live there.Then I ran down here
and left or thought I leftthose villains behind.
I looked up for what I thoughtwould be the final ti… Read More
2023-01-30 11:50
Appealto our better natures.
Soften publicopinion towardyour parents.
Annoy and afflict otherswith memories of how you livedand died.
Suggest a better world for those who rem… Read More
2023-01-28 17:28
More than a little distance between me in a carbeing pulled overfor speeding or bad lightor something or otheror nothing at all
and the ones (you know the ones I mean)who don&rsquo&hell…Read More
2023-01-28 11:54
When his life had finally failedto the full extent possible,he screamed and wept out loud and
his failure became as unto a drum solo that brokethe air in the room
so that all &hell…Read More
2023-01-26 13:08
Decent heart,improper body.Old story. In factold man story:spirit too sour, flesh and blood too sweet.
Thanks tonight to decent bed,to rest and random touch. Thanks to light throughblin… Read More
2023-01-24 12:20
Some memoriesfall on you
then stick hard,burn like napalm.
Others slide down,make happy gas puddles
where you splashuntil the napalm
you already wearignites them.
You in flam… Read More
2023-01-23 20:23
Yesterday’s Zoom workshop on “The Poetry Of Place” had twelve participants and was, I thought, pretty successful. I’ll likely do it again in the summer or fall, with… Read More
2023-01-22 13:59
Of course you are cancellingevery appointment we’ve madeand now you are not speakingin any way we like to call civilor polite.
Meanwhile I’mflat on my back in a supermarketwhere… Read More
2023-01-20 12:51
“The Poetry Of Place” will be held via Zoom on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at from 2 PM to 4PM EST.
In this workshop, we will look at how incorporating vivid, arresting sensory im… Read More
2023-01-19 12:34
I had my share of it, they say,and now they don’t want me here.
One share, two shares, five shares, more:who do you think you are, they say?
What do you think you are owed? Nothin… Read More
2023-01-18 22:50
The darkness in this home is the depth of a hall closet
where things are hangingthat haven’t seen light in decades.
Dust and mildew, but alsowhatever was left there… Read More
2023-01-18 13:11
The guydoesn’t bothertaking the cover off his unregistered carto move it ten feetdown the curb. Didn’t hit the neighbors’ car which is kind of a pity as that migh… Read More
2023-01-17 12:01
Long road. Decentscenery. Occasional rock falls spilling ontothe shoulders, more oftensheets of gravel across pavement,left there by runoff.Careful, careful, you say.Not too fast, you h… Read More
2023-01-16 12:01
Beginby switching from late night frenzy jags to morningsbefore the coffee has finished brewing,changingyour work wardrobe fromnaked or T-shirts and briefsin bedto full d… Read More
2023-01-15 11:52
They long to be elsewhere
People who are not in their places want to beanywhere but where they sit
seeming to becomfortable
Happinessand ease don’t lookthe same on everyone
They long t… Read More
2023-01-14 12:59
The approach is through a field of nettleson fire, crows rasping away from the woodsat the edges of the field, locusts shrillingbehind them, hunger in full cry
over all. You must run o… Read More
2023-01-11 13:24
Revised from 2009.
There are people who think we should all write more,one poem a day, one thousand poems a day,five hundred fifty five thousand poems a day,one for every thought&n&hell…Read More
2023-01-11 12:42
They live for their children only through theirbullets.
All they will grow to know ishow to love a bullet and how to scorn what a bulletcan cut.
They say we’re in… Read More
2023-01-10 21:24
the most common side effectis nickels in your blood
other side effects may includeeagles overhead
metallic responses to stimuliwooden responses to the scratch of dug-in heels
the most common… Read More
2023-01-09 14:14
“The Poetry Of Place” will be held via Zoom on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at from 2 PM to 4PM EST.
In this workshop, we will look at how incorporating vivid, arresting sensory im… Read More
2023-01-08 00:22
Couple parked at the corner, lights off, big gestures;arguing perhaps, speaking oflove perhaps, or perhaps of money, talking loudly of how one may stall the other, how love&nb&hell…Read More
2023-01-06 12:45
“then we move like tigers on Vaseline” — D. Bowie
Guitars waiting on stage:trees around a clearing,glorious hazardswaiting there.
Evokesa forest rife withs… Read More
2023-01-06 11:46
“The Poetry Of Place” will be held via Zoom on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at from 2 PM to 4PM EST.
In this workshop, we will look at how incorporating vivid, arresting sensory im… Read More
2023-01-05 12:30
I have eBooks/PDFs of my work available for sale to those who might be interested. All were previously offered as rewards to various tiers of my Patreon subscribers (a program I will be cont… Read More
2023-01-05 12:20
I’ve punched up. I’ve punched back. I keeppunching though every blow busts my hands a bit more.
I don’t much care about direction. All I feelis a need to punch… Read More
2023-01-03 13:37
I wish I could get back to San Diegowhere the breeze is full of distant dangeras it comes in off the waves and warshipssit forever ready, but for the moment I was thereall was at peace and a… Read More
2022-12-29 05:44
People think these are poemsBut they are more like adjustmentsMy bones crying out likeA door’s being shut
People worry my framesounds just like a breakdownWhen comes the adjustmentYou… Read More
2022-12-28 12:17
Five-thirty AM, a couple of days after Christmas. The street is grinding awake again as always,as it did every day before the holiday pause.
Across from us the neighbor we call“Je… Read More
2022-12-24 10:58
I once knew a manwho existed so completely within his own invisibilityhe lived a lifetimenot as much in the shadowsas in the light which gave them birth.
He could go anywhereand be… Read More
2022-12-24 01:41
I got things to doand I can’t get up and do themIt’s too late to begin in this time zoneToo early to begin in others and the places where it’s the right timeare too fa… Read More
2022-12-23 13:13
Wake and bake kinda morningas I’ve tried everything elseI can’t stand the thoughtof walking into dawnunguarded within
Sweethearts of the Internetsee love messages in their oatmea… Read More
2022-12-22 22:43
have you danced too much already, beloveds?did it all when you were young and had the legs for all night music,the lungs to scream and raise your armstoward the summit of your favorite… Read More
2022-12-22 12:29
The signsthey hold upsay
homelesshelplesshopeless
Many include a sketchof a Christmas tree or sayMerry Christmas as well
They stand upon the entrance ramps tomalls and big box stores
wh… Read More
2022-12-21 20:03
The bones were rolled for you at birth.They chose your great adversary:maggots, melancholy, militia…?
You decide what’s next: double down or bow and fold.
How you com… Read More
2022-12-21 00:14
cleaning outan old apartment(new to you)
unremarkable contentsof the cheap and shallow medicine cabinetinclude a straight razorwith one massive nickin its rust-flecked blade
bottle of iodine… Read More
2022-12-20 12:19
I think I could be happily a worm
if I was not so terrifiedof ending up drownedon a concrete walkafter a storm
Forced to leavedark soilsurrounded by rootswhere I’d beenmost groundedor… Read More
2022-12-19 12:53
This will serve as the formal announcement of…my first virtual poetry workshop!
“The Poetry Of Place” will be held via Zoom on Sunday, January 22nd, 2023 at from 2 PM to 4… Read More
2022-12-17 13:20
I will be running a poetry workshop, open to the public/free to members of my Patreon site at the $10/month level and up, on January 22, 2023. Time and Zoom link TBD at this point.
The… Read More
2022-12-17 11:55
A new tattoo on my mind.Simple banner: “I Am A Bad Person.”
Placement yet to be decided. Naked body in the mirror:
across my chest, above my heart?Others could easily see, a… Read More
2022-12-15 13:01
Originally published in 2002 in my chapbook, “In Here Is Out There.”Original title, “Talking To My Son About The Night.”
I have been thinking: what do I tell my child… Read More
2022-12-15 12:20
The struggle to bypass the painof pressing strings to fretboard is too much to bear now so maybeit’s time to stop the musiclong enough to allowfor an amputation of myleft han… Read More
2022-12-14 11:16
I’ve written a book I now praywill never be publishedWorking title “Goddamn” Subtitle “Fuck”
You think I’m joking but in fact the profanityis the lea… Read More
2022-12-12 18:26
The place where I begin my workrises from blue in sound and hue.
I ease its lock open each morning and go into blue shade and blue whisper.
Sometimes I cannot leave untilthe stubborn l… Read More
2022-12-11 14:07
There’s dangerin poisonous lands and water;simply being thereand breathingis enough to make yousicken and die.
There’s dangeramong the venomous;if you know where to lookand how t… Read More
2022-12-10 11:23
The dishes fromlast night’s dinnerfill the sink andwhisper, “lazy…”
Blankets leftunfolded in a basket,waiting to be put backon the couch to protect
the upholstery fr… Read More
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