“How was the band? They were okay. Not great, but pretty good. They played the songs I knew they would.” – NOFX, “Medio-Core”
Friday Links: Your Life Matters Because You're Living It Edition
“You know very well that the earth is filled with angels and djinn, partying like teenagers, spinning around like waterwheels. Come listen.” – Kaveh Akbar, ‘Martyr!’
Let's Meditate On Art With Matt Freeman From Rancid (Not An Interview)
“If you wanna get the feeling and you wanna get it right / then the music’s got to be loud” – Rancid, “Radio”
Friday Links: Slaughter and Peace Edition
“We all want the same thing / from this world: / Call me nobody. Let me live.” – Amorak Huey, “We Were All Odysseus In Those Days”
The Epics Want You To Remember Some Guys
“I beg you by those you left behind, so far from here, / … my lord, remember me, I beg you! Don’t sail off / and desert me, left behind unwept, unburied, don’t.” – Elpenor, ‘The Odyssey’
Friday Links: I Got Another Poem Published Edition
“It’s fit and proper for you to know your sports. / What greater glory attends a man, while he’s alive,” – Homer, ‘The Odyssey’
Let's Close Read Another Poem
“my homies are always good / when i ask & i don’t ask enough.” – José Olivarez, “Ojalá: Me & My Guys”
Friday Links: Funeral Games For Epic-Reading Chris Edition
“‘…True—but all lies in the lap of the great gods. / Weaker I am, but I still might take your life / with one hurl of a spear—my weapon can cut too…’/ Grim reminder—“ – Homer, ‘The Iliad’
The Poem I Recommend If You Don't Think You Like Poetry
“I had my first nightmare about dangling by an umbilical cord from a white sky above a white boat floating in blood.” – Zachary Schomburg, “1978”
Friday Links: Repent For The Sun Shall Be Blotted Out Edition
“What are their bodies made of, rock or iron to block / your tearing bronze? Stab them! Stab their flesh” – Homer, The Iliad