“Hey. Look at me, man. How about we try living?” – Maya Williams, “Paul’s Response to His Jailer’s Attempted Suicide”
My family’s already been to the beach twice—three times, if you count the walk Mal and I took on the kid’s last day of school. Listen, you might’ve heard money’s tight around here. No childcare, no summer camps, and we’re waitlisted for the art thing that the school is offering. All of this is to say, I’m pre-writing a bunch of Friday Links. Obviously, I still have to read the books, but don’t expect timely links. Don’t expect me to comment much on current events, unless I do up here in the intro paragraph. You know what you should do, though?
Still read for the book recs! I have an absolutely FIRE schedule lined up for the summer, including Stephen Graham Jones, Lincoln Michel, Carmen Maria Machado, Justin Carter, LJ Pemberton, and a book about being a water protector. Come hang. Besides, it’s not like the LINKS aren’t going to be great. They’re just not going to be current.
What I’ve Been Reading This Week:
A book that you’ll be unsurprised to learn that your man the shipwrecked sailor bought based on title alone. Another book that I’ve read before. A book that traces a family lineage of generational tragedy, and pulls from history to illustrate its themes. A book that does the exact same thing, but pulls from religion to illustrate its themes. Two books by authors who use they/them pronouns—Pride Month has temporarily become nonbinary month on the Shipwrecked Sailor blog, given the last two weeks. I’m talking, of course, about Ankle Deep In Pacific Water by E. Hughes and Judas & Suicide by Maya Williams.
Ankle Deep In Pacific Water by E. Hughes: not entirely unlike my beloved Bob Sykora’s Utopians In Love, in that it dedicates a lot of time to historical accounts. Have to give a big TW for physical abuse of children, though. These poems are at times harrowing, but far more often heartbreaking. I was reminded a lot of someone on Bluesky—possibly former Cracked comrade Cezary Jan Strusiewicz—saying that you are a child’s pillar of safety, and to hit them is to shatter that safety in a uniquely devastating way. That said, again, these poems aren’t all sadness and hard stuff. There’s an elegance to each line, and a compelling and convincing story of how trauma moves through generations is there, too.
Judas & Suicide by Maya Williams: I had to revisit my friend’s book before going to see them! I appreciated this book even more the second time around. The first time, I hadn’t really read Sonia Sanchez or Gwendolyn Brooks. There’s definitely an influence of 50s-70s Black revolutionary women in the poetic style here. There is also a refreshing reminder that Judas is canonically a traitor and a snitch—things I know, but sometimes gloss over when I’m thinking about the cool idea that Judas was the first vampire, or making the case that his actions weren’t his fault, since it was preordained that Jesus would be betrayed and murdered. Remove divine plans from the equation, and Judas is a guy who sold out his revolutionary, take-care-of-the-poor friend to FBI. Speaking of taking care of each other, Maya’s book is a great reminder to do that. There’s also a moment—sorta like in I Keep My Exoskeletons To Myself, when Kris uses her daughter’s name for the first time—where the speaker of the poems refers to themselves as “them” for the first time. This comes after lots of poems of femininity either failed or perilously masked. It’s incredibly moving.
LINKS!
Something to listen to while you browse? My very dear friend, former bandmate, and the bandleader for Chattanooga’s own Pinch Hitter, is about to release a new album. Let’s listen to the single, “Every Little Nazi,” and let’s all have clean consciences.
- Really enjoyed Kelly Dwyer’s appreciation of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson. The man does this incredible remembrance while driving back and forth from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City to cover the Finals, amazing.
- David Rosenthal with a fantastic Brian Wilson poem in The New Verse News, “MADE FOR THESE TIMES“
- Nadya Tolokonnikova, one of the founders of Pussy Riot, set up an exhibit in the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA: a replica of the Russian prison she spent two years in. She was three days into a performance art occupation of the space when Trump invaded Los Angeles. So, as Nadya said on Instagram and as Lois Beckett reports in Guardian, the police state exhibit got shut down by the police state. Cool times we live in.
- Let’s do some more beestung poems, to close out Pride Month—here’s “journal (take #45)” by nat raum.
- Here’s a poem from Eva Lewis, “Synoptic Pattern”
What’re you still doing here? Don’t you know Micah and Brendan have a show?
If you work in the service industry, may you clean up in tips this weekend. Hey, last weekend featured a goddamn military parade (poorly attended, with soldiers seemingly doing a malicious compliance), something like 4-5% of the USian population getting out in the streets and hollerin about hating monarchs, ICE attempting to arrest a Democratic congressperson, a right winger assassinating two elected Democrats and the president refusing to call the Governor of that state because they are political enemies, and Israel—an irredeemably bloodthirsty apartheid state—deciding genociding Palestinians wasn’t enough to slake their thirst, so they started launching missiles at Iran. Oh, and today, Wednesday, 75 Democrats voted to praise ICE. It’d be hard for this weekend to be more grim, but goddamn if the government isn’t gonna try! So tip your service workers.
Sorry you got an email,
Chris