american idle

The Subconscious Mind

Backstory - I woke up one morning and found this bit of free verse in my phone notes. I had written it the night before. The catch? I don’t remember waking up to write it:

“This town.
It’s lost all semblance of charm.
With the dip spit sheen teasing
and bouncing
the light through every dark alley and stairwell,
those hostels for lost dreams.
Rain drip,
gutter slide,
collecting,
pooling in the embrace of concrete and curb.
That right angle
That right angel
has long gone,
‘Flown the coop.’
Look to see your reflection
distorted
when the surface is broken.
Oh, who those ripples might touch.
For sooth, how far will they reach?
Those ripples
left when your dream is distorted by the shuffling footfalls of the nonchalant
corporate
ruffians,
the ball point,
felt tipped,
renegade
militia.
This town.
On the brink.
Just a few factory fires away from being a post-apocalyptic.
Time to leave.
‘Flight 1096 now boarding.’
Time to reconvene in Eden.
All in favor, say ‘why’
To trade qualms for palm leaves.
We will live
forever
with nothing but our dreams
to sustain us.
Lotus flowers in my tea.
I’d quicker give in than give up
Merrily,
merrily,
merrily,
merrily
Life is but a dream.”

Girl Scout Sessions - EP

Hello, it’s Dylan and Leslie. We recorded more music for you. We hope you like it. As usual, just click the link at the bottom of the page - you’ll be taken to the MediaFire page where you can download fresh jams to help you get through the Nor’easter. We put a lot into recording these diddies. With the release of this EP, Leslie and I have officially recorded and released 10 songs together. Here’s to 10 more.

“We’re releasing this on Grammy night…probably some foreshadowing in there somewhere.” - Leslie Gile, iMessage, 2.10.13

Girl Scout Sessions - EP

1. Jolene, originally by Dolly Parton
2. Everything Has Changed, originally by Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran
3. The Banjolin Song (Single Live Take), originally by Mumford & Sons

http://www.mediafire.com/?wo0afokh22a2bmj

The State of the Union

Poetry. We live in a world completely devoid of poetry.

Rhetorical flourish is dead. Beauty has given up the ghost. Color for the sake of light has been erased. Light for the sake of hope has been snuffed out. It’s all politics now. Politics and policy. No right brain, no left brain. No brains at all – just the “left” and the “right.” With a capital “L” and a capital “R,” respectfully – and with all due respect. But, the right is wrong and the left has left reason for intrigue, and rightfully so. Reason is unreasonable in a time when we can no longer tell right from wrong. In a time where the intellectual has been usurped by the analytical.

Words are my trade. Business doesn’t boom as it once did. It taps like a ghost at the door. It howls at the window, a perfumed wind of a time long passed. A time when a library card was more powerful than an automatic weapon. When the mind was a shield, the tongue a blade, and a drone nothing but a sound.

We have become a nation of carnival barkers, inviting the rest of the world to our show. They’ll come, they’ll laugh, they’ll clap us on the back and give us their money; but, we only have ourselves to look at in the mirror once the show is over - slowly taking off our clown makeup in the dark.

Poetry. We live in a world completely devoid of poetry.

If the tide is high for too long, you forget what the steady ebb and flow is hiding. Once the water recedes - returning back into its own ever-changing embrace - all the life and treasure buried in the sand is once again exposed. There are periods of time in which I completely forget I have this. But, once the water recedes and the shoreline grows again, it find it sitting just where I left it. What follows is a frantic attempt to compose something worth reading. What results is me completely wasting your time with a pointless attempt at maritime rhetoric.

New Year’s Resolution - Do better.

Thanks.

Click here to download HQ mp3s of CMT Crossroads: Mumford & Sons and Emmylou Harris