6/12-17/2021

~ ~ ~

Day is rock
life is hill
wife keeps me going

~ ~ ~

I know the status quo
wife above
husband below

~ ~ ~

My flesh
my bone
what’s me?

~ ~ ~

Good bad
bad good
that’s life

~ ~ ~

Lilacs
soft slow sun
park bench heaven

~ ~ ~

I quite like my May feature on Medusa’s Kitchen — 9 poems, 10 fotos.

This isn’t always the case since I submit them a month before they appear, and I’m not always happy when I read them 4 weeks later.

Publisher/editor Kathy Kieth’s blurb is much appreciated as well:

“Our thanks to Steven Smith for rocking our poetry world today with his sounds and senses (dogs piss, rocket hiss, cricket creep, frog peep)! Poetry is about the music of words, and Steven is definitely a composer who knows all about that. Thanks again, Smith, for the melodies and rhythms of your poetry and visuals.”

https://medusaskitchen.blogspot.com/2021/05/spirit-to-bone.html

68 features so far – 563 poems, 596 fotos, 32 songs.

select shuffles…

Bad Woman Blues – Beth Hart
I Asked for Water (He Gave Me Gasoline) – Lucinda Williams
God & the FBI – Janis Ian
Hell on Heels – Pistol Annies
Give Me One Reason – Tracy Chapman
It’s My Way – Buffy Sainte-Marie
Woman – Susheela Raman
The Boy Can’t Help It – Bonnie Raitt
Down By The Water – PJ Harvey
Criminal – Fiona Apple
Dancing Barefoot – Patti Smith
This Is – Grace Jones
She Bop (slow acoustic) – Cindi Lauper
Blood Makes Noise – Suzanne Vega
Black Caffeine – Emmylou Harris
Strange Girl – Laura Marling
The Way I Talk – S. G. Goodman
Broken English – Marianne Faithful
4th & Vine – Sinead O’Connor
Walk Like an Egyptian – The Bangles
Only Happy When It Rains – Garbage
Weed Killer – The Kills
Raised on Robbery – Joni Mitchell
Grow Mama Grow – Dominique Fils-Aimé
Devil’s Got Your Boyfriend – Tracy Bonham
Germ Free Adolescents – X-Ray Spex
Deep Dish – Ani Difranco
God – Tori Amos
Kill Your Mama – Alicia Keys
Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do – Robyn
Think Twice (Version X) – Lavern Baker
Trailer Trash – carolesdaughter
Tried To Be A Man – Rickie Lee Jones
Never Say Never – Romeo Void
Scary Latin Love Song – Mary Margaret O’Hara
Bad Kitty – Liz Phair
A Swamp Dog’s Tale – Goat Girl
Welcome to Hell – Hen Ogledd
You’re Dead – Norma Tanega
Indus – Dead Can Dance

companion to Life in the Flesh Lane
and Life in the Smith Lane

Flesh in the Life Lane

There’s life before and after
laughter’s led to slaughter

so, gonna drink my coffee
smoke my dope
and go

it’s good to have a plan

can’t feel bad
just cuz bad people do bad things
and I can’t stop em
or teach em
or make em be one

especially with my past

besides, who’s looking who
down here in the zoo?

– Smith, 5.29.2021