Alphabet on the brink
I once got lean and skated Telford Ice rink
The Oasis, persistence of places
These rhymes, minty like pacers’
Woodlands, birds and butterflies struggle wood
Flutterbyes good, Badgers and foxes in the hood
Ponies, used to drag clay out claypit
Turned into lavatory basins so lords can take shit
[end]
“Stourbridge Clay Kitchenette, sitting with my keef sweat 8000 year old landscape, to-let, used like a toilet Why the hell spoil it, the river, the woods For a bunch of plastic goods, the gods They be hungry ghosts, humble beans on toasts
[end]
Revitalize industrial dereliction, elocution Stream birds, sterilized words, forrest axecution Ancient landscapes, men in capes Wild life, social animals, domesticated primates Walking, picking bluebells my blueberry smells Us, in the undergrowth Scribbling hymns Crazy grazing, double glazing Twigs to winter in from winds
[end]
Landscapes need caring for Caring for, metaphor Property development Cash heist elephants New building, new jobs Anything of value, robbed But old jobs from an old building shielding Idle buildings, no will greedlings Just plant the tree seedlings [end]
I’m delighted to announce that Deep Scratch will be officially up and running as intended within the week. Now the tools are available to fully realize the vision of getting beyond language, into music, and back, and forwards.
The tales are laid out (see this site) now it’s the music that will accompany the text and images, co-created using the great a.i. beast. Here, turntablists, poets, performers, philosophers and scientists throw down…alongside the generative a.i. engines, once imagined in Deep Scratch (2009-2019) now freely available.
Stay tuned, drop a comment and I’ll get back to you. Peas.
of the mind & spirit rooted in humanism & love of art, & manifested in creative production
& social engagement, like trane said “to be a force for good” & make an impact on the world at large
“I’m very happy with this book and very grateful to have all my poems collected in one place like this.” –John Sinclair
“Thank you for your poetry, your standing up for the blues and jazz for decades when few did, and for the way you share your talents and good will wherever you go.” –David Amram, Musician, Composer and Author
“Many of these extraordinary poems trace an important method of “transmission of mind,” a form of Investigative Poetry. These poems are a big work that places Sinclair on the path of Charles Olson. This is an extraordinary work.” –Edward Sanders, Poet, Activist and founder of the Fugs
John Sinclair’s Collected Poems 1964-2024 arrived within a week of his passing, and was edited and proofed with an introduction written by Sinclair in late January of 2024. The book was designed by Sinclair’s right-hand commrade at Radio Free Amsterdam Steve “The Fly” Pratt and published by Ridgeway press in a limited first edition of 150 hand-numbered copies with a forward written by M.L. Liebler. Photographs from the covers of each book and recording begin selections taken from each book. Only Fattening Frogs for Snakes, The Book of Monk, and Songs Of Praise for John Coltrane are not entirely included. The book runs 557 pages, with many poems collected here for the first time.
“I was first attracted to becoming a poet when I read On the Road,” wrote John Sinclair in his introduction, “the idea became more apparent when I read Howl by Allen Ginsberg and Pictures of the Gone World by Lawrence Ferlinghetti after I had ascended into college.”
Presented are Sinclair’s scarce first books printed in the early sixties by the Artists Workshop press; This is Our Music, Meditations and Fire Music. Selections from Fattening Frogs for Snakes and thelonious a book of monk and several of his recording projects; The White Buffalo Prayer, Detroit Life, Viper Madness. The last section “Mobile Homeland” has over three dozen uncollected poems written between 1964-2024. Many of the books have special introductions and notes on the text which Sinclair completed for this edition over the past several years.
The Collected Poems includes a concise six page biography, bibliography of major publications, and a discography of the poet’s recordings, a culmination of 60 years of art and life in one collection. Collected Poems 1964-2004 was produced in a first limited edition of 150 hand numbered copies in paperbound wraps, with a signed forward by M. L. Liebler, 557 pages, issued by Ridgeway press. Profits for the book help support the Detroit Writers Guild.
My condolences and respects go out to Wayne’s widow, Margaret, and his family and ocean of friends and supporters around the world. I sadly never got to meet Wayne, but I was certainly touched by his music and due to my close orbit with his old co-conspirator John Sinclair, I evolved a deeper appreciation for his music-activism and brevity.
Besides his self-evident musical genius, stage presence and courage, I have a particular admiration for Wayne’s work together with Billy Bragg, Jail Guitar Doors, that works to rehabilitate prisoners through music by providing them with musical instruments.
Wayne was driven by his innate sense of social justice and used his position to forward various campaigns and movements to help protect what fragile democracy is left in the USA, and around the world. I also personally admire Wayne for his outspoken disdain for Donald Trump, yet managing to keep dialogue and his respect for all humanity when engaging with those who he politically disagreed with.
Go listen to MC5, and Wayne’s later albums and collaborative projects (MC50!) Read his interviews. Get inspired, pick up an instrument and kick out the jams motherfuckers!
“And how did the idea to make Kick Out of the Jams a live album, to make a live album your debut, come about?
It was a consensus idea between the band and [band associate] John Sinclair and Elektra Records because all of our effort was put into performing live. We had very little studio experience at that point. The idea was that getting this band in a studio to record an album could be costly and labor intensive, whereas we were a fantastic live performing unit. And if we could capture the excitement of the live concert on record, it could be a revolutionary way to introduce the band to the world. And I think that worked.”–RollingStone.
Stay tuned, more remixes will be added to this playlist. Special thanks to Matt B and all Jammer Yammers. Visit https://jammpro.net/ to get yer’ mittens on the APP.