Growing up in Kansas, from about 9 to 12 years old, I went to Christian summer camp down the highway in rural Missouri. I loved it there. We swam in creeks and caught crawfish. I played soccer and made friends. There was a zipline that ran through the woods and one year a counselor had access to a speedboat and took us out tubing, driving figure eights and running us over the … [Read more...]
Poem for a Lady Boy
First, I must clarify I know nothing about you How could I understand How the German man’s lips taste between cigarettes Second, I would like to sing you a song I will pay you, colored papers with queens or the like, for your time I want the chance to break what makes you still … [Read more...]
Todd Clouser: five poems from the Forest in Hidalgo
DRUNK DREAM It has been 5 years since I quit the drugs that were skinning my heart They, I, still make me dream about them That I was stone tongued and the Cause of laughter and awoke Shadowed in shame, blood open and crying That I had left my guitar behind In a cafeteria light lit bar In the city I am from, across from the old fire station This is my mind Its … [Read more...]
Bread and Circus – a poem by Todd Clouser
South of the imaginary lines where the uniformed and ironed men and and women that look like boys and girls, skin on the face still soft, wear their gloves and glasses bad men are winning the imaginary wars they’ve begun so they could win them Jhosivani put his feet to the ground he slept on at morning dark toes and light palms the merry go round Earth 4 kilometers … [Read more...]
Forgiving Time
He calls me kid I’m almost 34 now And have forgiven myself for getting older I walked past and hopped down to the crooked street Where the short man with baby dark skin sells balloons And blue telephones hang lonely And lost my balance My ankles timid My mind many places Not here There are so many tasks that require tending to, if not completing He calls me … [Read more...]
Detroit, Airport
I am in Detroit and have not slept in a day It is the first snow of their year and I am thinking about the last words my grandfather said to me That I cannot remember Here there is woman with a gentle face and humble watch Reading a book, hard white heavy cover, called “Husband’s Secret”, with a blood design lettering Across is a girl with black boots and black skin … [Read more...]
What to Wake Up For
It lifts me from sleep, from hot wind dream A mute sun in the never winter morning A thought - someone anywhere, you, may read this … [Read more...]
On Leaving Peru: 5 poems by Todd Clouser
Even the Crows are Colored Here Even the crows are colored here Water in the Sky foots prints to forever rivers While the woman of Betania makes lunch for the hurried thinkers, I am Even the crows are colored here Where every music exists with no string Wordless verse from the branches And the morning pigs watch their shadows wake the mud At best, when we sing, … [Read more...]
The Insides of Argentina
The Humor is Heroic We have just played a concert in a small town in the flat part of Argentina Desert most of the time, moon up by string, half at full scream, other in dust left by a murder sun I am sitting middle seat in the front of a Sprinter van Two Argentine men with grey beards and thin hats hold me in laughter They joke about each others age and fatigue and ask … [Read more...]
Jazz and the Money Jungle
The same thing happens everywhere Money Jungle is perfect, of the skin, maybe the pulse On the night no one talks about A day before New Years, in Panama City Crooked toe cranes light the canal Where the mountains mumble down to Lows talk to the stomping mallets vicious kiss of the strings in the wood, on the black, spit the music around the air How don't … [Read more...]
Music and Sleep
Sunbreak Shot in the eye Pistol dust This is our city Victor says hello In an undressed Mexican accent As I pass with my guitar All the cement Underneath us Sun fight for Earth Tepid warmth, like snakeblood Scars on their hearts He's still laying in bed Rehearsal is two blocks away I just want to sleep Held by silence Converse in dream But … [Read more...]
The Naked Beat
The Love Electric's new video was filmed in New York City, Lisbon, Berlin, and Woodstock. You can get "The Naked Beat" here. About A Love Electric The Love Electric is a band that does things differently. An art rock trio of three nationalities, A Love Electric, hailed as the tomorrow of creative rock by Mexico City's leading newspaper La Jornada, performs at some … [Read more...]
Observations on the Cynic
Cut up by it, imagination Strangled by stripes of shame Painted poorly but purposefully by the kind of artist whose arrows are shot before they are aimed It burnt the blood from our dreams Smoke rings in the distant scatter lit city night, flashing dollars at us, so we can give them ours They've got fear to be proud of Deadly bullet talk, dead like bullets, shook from … [Read more...]
The Art of the Statement – Be the Mule
I found humanity through music. I lose focus and grow cynical at times, but if I am honest as a listener, and remain receptive, the chance of transcending my emotional disturbances and triumphs through music remains. There's the possibility of unity, and humility, but always humanity, in sharing our art. The very idea of allowing our naked self to be exposed through what we … [Read more...]
The Time that John Lurie Called Me
My artistic, maybe even my personal, aesthetic had me identifying with the music of John Lurie the first time I heard his compositions on record. Close to a bunch of things I cannot, or do not care, to be. The celebration of the idea. The joy in imagination. But serious, measured, and often biting. Love in darkness. The acknowledgement that illusion permeates commercial music … [Read more...]
Remember When You Have A Son
remember when you have a son nothing is erased words get stamped upon the letters that will fall from his full grown mouth that the window he sits before is curtained by the canvas colored humming of your stare or gentle smile your push or hold, grace or rain his language slurred by the reflections of campfire ashes in your eyes or the hallway light shadows underneath … [Read more...]
Todd Clouser’s A Love Electric “Wake and Shake Your Heart” Video Premiere
News is good, and it is you we owe. Relix Magazine decided to take on our humble handheld operation and premiere our new video to the world. The world premiere of the "Wake and Shake Your Heart" video, filmed in Mexico City, mostly on my block there - Check it out at Relix … [Read more...]
An essay on the Arcana Series, edited by John Zorn
I sat down to write this as a commentary on the series of books edited by John Zorn, all of which are entitled Arcana. The series comes in six parts, including hundreds of essays written by musicians, artists, on their creative process, technique, philosophy, social commentary, and more. Some artists address alternate technique discussion, others essays on a unique approach to … [Read more...]
