Enthusiastic Shrugging

New collage: “panoramic”

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:03:44 -0400

New collage: “panoramic”

The Dickens by Travis Wayne Denton

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:49:06 -0400

“The Dickens”

Who is this race of superhumans
I’ve always heard about?
Those who spend their lives perfecting
everything from the high-jump
to solving quadratic equations and righting angles
to fucking all night—having mastered missionary
positions across continents.
They must sit up ‘til dawn in their tidy towers,
reading by candlelight as their beards grow long
and sweep the floor.

All my life I’ve wondered
who are these fanatics
whose reputation is the measure of my worth?
Sitting down to dinner or gossiping on the phone,
my mother spouted off similes
like the Dickens. At age five,
I could write like the Dickens,
run like the goddamned Dickens.
My brother could eat like the Dickens—as if eating
were one of the classic arts to be cherished
like Italian frescos or Tuscan vines.
Uncle Evans cursed like the Dickens.
According to my father, Waylon Jennings
could sing like the Dickens.

I wanted to be the Dickens.

About suffering, too, they were never wrong—
these old masters, no doubt they knew a perfect
suffering akin only to Christ’s,
as I’m sure it hurt like the Dickens
when the soldiers spiked him up.
So when my grandmother’s cancer bloomed inside her
like a field of daisies, she said she hurt
not like hell, not like the devil,
but it was only the Dickens who knew her pain,
so I cursed the Dickens.
Put them away with last year’s vacation snapshots:
me in Hell’s Kitchen, smiling
like the Dickens, sunset over the gulf,
the clouds bruised, red as a rusty fender,
and sunset, purple as the Dickens.

Outside tonight mosquitoes buzz like alarm clocks, sirens.
And on the radio is Miles Davis blowing like the Dickens,
lulling me to the island of my bed
where I will sleep
like the Dickens.

Travis Wayne Denton lives in Atlanta with his daughter Helena Skylark. He
is the Associate Director of Poetry @ TECH as well as McEver Chair in
Poetry at Georgia Tech. He is also co-founding editor of the literary arts
publication, Terminus Magazin

Recording of a new song, “Your Mildest Dreams,” that...

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:31:39 -0400

Recording of a new song, “Your Mildest Dreams,” that I did with the old band while back in Indiana this summer. Involved were Matt Braun (bass), Zach Grace (drums, vocals, percussion, recording, mixing), Bonnie Montgomery (viola, vocals), and Troy Daugherty (geetar), and myself (guitar, vocals).

fpnson: Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in a Bloodline shirt.

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:59:42 -0400

fpnson:

Charlie from It’s Always Sunny in a Bloodline shirt.

fpnson: People Who Died

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:58:34 -0400

fpnson:

People Who Died

Happy Father's Day.

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:54:09 -0400

Happy Father's Day.

(via adamgarbinski)

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:36:41 -0400

(via adamgarbinski)

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:35:54 -0400

(via adamgarbinski)

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:35:38 -0400

(via adamgarbinski)

adamgarbinski: Finally! My new album is available on itunes. ...

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:05:38 -0400

adamgarbinski:

Finally! My new album is available on itunes. Tell everyone you know to buy it. Reblog this to high heaven. You will not be disappointed.

The new album ‘Boycott Classics’ is available now. Click to buy on itunes.

fpnson: Townes Van Zandt - Be Here to Love Me

Sat, 30 May 2009 08:48:32 -0400

fpnson:

Townes Van Zandt - Be Here to Love Me

Top 9

Tue, 12 May 2009 12:06:00 -0400

Things don’t always come in neat numbers, kids.

1 - From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler. If you aspire to write fiction, this is a great primer. Also, ROB’s wife left him for Ted Turner, so that’s fun.

2 - Putting the finishing touches on my first album. Shit people, this feels awesome. Lots of talent and effort from good friends went into this thing, and I’m proud as shit of it. Can’t wait to do another.

3 - Video games and cook outs! Semester’s over, so now we can all act like undergrads for a while.

4 - Montgomery Trucking. Amazing shit here.

5 - Adam & Dave’s Bloodline, the unreleased demos from my iTunes cache. I sat on my couch listening for like an hour and a half the other night when I should have been sleeping. Couldn’t tear myself away.

6 - Running. I ran 1.6 miles Saturday, and it hurts like hell still, but there’s something awesome about it. As my sister says, it’s just something people do in their 30’s. I mean, don’t worry, I’m still bohemian and all.

7 - Pretending pretty girls are dudes when you talk to them. This translates as incomprehensible nonchalance and throws them off their game. Just kidding.

8 - Last Day of work at the UNCG English office. No more sitting around here waiting for the next pretty little lost English major to wander in asking how to drop Chaucer. I’ll drop some Chaucer right now: The povre widwe, somedeal stapd in age. Damn!

9 - Bustin’ out of this town tonight!