In this gripping tale, our hapless narrator tries to reconcile the competing demands of the cerebral and physical. Here’s the first part; the whole thing is slated for the next issue of the Black Scat Review. THE MORNING WALK It was a beautiful spring morning, so I decided to take a walk. The decision was […]

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We have here a song about urban life. When confronted with something unpleasant, simply close your eyes and make a wish. I don’t know if it works, but you might as well. It can be found on That Regrettable Weekend and in The Doug Skinner Songbook.

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Here’s another entry in my continuing search for new poetic constraints. Monosyllabic haiku contain three one-syllable words, with 5, 7, and 5 letters. And here are seven examples: moose springs forth tweak twelfth shelf cheap schlock sells bears scratch backs white wraiths whirl swill thrills swine frail scrolls crack

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I’m currently collecting my cartoons of imaginary musical instruments, which appeared in the PDF magazine Le Scat Noir, into a book. I also drew some new ones. Here are a few.  

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My talk on anomalous music, “Music from Elsewhere,” was recorded by Morbid Anatomy, and is now available on their Patreon site, here. I’ll be doing another talk, with different music, April 27 at NYU, as part of the Profane Illuminations series organized by Strange Attractor Books.

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The Muses give me some poetic advice. THE MUSES SPEAK If you write about your feelings, We will throw potato peelings. If you start to air confessions, We’ll urge psychiatric sessions. If your work becomes too earnest, We’ll suggest that it be furnaced. If your work becomes too solemn, We will turn our spinal column. […]

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Le Scat Noir, the online journal published by Black Scat Books, has suspended publication. With it, so has my regular page of musical instruments. This is the last one I drew, the 18th. That means I’ve come up with 162 instruments, which is quite an orchestra. Well, I’ll keep drawing them, and try to make […]

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Here’s a keyboard reduction of the 8th string quartet (see last post). Oh, those spheres!

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My old band, White Knuckle Sandwich, often performed this lively and informative number. When we spelled out “oblongata,” Anne and Jen pointed to their T and A, which are other parts of the human anatomy.

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A cheery tribute to a special friend.

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