Culture, San Francisco, Poetry, Music, Reviews, Short Stories and Life
I write at www.thepaltrysum.com
Back in November there were no tents outside in the alleyway that my window in the shelter looks out on. There was graffiti of a blue ghost in a Santa Hat, a few tags claiming undying love for a man named Miguel, and occasionally a tent or two housing a quiet gay couple who existed […]
MoreI make snap judgements about people by the songs they write. I know for a fact I would dislike Donovan on a personal level – irritating little Pixie, that Lou Reed would end up being my snarky big brother and Janis Joplin and I would have painted the town various shades of crimson, before I […]
MoreFor Free is one of my favorite Joni songs, I have always loved her spirit, her frank open beauty and her chimingly strange guitar tunings, and this song puts her free spirit dancing through life soul on full display. It is a song of great kindness and generosity. Joni turned music critic, is a gentle […]
MoreThere is a certain grace to being in exile, a certain élan, a kind of style. There is a kind of balance that has to be found within the separation from your tribe and your cultural context that plays itself out in a constant struggle between safety in your exile and your discomfort in your […]
MoreAll this shit people write about sticks and stones might break your bones but words can never hurt you is so far from the truth. Words are dangerous. Words are powerful. Words bring down governments, words written down forged religions, civilizations. Who said words can’t hurt you? Mein Kampf? That caused plenty of death, pain […]
MoreOutside is pretty scary today, very loud, lots of sirens, ambulances come and go. People living and people dying I guess, but as people live and die the bits that come between these bookends of existence are the glorious pieces, the difficult, and the beautiful. What happened out there was not beautiful. The sky is […]
MoreCrossing the road today, on a street which is not the safest one in town to walk down, I became aware of a small elderly Asian lady to my right, nervously glancing up and down the street. There were a lot of sirens and noise, and she seemed scared to cross. I stopped and asked […]
MoreSpring gusts pick up dirt – ‘Frisco leavings, toxic waste. Mask feels good on face! Tokyo has no trees: I wonder how we still breathe? My cactus works hard! None of us can breathe: This is the time of no air! Open the window! Yet I do not dare This springtime fails to comfort: Wind […]
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