The Lost Poems Vol. 1 (click here to listen)

Today's post is the first in a series of recordings by Christopher, myself, and my brother Chris. "The Lost Poems of John Johnson Vol. 1" features Christopher reading in his strong voice, Chris wailing on some Ayler (via Gershwin) clarinet, and I'm adding colorful piano tones. The music was all improvised in one take. There are 6 volumes in this series and the first 4 will be posted this week. These volumes are what I call the "jazz" volumes. Tell us what you think!

text:
the lost poems of John Johnson
1

ivy rose petals in the gutter

kids

in disposable shrink rap

give me

a jive

girl

oh wicked

I saw you turned inside out in the warehouse

district

and

a car engine

and a lucky lover

I saw

you wearing your flesh

in

soirees pink

ardent and spoiled

oh

I saw

the moon roll over

and bend

in my pocket

I am the god king

sent to

earth from grass and meadow

and

plastic glass

2

nobody make believe

me

be be

a go go

dancer

in shades on the veranda

down Thermopylae

in

lust

cracked cocoons in the forest

entrails

and

soup bowls left

in

my

kitchen

sink

in the city

of

Austin

3

a hunt is on

for

the best woman

her lips

are

mirrors

her hips

oh Beatriz

a cicada

and

a twirl of a tree limb

snapping

in the breeze

leafless and

beaten

4

he read the radio dial

in

the group of strangers

and they

slap slap

hands

together

grand poetic

fleabags

in my mind

splash against a red

fire truck

as it hides in the alleyway

the fire

and

the country I’m living in

5

this is my life as of right now:

a girl I used to know

beating coconuts

on

my window

and

an old suitcase gilded

with

ink ribbons

and

a friend I once was clapping

loudly in

bars and pits with

bottles never

once

loved

and

my parents on the radar

flying high

and piercing the clouds

and

a boarded bell beaten

discothèque motel

room

with roaches and faces

and

a chance to read words

in strings of

light on the boulevard

and

one happy moment

of tryst

and

tremble and the treble of

a guitar and

a violin

and

red wine poured over

my face

a warrior older

and still

and

the month of July bursting

proudly

across my chest

and

my teeth

and your teeth and his

teeth and hers

and the teeth of the elders

mixed with dirt and

dust on the

ground before an empty

warehouse

and

all

and

all

of frond limbs bending

in the rain

and the sunshine

6

my human friends

got

the gold in their fingers and

they touch

walls

and dazzle

make a maker

be a believer

I thought I saw her again

in the

dustbins of the cheaters

and

she sang songs of

forgotten beauty

that’s a world

she

said

we used to belong to

7

let the music stores

and the coffee

shops

and

the boulevard lights

be

a temptress with

a sundress

in the evening

summer

skin

I felt a breeze touch

and the fall of mankind

in

the revolution of love

its

easy to be

the glimmer

of

lamppost light

across

the river

at night

and

to drown in the other side

of

nothing

8

it’s over

for the gold girls in

the disco

smash a bottle of champagne

I say smash

a bottle of wine

my lover

a girl at a bus stop

my lover

my only and only

forever forgotten

to

be

just this

piece of guitar string

snapped and fraying

the light is fantastic

and

my mind is a boarded bunch of rubber bands

in

an empty alabaster

sink

girl

you have a name