readwrite-love asked: I love your writing.
& I love every speck of dust that returns to the earth as it’s pressed beneath your feet! Thanks!
Yes!
Thanks for the support, haha, you’re my only fan! If you wanna hear the whole session, it’s up at our SoundCloud page!
akumahowl asked: Are you hitting a stride? I'm really liking these recent ones.
Kind of! Just trying to pump up the old habit. Sometimes I think these freewritten poetry exercises are more of a hunt for lyrical content — haven’t written a song since August and it’s been racking my mind-brain, trying to figure out what the difficulty is. Sooner or later some of these lines will make their way into a song — and SHAZAM! We’ll have a finished product. Thanks so much for reading, my friend!
steellotus asked: How art thou? It's great to see more of your poetry! I just hope you're still devoting time to your music too! Miss those! Happy New Year Van Stanley.
Hey, pal! I’m pretty good. I’ve been devoting countless hours to music, my band’s developing in a very discreet, secretive fashion — we’ve been workshopping for months & have gone through so many line-up changes that it hurts, but we’re surviving & thriving, like a simmering volcano. In the meantime, we’ve got a scratchy little demo on our bandcamp. Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks for being around.
lightsandsparks asked: I realize we have never talked on Tumblr and I find that a problem. So, why do you follow me? If you don't have an actual reason, if following me has nothing to enhance your Tumblr experience, then I suggest you unfollow me now. If it has, and/or you have enjoyed my work (or just me), then let's get to know each other.
I’m not sure how to start an acquaintance that begins with an ultimatum… I like to follow other writers on tumblr, I’m sorry if we haven’t communicated, yet, but: hello (for starters).
observee asked: "The rules are to state 10 random facts about yourself. Then, go to your five favorite blogs and tell them that they are it."
1.) I have a semi-circle-shaped scar on the back of my left middle-finger that I got from slicing myself accidentally on the broken porcelain tank of a toilet at this disgusting little dive bar down the street. It feels good to be alive.
2.) My ancestors are tenderly watching over me & I can prove this to you if ever we should play a round of mahjong.
3.) I have never weighed more than 110 lbs.
4.) According to my father, his great aunt was one of the wives of the last emperor of Vietnam before being exiled with him by the prime minister of Vietnam in the 1950s.
5.) In some version of a perfect reality, I am David Bowie & I am married to Kate Bush.
6.) Often I prefer to read plays as opposed to either reading novels or watching plays. There is something about having almost pure dialogue on a page that excites my imagination more than the single voice of a narrator, or seeing people deliver lines on a stage. My favorites: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Glengarry Glen Ross, and Under Milk Wood.
7.) I hate horror movies, many times it’s got that repetitive near-scare bullshit or the repetitive guts-spew bullshit or the world seems to’ve oversimplified to’ve got nothing to do with anything else but some poor soul that’s better off left alone. You sit there & think to yourself, “What sick person had to come up with this in order to drag me down into a false sense of insecurity?” I think in pre-industrialized civilizations people got their sadistic kicks by conjuring up terrible methods of torture and criminal punishment — now they do the same by writing screenplays.
8.) A person on coffee is a steam engine; a person on tea is a monarch. Tea affords me the humility of slowing down when I’m consuming drink. I am exchanging chemicals with these leaves or these herbs. The water is hot for a reason, every sip one takes is in contemplation of that heat & a flavor that is — actually — subtly changing every minute with every pour.
9.) Gold-top Gretsch Electromatic with a chambered body and Bigsby bridge, run through a Fender Frontman 212R. Very simple set up, but only because singing is so much more fun than playing guitar.
10.) At age 25, I expected ten years ago to’ve been married & a father by now. In some ways you sort of get the same parental kicks by nurturing yourself, teaching yourself again the things you already know. A few weeks ago I reversed one of my acoustic guitars, to make it left handed — because my right hand knows how to hold a pick & how to strum, and it can teach my left hand how to hold a pick & how to strum — likewise my left hand knows how to hold chords & to move across distances, and it can teach my right hand how to do the same. It’s difficult as fuck, but the idea is to be a mentor to myself, to test exactly what it is that muscle memory has made me forget.
Cheers!
Anonymous asked: Dear sir, I suck at liking people but I found myself entranced by your play of words. I think you're someone worth knowing.
Thank you! But, what does “I suck at liking people” even mean?
Anyway, kind of you for reading. Add me on facebook, if you fancy. Thanks again!
rakuli replied to your post: rakuli replied to your post: …
I really need to get to the USA. The Americas are the only (2) continent(s) I haven’t visited yet, so it is most definitely on my list.
That’s a pretty good record so far, though, save the far west for last (or, I guess, for you it’s the near east). I’d give you advice on Americans, but I’m not quite sure I understand Americans myself. & plus you should have no trouble meeting people with your Australian accent. Instead, I want to share this poem, by Jean Follain:
Signs for Travellers
Travellers from the great spaces
when you see a girl
twisting in sumptuous hands
the black vastness of her hair
and when moreover
you see
near a dark baker’s
a horse lying near death
by these signs you will know
that you have come among men.
——-
fulltimeillin replied to your post: Depressing news:
there are far, far more depressing things about cigarettes
Lemme tell you though.
My friend, there are only two kinds of people in this world:
- Those who relieve stress by smoking.
- Those who relieve stress by giving other people shit for smoking.
;D
rakuli replied to your post: rakuli replied to your post: Depressing…
Haha. Do come, it’s lovely here and the price of cigarettes was a great incentive to quite … which I did four months ago :)
Oy, well I guess you don’t need those prayers then. Living down under & breathing easy. Sounds like a good deal to me. I’ve met some great people from Australia, from Byron Bay, although most of the ex-pats around Houston are from Perth. They all dig Texas, so you should visit here too, pal!
rakuli replied to your post: Depressing news:
You should come to Australia where the average price for a single cigarette is 80 cents.
I would love to go to Australia! But for different reasons entirely. As for your going rate of 80 cents per cigarette… I’ll pass on that & pray for you instead. Cheers!
