A Biting Bite

Carter - Polaroid #5 (2005)

Brown sugar is pressed into unnaturally firm turkey bacon and then sprinkled with chili powder, a little too much chili power. Slid in a 400 degree oven, the glaze burns black and bubbles on the tin foil, the bacon turns to jerky. A bite, a hot bite of chili bites back. The back of my arms are already bitten this morning from leaving the windows open and hopeful last night. Turkey bacon isn't a healthy choice when caramelized. I have also been missing my keys for months, I remember. Every day I hope the landlord doesn't swing by and lock the inside door because I've lost its key. Ace Hardware is closed. I would log my breakfast in the context of my allotted calories for the day, but I'm waiting for the correct spreadsheet to hang on the wall, and I only have a printer at work.

But this morning was supposed to be different. Last night I decided that every single minute is created new. They are not offered stale or passing or promised, I decided. They are the bite, and they are to be bitten. Usually my rider states that in my bowl of minutes, I only want the browns. Good thing we're not allowed riders.

St. Vincent - Save Me From What I Want (mp3)

Roxy Rawson

Douglas Kolk - Frosted Hair Ivory Tooth (2005)

She's a little Tracy Bonham, a little Regina Spektor. She's a little buzzed between two plastic tent walls at a London fairground. She draws a little flower shaped like a six-pointed star on the back of a popcorn bag. Her eyelids are a little pink.

Roxy Rawson - Riddle It (mp3)

Roxy Rawson - Philanthropy (mp3)

Of Breaths, Like You

Carter - Untitled 2005

Iron & Wine - Carried Home (mp3): This song, too, is obsessed with its ending. It knows it is merely a collection of vulnerable bleeps, like you of your cells and hair follicles. It has become self-conscious of its construction into phrases, like you of your connective tissue and subsequent trips to the 24-hour Walgreens for energy drinks. It begins to recognize the repetitive loops of its themes and deliberately sets them against each other, like you scream to test the silence when you're alone. It starts to end before its halfway through, and makes a life of enjoying the process.

Pilling Polyester Blends

Stephanie Homa - Standing on High Ground (2009)

Suckers - Afterthoughts & TV (mp3): Today's lazy baseline, sounds of clinking Red Stripe bottles in the background. A calypso record plays softly next door. Someone starts tapping on the unbalanced metal patio table like a snare. Voices feel raw and faded from laundering, yet are overextended to try and make a point. We yelp and echo about characters on TV until the puddle of energy starts to dry up in the overcast heat. The last piano arpeggios trickle down the concrete steps. Trumpet squeaks shrivel, leaving only silent afternoon content and pilling polyester blends.

Young Bluegrass

Shanteru Martin - Alexis Wuillaume x Anna (person - line)

Dear Young Bluegrass,

Tell me true.

Do you dream of me like I dream of you?

Sarah Jarosz - Tell Me True (mp3)

[Buy Sarah's 2009 debut "Song Up In Her Head"... it is truly spectacular.]