Some poems you read deny themselves any poetic form. Richard Brautigan's works defy most conventions for the simplest reason. His is a world turned upside down by poverty, alcoholism, abandonment, chronic depression, and an overwhelming need to either answer to the past or shut it away like the third floor of his last home in Bolinas, CA - if this column revealed the big ending first, that too is fitting.
Brautigan may never have wanted to deal with his past, but a handful of events answer questions instead of arousing sympathy. Born to a laborer and a waitress in Tacoma, WA in 1935, Brautigan was raised without ever knowing who his father was. At one point, his mother Mary Lou even told ten-year-old Richard that her new husband fry cook Robert Geoffrey Porterfield was his biological father.
Honestly, when you read Brautigan it feels like nothing could spoil his childlike wonder at the absurdity of the world. His most famous work 1967's "Trout Fishing In America" opens with a Vonnegut circa-"Cat's Cradle"-sized tale of how welcoming the statue of Ben Franklin is at Washington Square Park in San Francisco. To Brautigan, twists and juxtaposition are most important. So, on all four sides of the Franklin statue, there is a WELCOME chiseled into the ground. However, the church next to it will only provide free sandwiches to the poor at exactly the appointed time. At precisely 5 PM, the destitute are allowed to race across the street to the church where they are handed sandwiches wrapped in newspaper. Yet Franklin welcomes all who see him from the North, South, East, and West.
Brautigan's poetry is a veiled biography. All of the details of his life are there, they are scrambled around in utopian tales (1968's "In Watermelon Sugar") masquerading as everyday life (communal life is possibly more boring than normal life.) In almost science-fiction-like terms, this "world" where he and others function around the community of IDEATH exists on the magic of spinning every good creation out of Watermelon Sugar. Brautigan never wanted to be a Beatnik or Hippie. He had disdain for their elevation of a lifestyle to faux-religiosity. Around them, the growing pile of trash becomes evidence of a previous civilization and Brautigan even throws in a Zen koan-like element about tigers who protect an abandoned bridge. While Brautigan is throwing rocks at the hippie mystique, he is also recording the emigration of residents from the Haight to the commune-like houses on the highway that will carry this culture well into the Seventies.
Brautigan's poetry is also a puzzle. One of the most interesting aspects of "Trout Fishing In America" is how he uses pastoral, nature-laden terms to describe urban areas (walking past houses becomes getting past their trout-like "glass whiskers.") and the forest in city terms (trees in the forest become "telephone booths.") Brautigan is very in touch with nature because it is where he learned to survive in his younger years. His pursuit of places to fish, swim, and get away from the city is his meditation on life. He deals with so many fish metaphors, that you may surmise that he was happiest there. However, as you continue to read and his trips become more common. You are also left with the same level of middle ground he found "In Waternelon Sugar."
Brautigan's poetry is his embrace of a profound love of words. "Trout Fishing In America" is a very vocal book. So many parts are meant to be read aloud as they are timed like comedic bits. When he digs deeply into pre-Monty Python-style absurdity, his logic and believability are the elements that make it work. At one point, his fellow winos talk about how they could only do two things: start a flea circus, or enter the insane asylum. Not a great choice on either front - but it is the port talking. So what begins as putting colored paper bits on fleas escalates into letting them only feed off you "at the appointed hour," "making little flea wheelbarrows and pool tables and bicycles." and then getting them from a cat - preferably white. In 1970, as a small part of the Beatles' Apple Corps empire, Brautigan made a record of readings and creative recordings ("Listening to Richard Brautigan," moved to Harvest Records - home of Pink Floyd.) Hearing the purposeful violation of rules in recording makes these readings zany and an audio-verite glimpse into his life from 1968-69.
Brautigan works best as the past, present, and future are tossed into a blender and set to puree. Outside of the juxtaposition of urban and pastoral lives, the upending of social norms and mores by two generations of "creatives" colliding in San Francisco, Brautigan knew first and foremost that it was not Beatniks or Hippies whose voices were not being heard - it was the poor and desolate that were purposefully written out of history. "Trout Fishing on The Bevel" in "Trout Fishing" details a trip he took to fish at Graveyard Creek ("And the dead didn't mind me fishing there at all.") Graveyard Creek ran between two graveyards, one that was "green all year..with fine headstones and statues and tombs," and one that was -- in his words -- "for the poor..and it had no trees." There on "small boards that looked like heels of bread," Brautigan sets you up for the laugh with accurately spaced epitaphs of "slob father" and others. While you are giggling at John Talbot and "his crazy sister," Brautigan slips in that only one set of remembrances can survive. The others disappear into the great unknown.
You will have unreal recollections of me
life half-developed photographs
for all the days of your life, even though
you have never met me because I have dreamt
you. Soon it will be morning, the dream
over.
("You Will Have Unreal Recollections of Me (For Rainer Maria Rilke)"
—
Mik Davis is the record store manager at T-Bones Records & Cafe in Hattiesburg.
NEW MUSIC THIS WEEK
CAMILA CABELLO - C, XOXO [BLUE LP/CD](Geffen)
Do not be fooled by her friendly "Senorita" style past. Cabello is in the midst of transformation. Like Miley Cyrus' "Bangerz," Cabello is processing her voice ("Chanel No. 9") before leaping into some genuine Lana Del Rey-style Post-Modern Pop lyricism. Meanwhile, her duet with Playboy Carti goes for the bullet-like distribution of the title line, allowing Carti the "slow down." Wise or not, Cabello (with no co-writers) eases into "hyperpop" just in time for Brat Girl Summer.
TBONES will be hosting a listening party for the new album, Friday night at 7PM.
IMAGINE DRAGONS - LOOM [COKE BOTTLE GREEN LP/CD](Interscope)
Billions of streams. Millions of records sold. Legions of young fans devoted to their Rock-Into-Pop Coldplay-esque changing. Why not steer their Electronic-ish Pop into Hip-Hop? What could go wrong? The first single "Eyes Closed" is cut like an outtake from "Hamilton." It is no wonder they brought J.Balvin in to save it. Nonetheless, it does have that big beat/swing for the fences thrust fans like. The second single "Nice To Meet You" may be the most calculated, concentrated, distilled, general reach for a hit single in a while. Atrocious. Someone tried to carve their way into the "Song of the Summer" race and unleashed one that is more bomb than bop.
OMAR APOLLO - God Said No [GOLD LP/CD](Warner)
You probably do not know this Grammy nominee. Apollo benefits from his underdog status. While production-wise it may follow too closely in the direction of Harry Styles or Daft Punk, Apollo as a performer and writer makes some brave choices. His most sunny song, is about "SPITE" In addition, when he sings the line about "Hate that I still need you in my life" - it feels like love. Apollo is wrapped in confusion, and that is nothing new. However, he wants to disco dance over pulsating sequencers while unleashing that he wants to see "Less of You." Yet again, Apollo toys with the duality of that statement infusing the processed vocals with a sense of being withdrawn, but still reminded of better times lyrically.
JOHNNY CASH - Songwriter [BLACK/WHITE LP/CD](American/UME)
Shortly before Cash met with Rick Rubin in 1993 (thus opening the sequence of classic albums,) he laid down these tracks that have never seen the light of day. These demos fell into the hands of John Carter Cash who put them together to bridge his Eighties-style traditional Country right into the spartan drama of working with Rubin. "Well Alright" crackles like Sixties and Seventies Cash ("One Piece At A Time") augmented by twangy Waylon-like guitar from Marty Stuart. On the Blues-y "Spotlight," Carter Cash even manages to get swooped strings and the guitar of Dan Auerbach. While these were originally cut as demos, "Songwriter" pulls off a huge trick on "I Love You Tonite" and "Like A Soldier," capturing Cash singing with Waylon.
