Couplea Jerk Poets: In Conversation with Nic Souder
Chicago native Nic Souder is one of those people for me. A podcaster, a poet, poetry show host, visual artist and acquaintance (not at all in that order). One whom I admire because he manages to use his darker experiences and the everyday to lace everything he touches with a kind of mad hipster magic.
He was gracious enough to let me steal him away after work for a few beers and a long chat, heavily abridged and presented here in celebration with National Poetry Month, about process and other creative curiosities…
Tuesday
Trash day. Last night's rain warped everything. Grass. Lawn chairs. I never know how it does.
Little pieces of tree and leaves are coming down out of the tops and spreading everywhere. Tiny dried up late-springtime bits covering the ground. Clods of them tearing by on this windy mid-morning when all else is quiet.
My sister saw the house with the eviction notice as we went through the old neighborhood. I remembered two kids, a dog, a trampoline, while we looked toward the empty open mailbox. Rain soaked tongue of its door lolling like an unwanted dog. If a house could be a loveless dog preparing to die.
Everything is wet.
Callout THIS Culture: Femme Fatales, Don't Unite
If we are ever to get out from under this “fairer sex/nurturer” stereotype, desperate measures are perhaps required. I see you marchin’ so I know you know how to get out into the streets.
Act now while the initial investment can pay in dividends. Concealed carry isn’t just for bros anymore. This means you too, Mom.
Holiday Shopping Guide from a Drunk Copywriter
It's the holidays! You forgot to get your boss or lover or postal worker a gift and we all know that your social faux pas will be trumpeted across the vast wastelands of social media. Crack open that plastic and get to work, slacker!
Here are a few last minute gift ideas:
Elf in the Crossfire: Santa Ain't a Paramedic
As I'm parked, people are slowing for the light and staring me down in the outfit, which is essentially a bright red slutty elf costume. For tis' the season for idiots to spend money on a fancy bike cab ride since sleighs are pretty hard to come by around here.
The Candy Crush Victim's Weak Cries For Help
I’ve noticed something. And I’m not advocating here, but I’ve got this game and I play it. A lot.
It demands nearly nothing at all. It kills time.
One night out of boredom I downloaded it onto my phone and it got its hooks into me right away. That ever happen to you?
Small World
The sand almost burned the spaces in between my toes, but felt delicious. Little stubs of thick and thin palm shoots would poke up into your feet if you didn't walk carefully.
When the plateau melted the blue water came into view. Sure enough there it was- three figures on a mid-sized daysailer. No chop, but close, and the broadsheet was full. Two orange stripes and the number D-850 standing out near its apex.
In The Northern Liberated Provinces of Korea
Wu Ran-sang heard himself sigh. In this sigh, there were many feelings.
His heart and body hung between the sky and the dun ground along the northwest wall of the tallest building in Onsong. Nine stories. A recovered textile factory in the process of retrofit.
Ran-sang, an electrician of a singular talent, looked out at the view which the height afforded him. A warm mid-spring sun hung in a wide open sky of astonishing blue. The diamond pearls of the Tumen River glistened in their long band not too far off. This was now the Sapphire Coast and Onsong was in preparation to be a modest city of great culture and assimilation.
A Neighborhood Story of Halloween Proportions
Just your average sweep thru the rural landscape to trick or treat on a night filled with the simplicity of finding room in your heart to call everywhere home.
My Brother The Yogi — An Interview with Christian Jerman
My brother and I get along famously. We had a great time growing up together, and my life would be so incredibly bereft if he wasn't around. He and I as people, however, have persued some differing skill sets. Aside from music, which we both love to make and make together, he has begun to cultivate a learned and engaging physiospiritual work ethic within the arts of yoga.
Recently I had the opportunity to ask my only sibling to go on the record about his background and current thoughts for this oft-misunderstood practice.
Now Playing: Light and Echoes from a Dark Room
Back in college I took a film class. This wasn’t about how to make movies, but how to appreciate them as an art form and as visual literature. It was a dope course. We watched Clerks.
This academic pursuit like most required writing papers. Fortunately, it was only one.
Herr Professor needed to know you understood what concepts had been conveyed. So you could choose to apply these critical reasonings to either: a scene from a film of your choosing watched out of class or a music video.
Hello and Welcome to Vegetarian Confessions
I get asked about this a lot: “You’re a vegetarian?” Yes. “How long?” Since college. I’m dating myself here, but it’s been well over a decade.
I was trying to meet the vegan I was dating at least halfway, as I did not care to go vegan. Vegan meaning no animal products of any kind whatsoever.
The last thing I ditched was the addictive breaded chicken patty sandwiches I was noming from the cafeteria at least two times a week. I looked them straight in the buns and said “Damn. Is this all that’s holding me back?”
Dog Day — A Dystopian Story
To combat a rabies epidemic, Chicago of the near future decides to enforce "Dog Day," whereby owners are forced to unleash their pets for 24 hours. The events of the day are seen thru the juxtaposition of animal and owner.
The Long Hello - A Decade In The City of Big Dreams
It’s that rock-bottom feeling, and some new Chicagoan is working thru that feeling right now. I am here to tell her that there is magic and warmth and good things to come on the other side of it. Use your bravery, and your pluck. And stay.
Now Available: Troll to Learn™ for All Your Internet Needs
Let TROLL TO LEARN™ remind you:
Antagonistic language is your tool, but be smart: Let the Trollee utter the profanities first. Be prepared to see the dark side of the Trollee you only assumed might be there. It has many shapes.
On Flash
Flash Fiction has its own day. And everybody knows, if a thing has its very own celebratory day, then it might be worth paying attention to, if only for a brief (or extremely brief) time.
Comedy, Work, Poetry, Life, Repeat-
In art and dream may you proceed with abandon. In life may you proceed with balance and stealth. - Patti Smith
On Becoming An Unsuspecting Art Collector
I have never asked the painter though, if he experiences the curious emptiness that I sometimes feel in the aftermath of a sale. I have traded something beautiful for a number. For money. And now that the cycle of commerce is complete, what next?
2016 Book Report
One day I woke up and realized I really knew zilch-all about our seminal founding father. Really. Somebody needed to give that Cherry tree story the ax. I realized that somebody had to be me.
I had a boy dog who peed like a girl dog. I now have a girl dog who pees like a boy dog. Gender is fluid. Just like pee.