A quality recording of my band, Basement Vinyl, covering Bob Dylan, more to come soon:

the sound of breath

a bellows
ignites the iron-flame
of yesterday
and bathes
the room in
pumpkin light

cinders fall like
gnats, who lost breath
and returned to the dirt

a wheel turns and needs to
stop, so eyes can travel
to dreamland

I travel through dark houses
sampling them like
a bite of various fruits

I crawl towards a wall
and feel my fingertips
losing feeling

when my snakeskin
peels off
I'll be a weathervane
pointed to the west

Here's another song by my band, which is now known as Blue Variable:

When Temperaments Get Tempestuous

The thread

一
a samurai sword/
cuts silence like
thin bamboo
split by, the sharpened
steel-toe kick
of the west

二
before execution
a man spit in the face
of a would-be undertaker
and escaped
due to a witty girl
who saw the advantage
of Ronin blades
against an oppressive edge

三
keep smiling
dumpling lady

while a ruckus
rages in the tea house
a hidden samurai
explains to idiots outside
about
'how to conduct oneself'
'in an appropriate manner'

before tea spills
and blood
spills

四
he might help
Kitty Genovese
and reverse the wheels
of time, the samurai outside

questions
honor, a medal of
worth, while conflicts
inside are dealt with
violence, a hasty way
to create silence

五
he gathers coins back
from the governor
who oppressed the land, and drained
the people of water
and rice

六
Vagrant Story
threatened their captors
and dodged crows
with skilled acrobatics

七
once the wage is sealed
with their savior
an innocent soul
is protected

is cut

here's a raw recording of a song from my new band, Red Desert Gold: Red Desert Gold consists of: Aaron Harms- Vocals/Rhythm Guitar Justin Pelton- Lead Guitar Grant Blakeslee- Drums Expect more recordings to come and show dates to be announced!!

Time is a Labyrinth

Acryllic on 12x16in Canvas Panel

Hemingway in Reverse

cold

she used ice as a sheet for her bed

when the ground gets
cold and trees are static
wings of air move with magnetic force
a breeze through the U curvature of a bridge's bottom

the cabin is empty now, doors are broken and the
windows are a thin glass like paper

old wood, stained by rain, snow, bats in the ceiling

inside a broken piano, strings detune by cold fingers

frozen smoke billows to a wispy sky
a nomad retreats, a prince from the east falls

the sun is a satellite is a moon is a star
a plant grows towards warmth, roots spread out
the snow, a cold shroud, surprisingly bright

reflection eternal
left down winter lane
the space between two worlds

Lines and Colors

"Green Windows"
Acrylic on 12x16 Canvas Panel

End of Winter

Coyotes

howl in the night-wind
a tear
in the moon
while a graveyard
rises
and the floor
falls into an elevator shaft

patterns in wind
a boot slips

trees hold wind while
snow ghosts
hover above the slick road
and put hands over your eyes

A Labyrinth of Color

Weird Work

Penned these three poems during work today, art is a response, and I needed to respond to the echoes in my mind and release them.

eraser, erase her

nails on a chalkboard
sad echoes from a basement
a stench rises, an angry balloon
flies upward
and red starts to boil

after the burn
a plague settles in, mirrors
appear, then break into
reflective shards
that I assemble
into a mosaic mandala

then I draw a case
and place the mandala over the
moon


when people think I'm stupid

when people think I'm stupid
I:
draw a moose
dance like a monkey
drive a car
dwell in a cave
use a microphone
untie a knot
usurp a throne
understand the cosmos
relate to Socrates
relish fine cuisine
return to the cave
rate critics

when the boardwalk burned

he turned to stone
stagnance reined
and the world was boring
street signs, billboards
echoed with industrial sonar
that broke our backs
chipped our teeth and
made us into Pillsbury
Betty Crocker’s, after that
all the shit went
down the drain
and clogged it

no drano

Collaboration from afar

This drawing was sent to me by Sara Swoboda for her art project, she's been sending a current drawing to a different person everyday since March 20, 2011 and will continue to do so until March 18, 2012. I will post up information about the installation once I know.

Sarah asked for a response to the drawing in her letter to me about the project, here is mine:

Dance of the Elephant

A figure stands in the window

Day 166
An elephant on the mind
a figure, female, locked in a dance pose
her hand:
robotic
simple
mechanical
lines converge in her blank face
small tears in her leggings

while she poses
an elephant's legs grow to the size
of a giraffe, and an aura of sketch
emanates from ink flesh

A Woman On A Bench With A Peculiar-Shaped-Head

Another one from back in the day

"Jawbreakerhead" by Michael Stueben

Portrait

dug this one up from the archives

"Grantasm" by Mike Stueben