Frank Hecker

We’re now past Easter and well into spring. For this third Sunday night poetry night selection riffing on “love, death, and the changing of the seasons,” here’s a poem about the changing of the seasons, which (in the Christianity-influenced Western tradition) is also a poem about death and resurrection. It’s by Louise Glück, who wrote the second poem I posted in this series, “The Triumph of Achilles”; this one is titled “The Wild Iris,” and is written in the voice of the flower:

I’m not sure whether I’ll make a habit of writing posts like this. But after importing Megan Carnes's discography into Apple Music and seeing who came next in alphabetical order in my music collection, I got the urge to once again listen to one of the most important groups of the 1980s post-punk British music scene, Mekons.

Mekons have at least two essential records. In the first, Fear and Whiskey (released in 1985), they had the brilliant idea of combining country music with 1980s leftist post-punk. Along with Meat Puppets II (released the previous year), it’s often credited with creating the genre of alt-country.

But Mekons were (and are) much more than an alt-country band. Their genius was taking in the Christian idea behind much country music, that we are all sinners living in a fallen world, and recasting it in a Marxist context, in which the original sin was the creation of capitalism. Fear and Whiskey is haunted by the failure of the 1984 coal miners’ strike (see, for example, “Darkness and Doubt”), while The Mekons Rock ’n Roll (released in 1989, and more rock than country, as the name implies) looks upon Thatcherism and Reaganism triumphant. (“Empire of the Senseless” in particular namechecks Iran-Contra and Section 28 — and takes its title from Kathy Acker’s 1988 experimental novel.)

Mekons are still going strong, almost 40 years later, and have lots of albums on Bandcamp. Give one or both of these a listen, and let me know what you think!

“Love, death, and the changing of the seasons” is the theme of this group of Sunday night poems, and tonight’s poem is about the second item in that list. It’s what used to be called a memento mori, and these days it hits a lot harder with me than it used to. “Otherwise,” by Jane Kenyon:

It’s Bandcamp Friday and I’m p broke due to my current (lack of) work situation, so imo you should buy some of my music. This is an amazing deal because along with helping me out, you also get music. Incredible really

I already had her album Things from Things and liked it, and the new one 11 Grains also is quite nice, especially if (like me) you’re a fan of short pieces; “Floating Temple” is especially beautiful.

(Trying out some of her other stuff...) OK, screw it, no need to listen any more, I’m going for her whole discography.