Are You Experienced? poem by Jennifer Lagier (WHEN I HEAR THAT SONG Series)

Are You Experienced?
by Jennifer Lagier

Ah Jimi,
you had me
at the first erotic scream
of tortured riff.

Your fingers teased,
aroused the guitar,
left your audience
begging for mercy.

It was Pleasanton, ’68,
me barefoot, stoned,
accepting every toke
I was handed.

Baby, you touched me
in places no one else
even knew existed,
left me shuddering.

If I wasn’t experienced
before, I was after
embracing the ecstatic burn
of your hot purple haze.

PHOTO: Jimi Hendrix (circa 1968).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I am still a child of the sixties! Seeing Jimi Hendrix perform live was one of the highlights of my teen years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jennifer Lagier has published ten books of poetry and internationally in a variety of literary magazines and anthologies. Her latest book, Where We Grew Up, was just issued by FutureCycle Press. She taught with California Poets in the Schools, co-edits the Homestead Review, maintains web sites for Homestead Review, Monterey Poetry Review, Ping Pong Literary Journal, misfit magazine and helps coordinate monthly Monterey Bay Poetry Consortium Second Sunday readings. Website: jlagier.net.

AUTHOR’S PHOTO: Jennifer Lagier, signing books at Old Capital Books in Monterey (photo by Laura Bayless).

ABOUT THE MUSIC: Listen to Jimi Hendrix‘s “Are You Experienced” here.

When I Hear Link Wray’s “Rumble,” poem by Glen Armstrong (WHEN I HEAR THAT SONG Series)

When I Hear Link Wray’s “Rumble”
by Glen Armstrong

The years collapse
around his guitar,
the chords to “Rumble”

like two musical fists
punching black holes
through time:

I am an old man
with a young wife
and a bitchin’ pompadour wig.

I am the alien visitor
aligning beacons, the bare shins
of bobbysoxers and the speaker
from a Premier Model 50 amplifier.

This is ground zero.
This is 1958.
The world shifts

from D to E,
but the D still exists.

AUTHOR’S NOTE ON THE PHOTO: This is a still from a video shoot. The 80s were very, very good to me.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Link Wray’s song “Rumble” still strikes be as perfectly otherworldly and timeless.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Glen Armstrong holds an MFA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and teaches writing at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. He edits a poetry journal called Cruel Garters and has three new chapbooks: Set List (Bitchin Kitsch), In Stone and The Most Awkward Silence of All (both Cruel Garters Press). His work has appeared in Poetry Northwest, Conduit and Cloudbank.

Record Release Show: David Dondero Golden Hits Vol. 1

Come one, come all — if you are in the San Francisco, California, environs or plan to visit — to the David Dondero Record Release Show on June 5, 2013 (it’s free!). If you haven’t heard of singer/ songwriter/ guitarist David Dondero — like Bob Dylan, a native of Duluth, Minnesota, and like Dylan named one of the “Best Living Songwriters” by National Public Radio‘s Robin Hilton, who called Dondero “a brilliant artist” — do yourself a favor and check out this amazing performer/poet.

If you’re a fan of Tom Waits, Daniel Johnston, and other original bard/troubadours, you’ll  feel as if you’ve discovered a new planet in the indy folk/rock universe when you start to listen to David Dondero. Check out “#Zero with a Bullet” at youtube.com.

WHAT: David Dondero Record Release Show for Golden Hits Vol. 1

WHO: David Dondero with special guests Tom Heyman and Rymodee

WHEN: Wednesday, June 5, 2013, 8 p.m.

WHERE: Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom St. (at 17th St.) San Francisco, California, 94110

MORE INFORMATION: davedondero.com or unrequitedrecords.com

David Dondero‘s lyrics will appear in the upcoming Silver Birch Press Summer Anthology — available in June 2013. Stay tuned for more information.