Howdy and hello – I’m in the process of dusting the blow off of DaveJarecki.com and thought I’d start by highlighting a few new things you can listen to.

If you head over to ye olde listen page, you’ll find six poems added to the online radio. These are audio clips from a recent appearance on “Talking Earth,” the twice-monthly poetry program on Portland’s KBOO radio. The poems, in alphabetical order are:

• The Distance Between Here and Montana
• Feeding Emu
• Marital Affair
• Sand
• Seeds
• Why Men Fly Into Buildings

Wait, there’s more . . .

You can also find some other clips from “Talking Earth” as well as a few Caffeinated Art performances over at Archive.org.

There’s still more . . .

Finally, I’m pleased and honored to be included on Oregon Poetic Voices, a site that provides a “comprehensive digital archive of poetry readings that will complement existing print collections of poetry across the state”. Stop by and have a listen to more than a 100 different voices from across Oregon.

Thanks for reading and for listening. It’s good to be back.

I’m happy to announce the release of “Backwards on the Train”, (c) 2009 Imperfect Press. The limited first edition of 111 hand-bound, hardcover volumes contains 11 poems, a few of which have appeared in previous drafts on the site.

The chapbook is $8.00, plus $2.00 shipping for any mail orders. Please email at info (at) davejarecki (dot)com if you’d like to order a copy, or visit ImperfectPress.net – their shopping cart will be up shortly.

Thanks to everyone who’s ever offered feedback and insight. I appreciate it, and the book wouldn’t have happened without honest readers.

Dave

–

Some Nights comes from a poem called Sleeping Brainwaves, which was something I worked on a few years ago to help make sense of the occasional pre-dream, non-English chatter that would “play” in my head while I was trying to fall asleep. It wasn’t every night, but there was a spell where it happened more often than I would have liked. The only “rational” explanation I could come up with was that our brains are transmitters, each picking up distinct signals across timezones, meridians, continents, etc. Different episodes would tune in and out; eventually I’d latch onto one and drift straight into a dream. I decided to return to Sleeping Brainwaves after Courtney found the the first version while she was setting up her new home office. Neither feels done to me.

Some Nights

Some nights, static fuzz in my head
buzzes like shortwave,
nonstop Spanish talk,
Russians argue drunk,
a Latin priest at mass.

How these dregs of dream arrive
I can’t say, only soon
sounds form a tunnel
back to my father
dressing for work.

He explains how the knot in his tie
lines up with buttons
from collar to belt
where the buckle shines
for whomever signs off

on the raise due two years now
for looking sharp,
always punctual, quick -
a gift of sleep
he says some nights

while others
he’s as washed out as me,
dresses under too bright a light,
wonders back to something
he heard but didn’t catch.

Sleeping Brainwaves

I hear voices of old loves
at night, friends
some dead, family the same.

Ghosts that walk me over
to sleep, talk
from behind ears.
They open doors into dreams,
guide me to the bottom

as my own voice rushes past,
muffled in the din of the rest,
off to haunt friends
far off,

our brains
twisting at their stems,
affairs our bodies
never know.