A.S. Coomer's Blog, page 7

The Byhalia Tapes – On Bandcamp Now

Last June I drove down to Byhalia, Mississippi, just south of Memphis, Tennessee, to hang out and make some music with my good friend Patrick McGee. If you’re not familiar with Patrick’s work, he’s an incredible painter, excellent songwriter, & a mighty fine guitar picker. He put out two great records in the last couple of years: Midnight Choirs and Cabarets & Serenading the Muse (both of which are streaming on all the major services now). Anyway, I went down there & set up some microphones & we recorded four songs; two of Patrick’s (I Been A Miner & Memphis Bound) & two of mine (Ludlow Lullabies & Cumberland Gap). We made all the sounds you hear, from wailing on the electric guitar in trading solos to banging on a busted snare with paint brushes while dancing with Patrick’s mischievous doggo Dullahan (who bites). My brother Ethan Coomer (an amazing songwriter & multi-instrumentalist) mixed & mastered the songs for us.

THE BYHALIA TAPES was a whole lot of fun to make. I hope some of that joy is apparent in the recordings. The EP is up for purchase on Bandcamp. If you buy the EP there, you’ll get access to a lyric booklet & some behind-the-scenes pics from the recording process. THE BYHALIA TAPES will be on the streaming services later on. Thanks for listening!

Byhalia painting by Patrick McGee. If you find yourself in historic Byhalia be sure to see Patrick’s mural.

SING WHILE YOU CAN

SING WHILE YOU CAN is a limited edition chapbook of new poems published by the good folks of The Grind Stone. C.S. Mathews did the cover. Jonathan S Baker did the layout. There are only 50 of these beauties in the world. I have 11 to sell. Get one while you can. I mean it is National Poetry Month & all that, so why not support a living writer & the small press?

Signed, Limited-Edition poetry chapbook SING WHILE YOU CAN by A.S. Coomer

$10 includes shipping in the USofA. There are only 50 of these books in the world. I have 11 copies to sell. After they’re gone, they’re gone.

$10.00

Click here to purchase.

This past Friday, we had a reading at Your Brother’s Bookstore in Evansville, Indiana to celebrate the release of the chapbook. I was lucky to have Tim Heerdink, MB, Jonathan S Baker, Joseph Fulkerson, & K Ann Sea share their work.

tulum – single streaming now

i wrote two songs in tulum, mexico: an aubade & a nocturne.

i recorded both songs in tulum, mexico & white mills, kentucky.

tulum on Apple Music

if yer feeling generous: you can purchase the tracks on bandcamp.

hyperfollow for more links

thanks for listening.

a.s. coomer

windsong video

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windsong is a poem from my Gutter Snob Books collection SONGS FOR LEAVING, which is out now. The audio version of SONGS FOR LEAVING is streaming on all the major services & the high-def tracks are available for purchase over on the A.S. Coomer Bandcamp page.

Signed Paperback Copy of A.S. Coomer’s SONGS FOR LEAVING (Gutter Snob Books)

$13 includes shipping in the USofA. *cat approved poetry**cat no included

$13.00

Click here to purchase.

tulum – new single on bandcamp

i was fortunate to spend a little time in tulum, mexico recently. i took my laptop and keyboard with me. wrote these two instrumentals. put some guitar on ’em when i got back to ol’ kentucky. you can stream/download both tracks from my bandcamp page. i hope you enjoy them. they’ll be on the streaming services a little later.

Preorder My Forthcoming Poetry Chapbook SING WHILE YOU CAN

The folks at The Grind Stone are putting out a limited edition chapbook of some of my new poetry called SING WHILE YOU CAN. You can preorder the little book directly from the publisher here.

I’ll have signed copies for sale soon.

Keep them peepers on ascoomer dot com for more.

Thanks for looking!

-A.S. Coomer

Booksong

Here’s a poem called Booksong about the power of books to save lives. It’s included in my Gutter Snob Books collection SONGS FOR LEAVING, which is out now.

Booksong

I.

Hands: Seismic
In attempt to still
I pick up a book
Throw myself in
Outrun that hungry tide
For a little while
It’s a race I know I’ll lose
Besides this is executioner weather
Red sun morning, halberds come a-fallin’

The splashing: divine
Now each ping just upsets still water

All the children singing,
“Fall down on your knees
& pray to the guillotine”

What am I punishing myself for?

II.

Hot natured
I trace a bead of sweat
Back to its place of origin
A speck where the ridged Sierra Nevada

Of the bridge of your nose
Meets the raked Great Salt Lake

Between your eyebrows where I place

My torn and chapped lips
Reflex devotion
I’ve always been a man of ritual
Even if faithless
& I won’t lie
There was a time
When each raindrop was choregraphed

The splashing: divine
Now each ping just upsets still water

I don’t know what this says about me

Who knows? Some of it might be true

III.

I wonder if that bit of you loves me
Or if it’s only a fairy tale I tuck myself in with

After a while I bet it does & there’s the gut punch

The responsibility of such love
The mammoth weight of it
But I’ve always been a beast of troublesome burden

Condemned Sisyphus slumped but moving,

Whistling back down the mountain
Another hangdog reprisal’s reprise
A deepening sweetness ringing like a cavity

There’s a part of me always singing
Beginning each morning in the previous day’s final failure
A broken coda, rent life in debris
Basking in echoes off crumbling concrete
Each bounce a lessening
Carried off on time and by distance
Leaving trails on all sides
Yawning off to distant curvatures
And Now is defined by Absence
And Then is a different river
& with each passing second, it’s renamed

IV.

Even when it’s bad pizza

Music is capable of magic

V.

Books sing songs of their own
Sometimes choral, sometimes guttural
I hum their melodies as I race across this serpent’s spine

Feeling the thunder of The Ouroboros we ride
Tearing day into night as it curls into itself

Prayer: flat, rust-flecked harmonies

Under the Great Singing Saw

Wrenching jerks and sways
Flakes flutter in the friction of hands

Buoyed with the stamping of feet

You can dance to damn near anything
I’ve seen ‘em dance for less
Let’s call this one “The Can’t-Fucking-Get-It-Right Rag”
It’s a new recording of an old song

This is me trying
                                    again

I’ve known edges & there I danced
Never quite achieving abandon
The movements jerky, the muscles ragged, tangled knots

The blade slicing with each of my awkward two-steps

My feet marked out like yearbook eyes
Places where angels wouldn’t dare dance

The only thing keeping me from losing the beat

The snare snap of booksong
A chorus of character, the plot a sustained refrain

A new move with each turned page

Trying my best to keep my head up
I doggy-paddle away from the cacophonous maelstroms of everyday life
Until my feet find purchase in the sucking muck along the shoreline
And I wade through inky lexicon
Shuffling inch by inch away from the dropoff
Dancing so softly it looks like I’m standing still

Apple Music

SIGNED PAPERBACK COPY OF SONGS FOR LEAVING – A.S. COOMER (Gutter Snob Books)

$15 includes shipping in the USofA. *Cat approved poetry**Cat not included

$15.00

Click here to purchase.

poem © A.S. Coomer

music © A.S. Coomer

The Slow Dance of Attrition (Waltzing Into Oblivion) live from Chichén Itzá

Visited the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá. It was humbling. Made me want to read poetry, so I did. Here’s a poem from my Gutter Snob Books collection SONGS FOR LEAVING called The Slow Dance of Attrition (Waltzing Into Oblivion).

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Signed Paperback – SONGS FOR LEAVING

$15 includes shipping in the USofA. *cat not included**these poems cat approved

$15.00

Click here to purchase.

Some Chorus of Impermanence live from Chichén Itzá

Visited the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichén Itzá. Figured it was an excellent place to read a little poetry. Here’s one from my Gutter Snob Books collection SONGS FOR LEAVING called Some Chorus of Impermanence. This poem appeared in Laughing Ronin Press’ Seppuku Quarterly Issue Three.

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Signed Paperback – SONGS FOR LEAVING

$15 includes shipping in the USofA. *cat not included**these poems cat approved

$15.00

Click here to purchase.

Another Song of Erosion

Here’s a video of me out in the woods of Hardin County, Caintuckee reading Another Song of Erosion.

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This poem is included in my Gutter Snob Books collection SONGS FOR LEAVING, which is out now.

Signed Paperback – SONGS FOR LEAVING

$15 includes shipping in the USofA. *cat not included**these poems cat approved

$15.00

Click here to purchase.