Thursday, December 15, 2011

Ryan Eckes' Old News



“A book of thirty or more poems is not easy to read (that is quite a few poems). But in the case of Ryan Eckes’ risky, industrial book, poetry represents gravity. Many of the poems depict the world via luminous English, laced with allusions so perfect they are almost invisible.” -- Mickey Hess

Monday, December 12, 2011

Devil from a Sheep's Leg

Ten years ago or something I recorded a poem for a CD that was released in Iceland. Jim James from My Morning Jacket played guitar while I kind of shouted the poem (which maybe makes the poem a song?)

Anyway, so the CD sold tens of millions of copies in Iceland. Here's how an Icelandic newspaper described the track I did with Jim James (it was called "Uncle Clint's Weddin"):

"Mickey Hess writes that Clint's cousin getting married, but that ends badly for Clint. Hess moving poem pleasant and the music is live, but the story itself/poem is rather pretentious. Dream a Little Dream of Me is like the devil from a sheep's leg, which moves Jim James song as it is." -- Arni Matthiasson, via Google Translate