The Last Salesman

Today's post is difficult. Yesterday my stepfather died. I was having a difficult time processing it all, so I made a playlist to mull it over. I still have so much to process, but I think this will help.

It's not an easy listen. It will hurt at times. I'm ready for it.

I'm going to do a little something different this time around. I used to make poems out of the track names of the songs I'd put on a CD. Today, I'm bringing that back.

Here is one for my stepfather David, who I will miss for reasons unknown to me. He was a hard man, a cruel man, a bastard. I hated him for false reasons. Now when I reflect, I remember the good. It's what I'll keep. I hope it will change my perceptions.

Goodbye David.


The Last Salesman

1902.
From the deep ocean,
a beached baby was born
and inhabits
stolen houses
for shelter.

He was young when he left home.
It was a sort of revolution:
renegade, ruanaway, bad kid.
He would jangle on a bayonet
under the Milky Way:
murky white stars.

He turned from them,
to become a traveling salesman;
the last one.
Hands on the radio,
in that big red
machine.

Red lights,
black tables.
Action, reaction.


Breathe?
It was his time to die.

There's a boy who builds coffins,
Harry Patch.
"In memory of," was engraved.

We walked the wake
and I bent to kiss
you on the cheek.

Ma said,
"it was something
to have wept."

We danced on his grave,
to the burial sounds of seagulls,
all to avoid the void;
the void
of sailing home,
of the sequel.

We are the souverians,
waiting,
for the first days of spring.



*Please take special note that there are four files to this set (so download them all!) and if you put them in order you'll hear the story.


Tracklist:

1. The Uglysuit 1902 Deep Ocean
2. Bon Iver Beach Baby
3. Iron & Wine Stolen Houses (Die)
4. The XX Shelter
5. Antony & Bryce Dressner I Was Young When I Left Home
6. Fink Sort of Revolution [The Cinematic Orchestra Remix]
7. Kings Of Convenience Renegade
8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs Runaway
9. Black Lips Bad Kids
10. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros Janglin'
11. Beirut On A Bayonet
12. Sia Under The Milky Way
13. Warpaint Stars
14. Patrick Watson Traveling Salesman
15. Au Revoir Simone The Last One
16. Chris Garneau Hands On The Radio
17. Justin Vernon & Aaron Dressner Big Red Machine
18. Vib Gyor Red Lights
19. Other Lives Black Tables
20. Choir of Young Believers Action/Reaction

The Last Salesman: Disc 1, Pt. I
The Last Salesman: Disc 1, Pt. II


1. David Gray Breathe
2. The Dodos A Time To Die
3. Florence + The Machine My Boy Builds Coffins
4. Radiohead Harry Patch (In Memory Of)
5. The Antlers Wake
6. Desmond & The Tutus Kiss You On The Cheek [King Of Town Remix]
7. El Perro Del Mar It Is Something (To Have Wept)
8. Paper Route Dance On Our Graves
9. The Phantom Band Burial Sounds
10. Motorama Seagulls
11. Atlas Sound Avoid The Void
12. Papercuts The Void
13. Karen O & The Kids Sailing Home
14. St. Vincent The Sequel
15. Andrew Bird Souverian
16. Noah & The Whale The First Days of Spring

The Last Salesman: Disc 2, Pt. I
The Last Salesman: Disc 2, Pt. II