7
"Tom Waits is to publish his first book of poetry, in collaboration with photographer Michael O'Brien. Hard Ground is described as a portrait of homelessness, combining Waits's words with images of people who 'live on the hard ground'." The book comes out in March. [Via]
Oh good, yet another musician I really enjoy who I will attempt to read as a poet and then just be let down.
Great if it's like Christmas Card, oh well if it's more Downtown Train.
A Jewel in the Rough
I will take back the Boo I aim at you now if and only if Waits, following Jewel, includes a poem about his grandmother's breasts and his sincere hope that once they were as magnificent as his are now.
Tom Waits has written many a disturbing thing in the past, so there is no guarantee that this won't happen!
AGREED
Tom Waits was included in the poetry anthology I had to have in grad school. "Poems for the Millenium", page 504, the lyrics from Swordfishtrombone. The anthology was published in 1998. Poets already consider him to be a poet, and he's almost always been in the business of making or participating in performative art of all kinds (no one thinks of his spoken word interludes as possibly, maybe a promising resume for the composition of written poems?). So he says "Poetry is a very dangerous word … I don't like the stigma that comes with being called a poet." He -should- be wary of the word "poetry". It's a party killer. It doesn't really mean what most people seem to think it does. And it doesn't seem like a good word to hang on Tom Waits at all. Maybe if the many thought of him as what a poet is, though, "poetry" wouldn't be quite so much a black hole.