Bøger udgivet af Mezcalita Press, LLC

This story begins before I know there's going to be a story. Which makes it difficult to know where, when, or how to begin. I could say: with a separation. But my wife and I were already a year or two into what our therapist kept trying to call a "therapeutic separation." He's a good man who truly gave us his best shot. So, what sounds more accurate is: this story begins with an ending. Or, even better might be: the awful begin-ning of a painful ending.

In the Days of Our Unrest: June - August 2020 picks up where In the Days of Our Seclusion, Book 1 of what is now called the Pandemic Poems Project, leaves off. This book follows the heated season of the summer, when temperatures and social turbulence led to historic wildfires, relentless hurricanes, and an unbroken chain of protests against incessant injustice that resounded through the streets of most American cities, and around the world. And during all this, the pandemic refused to give us a break as well-in other words, an overabundance of material for this daily report.In the Days of Our Unrest: June - August 2020 is the second book in a series that documents the odyssey of the poet and singer-songwriter, Nathan Brown, as he explores the new world of "no more live gigs." As his travel and performing career took a painful dive in the wake of the coronavirus, he put out the request for anyone who might want to commission a personalized poem for a donation of any size. Not thinking much of it at the time, the project has now grown into a full-time job that is close to actually paying the bills. This book is the culmination of the project's second "season" - the heated season of the summer, when temperatures and social turbulence led to historic wildfires, relentless hurricanes, and an unbroken chain of protests against incessant injustice that resounded through the streets of most American cities, and around the world.As requests are still pouring in, the sense of need and urgency on the part of those who are contributing has not let up, so Nathan has continued the series of live online videos called The Fire Pit Sessions, as a way for him to share in 'real-time' the emotions, concerns, and questions that the participants were expressing in the midst of the pandemic. At well over 30,000 views now, The Fire Pit Sessions have become a key ingredient in spreading the word for new commissions that will appear in the third and fourth books in the series.

Along with his songs and prose, author and singer-songwriter Nathan Brown has written at least one poem every day for over 20 years now. And from that practice comes this new collection in which each poem deals chronologically with every year of our lives, from the ages of 0 to 100. In one, he tells the story of an 8-year-old girl attempting to cross the border into the U.S. with her older brother. Further in, he works through the mental gyrations of a 39-year-old man and a woman who is 61 falling in love at a reading in a bookstore. As a whole, these poems offer a stark sensitivity to all the stages, transitions, and graduations of life, while also marking a willingness to put an honest, sometimes even cold and hard, magnifying glass up to the struggles of the soul--the Venus and the Mars in us all.

face-palm /fayspaw(l)m/ n.1that moment when the ridiculousness of your post-show situation becomes unbearable and you make a mental note to write it down so you can tell your mom and have a good laugh because I mean come on, who would actually say that?After twenty years on the road, singer-songwriter Beth Wood offers a collection of amusing vignettes and awkward conversations she has had at the product table after her shows. While most audience members are kind, appreciative, and often generous, there is always someone who delivers a true facepalm moment. Finally, she has compiled some of the "winners" into one comical batch that offers a behind-the-scenes window into the world of a traveling musician. With whimsical illustrations by Austin artist Jen Blair, you will laugh and palm your face in your hands right alongside Wood the whole way. One night after a mind-blowingly awkward and boundary-stomping encounter at the merch table (the place where she sells CDs after a show), singer-songwriter Beth Wood decided to write down what happened and share it on social media. The response was overwhelming and made it easier to laugh at these crazy situations she found herself in. It made her feel so...not alone.Wood compiled these recollections from the merch table, where she stands every night after performing a show, and takes in the sometimes beautiful, but other times awkward, interactions with fans. These latter ones are some of the facepalm moments that made her laugh, or stand there in puzzled silence, and immediately go call her mom to say, "omygawd you won't believe what just happened!" These are all people who, bless their hearts, didn't buy anything. And these are just the ones she remembers!

Rod Picott's second collection of poems, Murmuration, is a walk down the crooked path of life. The thrill of a child's first bicycle, the looming death of a loved one, the wonder of nature and our relationship to it are all deftly explored. With Picott's keen eye, prosaic story-telling sensibility and comic dryness - poetry is made temporal without removing its spiritual power. Small and large revelations are on uncovered in Murmuration. Sex, work, racism, family, hope, loss, self-doubt and the small victories of life are all given weight in Picott's work.These poems carry the themes of family and aging with particular clarity and nuance. Those familiar with him will note that birds and other animals find their way into the collection in various forms. Nature and humanity are inextricable in Picott's world. The poems in Murmuration are darker than his previous collection, God In His Slippers. Observational humor is always close at hand even in the most fatalistic poems. Lawn chairs, chainsaws, a tumbler of whiskey, Halloween candy, tractors, a soldier's boots and a scrap of cloth all have significance.Murmuration assembles the small things of life, the minutia, the random and seemingly weightless held together by the exposition Picott brings to the unremarkable. It's this sleight of hand that makes these poems a remarkable addition to his collection of work.

Step inside a slightly off-center world populated by cowboys, cotton farmers, oil heiresses and small-town merchants. The Prosper Chronicles explores the fictional West Texas town of Prosper, a town that is "seriously overnamed." Along the way there is plenty of coffee, wild plum pie, wry observations, unique characters and, of course, Beloved Rest Cemetery.Part Garrison Keillor, part John Henry Faulk, Bob Wood, with his keen ear for the vernacular and sharp eye for detail, admits that many characters and events in the Chronicles have a kernel of truth at their core. Prosper may or may not remind you of your hometown, but chances are you will recognize some of the colorful characters or traces of them in people with whom you have crossed paths.Meaningful because it's hilarious. Hilarious because it's true. A little too true. There are some real treasures hidden within: pop culture meets Old West, subtle wordplay meets authentic dialect, ironic twists within mind-bending plots. Enjoy. Read 'til you smile and your side hurts.

Letters to the Daughter I'll Never Have navigates the gut-wrenching territory of a couple's ultimate decision to opt out of parenthood. More and more women, and men, are choosing not to have children, but that choice is seldom a simple or easy one to make. In this book of letters to her imaginary daughter, Ashley Brown delves into the grief over what she'll be missing out on--feeling a mother's unconditional love; sharing stories and advice; and experiencing the fulfillment of creating a family with her husband of eight years, author and poet Nathan Brown. She also explains to her daughter the reasons for her decision and the fears and doubts about raising a child in today's world. She even acknowledges the relief of certain challenges she'll never have to face and sacrifices she won't have to make. Sometimes brutally candid, sometimes funny and heartwarming, Brown's letters take readers with her on the journey of arriving at this almost impossible decision all while celebrating love and family.

Grant Peeples lives in a pink house. And he is not a poet who writes poems about his cats. Though a cat does get shot in a poem in My Advice to Pilgrims--after it is found killing a bird at the feeder in the front yard. The remainder of the 92 poems here are, by-in-large, void of gunfire. But all are equally unwavering in their own version of in-your-face-ness; and are patently bereft of nostalgia and sentimentality.Each poem seems to have its own point. Not so much the kind of persuasive point that is related to an argument, but rather the kind of point that is found at the tip of an icepick. And it seems that Peeples' intent as a poet is to create a moment in each poem where his readers feel that point--as it touches up against a bubble in their belief system, their assumptions, their understanding of things, or their level of comfortableness in their own skin. Or with their rote version of the truth about things. It would be fair to say that this is a poet who feels it might be his job to push you around some.There is humor, too, sprinkled throughout the pages of My Advice to Pilgrims, as well as a handful of poems that have an unmitigated raunchiness to them. There is a narrative feel throughout, except in those cases where the poems have a mini-manifesto sense about them. And it is these particular poems that seem to be placed as keys to the other poems, as they reveal Peeples' views about the world: "I don't have a philosophy," he says, "but I do have a system."September 2018 marks the publication of My Advice to Pilgrims, a book of poetry from Grant Peeples. The book is the latest from Mezcalita Press. Other writers published by the press include Jonathan Byrd, Rod Picott, Nathan Brown, Beth Wood, and Jon Dee Graham. In addition to writing poetry, Peeples is a recording artist with Gatorbone Records. He has recorded 9 studio records, four of which were produced by Gurf Morlix, the Austin producer known best for producing Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, and Slaid Cleaves.Peeples makes his home in Tallahassee Florida, where he attended Leon High School. He received a BA in History and English at Appalachian State University. He was a co-founder of The Moon, an 800-seat music venue in Tallahassee. In the early 1990s he moved to Little Corn Island, Nicaragua. He built and operated Casa Iguana, an eco-resort. In 2006 he sold the business and returned to his native Tallahassee. His primary influences have been Joseph Campbell, author of The Power of Myth, the poet Robinson Jeffers, the Buddhist nun Pema Chodron, the essayist Joe Bageant, the art critic Dave Hickey, the artist Jim Roche, and the musician and songwriter Bob Dylan. Peeples has been involved with the environmental organization Earth First!He was an ardent supporter of Barack Obama. He has pledged his support to the Resist Movement and the Antifa movement. He calls himself a Leftneck.

As a follow up to his earlier book, "My Sideways Heart," Nathan Brown's "My Salvaged Heart: Story of a Cautious Courtship" continues his breadcrumb trail of poems "about love" for people who don't like "love poems." The book is searing in its honesty about the glories and the pitfalls of relationship, beginning with an early meeting, the ensuing friendship, and eventual courtship of his current wife, Ashley. The last poem is from the night of their wedding.

Nathan Brown's "To Sing Hallucinated: First Thoughts on Last Words" matches contemporary poems with the last or dying words of the famous through the ages--beginning with Socrates and moving all they through to Charles Bukowski and John Denver. With back cover comments from May Swenson Poetry Award winner George Bilgere and Grammy nominee James McMurtry, this latest work from Nathan Brown looks to be his best to date.

An anthology edited by Nathan Brown, the 2013 - 2014 Poet Laureate of Oklahoma. It includes poems "about" Oklahoma that are written by natives, ex-pats, and visitors alike. These poems are an honest, and sometimes raw, look at the state's past and present by way of three chapters titled: People, Places, and Odds & Ends. Among the poets represented are Pulitzer winners Stephen Dunn and N. Scott Momaday, as well as Naomi Shihab Nye, Joy Harjo, George Bilgere, Ron Padgett, and many others.

"Less is more, more or less." is a new collection of poems from Oklahoma Poet Laureate, Nathan Brown. The book is an exploration of what can be housed in fewer words, a study in brevity, with no poem longer than a single 5 X 7 page.

The Heart Has Memory is a collection of 10 short stories representing the first work of fiction published by poet & singer-songwriter Grant Peeples.

Ezra Lipschitz was born in 1955, then mostly raised as a Catholic with a Jewish last name in Colma, California--a necropolis for the city of San Francisco. An early-life concoction that he claims was a short road to eventually becoming an atheist. He completed a degree in English at UC Davis, but doesn't recall getting his diploma. He travels the Southwest as a folk musician and storyteller. And drinker. When he stays in one place for any amount of time, it is usually in his cabin at the foot of the Rockies in Southwestern Colorado, near the border of New Mexico.Arse Poetica... is the second book in a trilogy that began with the collection I Shouldn't Say... and will end with Apocalypse Now--a trilogy he did not necessarily want to put out. However, Nathan Brown, owner of Mezcalita Press, asked permission to do it for him, because the timing of the pieces about Donald Trump is simply too important.The book is divided into four chapters. The first is "I Shouldn't Have...." The second is "Some Pretty How Town." The third is "Pig Feet on Wall Street," a section that begins to get a bit more political. And the final chapter is called "God Song." The poems in this collection reach back into some older material that confronts Ezra's feelings about poetry as a genre, but also poets as writers, performers, and general problems for society, not to mention themselves.The fact that he is a prolific poet goes hand in hand with his cantankerous and contentious soul. And, when Brown approached him about letting him do this trilogy, Lipschitz initially said "No." However, he later agreed, saying, "Well... as long as I don't have to edit the damn things." And no readings. He would do no readings. Poetry readings are "insufferable marathons of the waning spirit and dying soul" as far as he is concerned. So, don't bother asking again.Brown, however, insists that the world will be better off with these terribly raw and honest poems in it. So... release the inner curmudgeon.

An Honest Day's Confession is the third in a trilogy of books that Nathan promised, and is dedicating to, his daughter Sierra. An Honest Day's Prayer was the first, and An Honest Day's Ode, the second. The series is intended to be an encouragement to her while still being honest about the state of the world in these times of political unrest, cultural uncertainty, and the government's denial about the health of the planet.An Honest Day's Confession rounds out the series by, possibly, being a little more honest with his daughter about life and culture, while still striving to remain positive and hopeful. All three books laid down the rule of "no blue language." A condition that does not come naturally to Brown.From the Seven Deadly Sins to an in depth look at the lives and nature of many of the Patron Saints, as well as Saint Augustine, this book covers a dangerous but necessary territory. Yet it also does it with Nathan Brown's unique vision and often searing angle on the world that Naomi Shihab Nye once referred to as "a tilted long-ranging eye that sees the next bend in the road, even when he's standing right here, firmly planted."

In the follow-up to her debut poetry collection Kazoo Symphonies, Beth Wood explores deeper and more complex emotional territory. Inspired by an image from a Jane Hirshfield poem 'Mule Heart' in which grief and joy are carried in "two waiting baskets," Wood seeks to find balance again and regain footing after heartbreaking loss. Ladder to the Light chronicles her journey from grief to gratitude to believing in love again--poetry as a ladder that lifts us back up to the light.

You've Changed is a collection of poetry that was born over seven years of working on a novel. I may work on the novel for another seven years or another seventy.A song can be held in the mind whole as you work on it. Only so much can happen in a song, or at least only so much can be said about it. To be fair, each word carries more weight. Still, a novelist is obligated to come up with a minimum of forty thousand words that can grip the modern attention span for at least an afternoon. Paul McCartney's "Blackbird" has thirty-four words and is done before you can plunge your French press.To maintain a sense of wonder and play in this highly-disciplined writing environment, I created exercises for myself. I would remove time. I would introduce two characters from different books. I would tell a modern story using only words from Genesis. Mostly they were weird little monsters I shared with my friends on the internet. But some were very moving. Some made me cry or laugh out loud. Some still do, even just now proofreading the latest version. Somehow my heart got into it.This is the magic of art. I show up and do things every day. Suddenly one day my hand says something my heart has been trying to say for years. It feels as if a cog has moved inside me. As if my internal machinery has wheeled forward another inch in its specific mission, a mission that is maddeningly hidden from me inside the ink of a thousand hotel pens.You've Changed is a seven-year journey of inches. I didn't even know I was making a book and now you may be holding it. Please take your time with it. It's magic after all

Ezra Lipschitz was born in 1955, then mostly raised as a Catholic with a Jewish last name in Colma, California--a necropolis for the city of San Francisco. An early-life concoction that he claims was a short road to eventually becoming an atheist. He completed a degree in English at UC Davis, but doesn't recall getting his diploma. He travels the Southwest as a folk musician and storyteller. And drinker. When he stays in one place for any amount of time, it is usually in his cabin at the foot of the Rockies in Southwestern Colorado, near the border of New Mexico.Apocalypse Soon is the third book in a trilogy that began with the collection I Shouldn't Say... and followed with Arse Poetica--a trilogy he did not necessarily want to put out. However, Nathan Brown, owner of Mezcalita Press, asked permission to do it for him, because the timing of the pieces about Donald Trump is simply too important.The book is divided into three chapters. The first is "A Serious Laughter." The second is "Among the Ruins." And the final chapter is called "According to St. John the Divine." The poems in this collection speak to climate change and its effects on coming generations, and they seek to laugh among the ruins. The closing chapter, however, is a direct "call and response" to various verses from every chapter in the Book of Revelation. A journey likened unto Nathan Brown's early book Not Exactly Job, in which he does the same thing with the Book of Job.The fact that Ezra is a prolific poet goes hand in hand with his cantankerous and contentious soul. And, when Brown approached him about letting him do this trilogy, Lipschitz initially said "No." However, he later agreed, saying, "Well... as long as I don't have to edit the damn things." And no readings. He would do no readings. Poetry readings are "insufferable marathons of the waning spirit and dying soul" as far as he is concerned. So, don't bother asking again.Brown, however, insists that the world will be better off with these terribly raw and honest poems in it. So... release the inner curmudgeon.

God in His Slippers is the poetry debut of acclaimed singer-songwriter Rod Picott. In a vivid collection that ranges from the lurid to the exquisite, Picott deftly handles a wide range of territory. Much like his songs, Rod Picott's poems are tender, truthful, and darkly humorous. Always aiming for the hardwood of truth beneath the shag carpet of assumption, God in His Slippers is a wander through the mind of a gifted writer who clearly loves lining up boney words into a resonant whole.

In this collection, Ashley Brown takes us with her on a year-long journey she purposefully devoted to grieving the loss of her soul-dog, listening, learning, and looking for home within herself, without her constant companion.