Saturday, March 31, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
A Good Death
A Good Death
(By Walter Beck)
I died a good death
Didn’t I?
I made a statement as nice and clean
As anyone under the guillotine.
I died a good death for you;
So you could sweep up the remains
Before the gold shoulders
Knocked on your door.
I took your honorable mentions
And consolation prizes;
I accepted the half-hearted rumors
Of a good fight on my behalf.
I died a good death for you;
So you could retire in glory
And move your ten-pound pretty boys
Up the line.
I died a good death for you
So you couldn’t the broken strings squeal
On my way out.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Soundtrack to a Chapbook: A Selection of Songs to Enjoy While Reading Life Through Broken Pens
Soundtrack to a Chapbook: A Selection of Songs to Enjoy While Reading Life Through Broken Pens
By Walter Beck
Thanks to Mr. Eric Norris for giving me the idea.
In the few interviews I’ve done as a writer, I always mention rock & roll as one of my biggest influences and it’s true; if you were to come over while I was writing, you’d find me sitting at my desk with a lit cigarette hanging from my lip and my pair of Sony MDR-V150 headphones blasting out noise from hell. So here’s a list of songs, a soundtrack of sorts to my forthcoming chapbook. I got this idea from a poet named Eric Norris who threw together a soundtrack for his amazing book Nocturnal Omissions: A Tale of Two Poets (written with Gavin Dillard). Eric’s soundtrack is one of love; mine isn’t.
MC5 “Kick Out the Jams” (Live)
Rage Against the Machine “The Ghost of Tom Joad”
Janis Joplin with Big Brother & The Holding Company “Piece of My Heart”
Jimi Hendrix “Star-Spangled Banner”
Jefferson Airplane “We Can Be Together”
Ministry “Stigmata” (Update Mix)
Bob Dylan “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Dropkick Murphys “Which Side Are You On?”
Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”
Nine Inch Nails “Mr. Self-Destruct”
Ministry “Just One Fix”
The book comes out March 8th, but go ahead and play these tracks. Consider it a sneak preview, a special trailer, a chance to get the sonic vibes of my first book.
Life Through Broken Pens, available exclusively on March 8th, 2012 from Writing Knights Press: www.writingknights.com
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Early Morning No Salvation
Early Morning No Salvation
(By Walter Beck)
6:15 AM
Brings no mercy
To the Jesus Freaks
Who post a rambling status;
Trying to guilt trip me
With that crucifixion bullshit.
I’m out of cigarettes
And watching Newt destroy the Republican Party;
It’s a bad time
To see poorly worded diatribes.
Your Christ was nailed to a cross,
So what?
So were thousands of other criminals;
It’s no different
Than a man getting strapped to a gurney
And having his veins pumped full of chemicals.
If Christ were killed today,
Kids would be wearing lethal injection needles
Around their necks.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Pissing as a Crime
Pissing as a Crime
(By Walter Beck)
Late at night;
Blowing militant smoke
Across a stained screen.
Rolled hobo cigarettes
Smoldering to the slow, stop, start, creep
Of half-recorded audience tapes.
It’s a hard night
When the lesbians drank all your rum.
For some,
Cocksucking
Is just a political act;
And for some
Pissing is a crime
In the land of the free.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
This Bullet Had My Name on It
This Bullet Had My Name on It
(By Walter Beck)
The bullet had my name on it,
From the cold glass & steel palace,
The bullet had my name on it.
After a year
Of shaking off rusty iron,
Feeling alive and free,
This bullet had my name on it.
“Go quietly,
Shut up,
Or die”
As they whisper down the line.
19 years;
The sharp shards of plastic
Raining down
From broken Eagle’s wings
And no fires in the night
To offer salvation.
Triggerman,
I can’t see you in shadows
And you’re too chickenshit to look at me,
Just like any other Silver Loop.
Who are you?
Are you the same triggerman
Who threatened me in the summer heat?
Where do you come from?
Are you from Waldrip Creek Road?
Still trying to settle the score
From five bloody years ago.
Remember these words
When you pull the trigger,
Ending 19 years of hard work & dedication;
“Shoot coward,
You’re only going to kill a man.”
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
How a Neo-Liberal Tells You to Watch Your Fucking Mouth: An Experimental Work
How a Neo-Liberal Tells You to Watch Your Fucking Mouth: An Experimental Work
(By Walter Beck)
“I say, be yourself, and get your message across, and just try and respect the room dynamic; it’s very quiet, and has high ceilings and it’s laidback. I don’t want to restrict artists, but try not to be filthy I guess.” –Unnamed promoter at an unnamed joint.
Half-assed and no guts; a good conservative would call me an anarchist, a communist, even the anti-Christ, they’d say I was the living embodiment of what’s wrong with the youth of America and accuse me of polluting the future generations, they would try to shut me up or get me banned, they ain’t afraid of a shirtless young punk with a loaded mic in his hand.
Coffee joint hipsters bitch of multi-national corporations, no fear facing a faceless enemy, but too scared to tell one-crazed rock n roll poet to watch his mouth on the stage.
They don’t want me to ruin their vibes, such a fragile ecosystem that one well-placed middle finger would mean complete extinction.
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