The Rhino Sanctuary if rhinos were ideas

Airbnb Blues: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 13

I saw on the news

that airbnb hosts are feeling

their gaggle of golden geese

is really an old crow

with a broken wing

straggling behind the murder

and y’all,

I had to clutch

Tiger King

I wonder how many of my music friends

watched Tiger King and thought,

that’s it! That’s the answer.

I need to start a cult! But not like

other cults. This cult will be chill.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 29, 2020Tiger King, Cults, poetry, Jonath, Creative WritingComment

Survivor's Guilt on 1000

Are you even quarantining

if you don’t have a family member

compulsively texting you the rona updates?

I have two homies in the hospital.

They’re healthy. They’re young.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 29, 2020poetry, Creative Writing, New Orleans, Jonathan Brown, Coronavirus, Survivors GuiltComment

Asymptomatic: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 10

You know in alien movies

when the whole human race

is about to get obliterated

but right before the people go extinct

they come together and unite

to fight against a common enemy?

I’m not sure that is happening with social distancing.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 27, 2020asymptomatic, poetry, Creative Writing, New Orleans, CoronavirusComment

Lifted: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 8

The people in charge aren’t experts.

They are cosplaying for health insurance.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 25, 2020Poetry, Creative WritingComment

Not the Day for Compartmentalizing: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 7

Not in the mood

for the a-lot-of-good-will-come-out-of-this

rhetoric. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

I’d like to stay with the way

I feel until it makes sense, leaves for good

or attacks out of self defense,

but thank you for your input.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 24, 2020Rilke, Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, New Orleans, Stuck inside Poem, A Course In MiraclesComment

List of Things to Think and Do Today: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 6

1. Reduce despair.

2. Leave the house but don’t go anywhere.

3. Don’t argue with people on the internet. You already don’t, but don’t think about arguing with people on the internet. You validate bullshit by engaging with it, even silently.

4. Eat the spinach before it goes bad.

5. Call your dad.

6. Draw a bath.

7. Draw a porcupine.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 23, 2020Poems, List Poem, Creative Writing, Jonathan Brown, Stuck inside PoemComment

Snitch: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 5

If you want to put off a shower

until you get really cheesy, stay stank,

my friend.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 22, 2020New Orleans, Poetry, Creative Writing, CoronavirusComment

Lenny Bruce, The Later Years: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 4

Maybe this is all a fever dream

and neither the screams nor the shouts

coming from my neighbor’s house are not

directed at her three dogs.

Maybe she’s yelling at hell

to get back in its box.

Eat The Rich: A Stuck Inside Poem, Day 3

Dog magic would make a really good YouTube channel.

Just you and your puppy. You performing

card tricks and your puppy

bedazzled with intrigue and drooling for treats.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 20, 2020Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, Janet Jackson, Eat The Rich, Poems, Jonathan BrownComment

Stuck Inside Day 2

Desperate people do desperate things.

What did you bring to the apocalypse?

Have you got your wedding ring?

If this phone rings, we need you to pawn it.

PoetryJonathan BrownMarch 19, 2020poetry, new orleansComment

Limp Biscuit Cover Band

I’d play it for you, but you’ve heard that song, right?

The waltz with hot sauce in the eyeball?

The blues number about how I fall,

but get back up sometimes and fall again?

PoetryJonathan BrownFebruary 20, 2020Poetry, Poem, Creative Writing, Limp Biscuit, failure, Poem about failureComment

Thanks Universe.

Thanks to sawdust and sweat

for showing me what the grind is worth.

Thanks to death and the growing need to find rebirth.

Thanks for more. Thanks for seahorses,

chameleons no longer green,

and octopi who change their colors when they dream.

PoetryJonathan BrownJanuary 19, 2020Poetry, Poem, Spoken Word, Creative WritingComment

To Thoreau or Too Thorough?

Does going to the woods to live deliberately mean you turn the volume up or down? If so, on what? Up on the deep breaths? Down on the internet? Up on the silence? Down on the noise? Up on the acceptance? Down on the judgment?

ProseJonathan BrownDecember 11, 2019Walden, Thoreau, The Woods, NonfictionComment

Ani DiFranco’s No Walls and the Recurring Dream

Some of my favorite parts of No Walls and the Recurring Dream are when Ani gives us insight on her songwriting process. She writes, “People have often asked me about my songwriting process and all I can say is this: It takes many forms. Intentionally so. I don’t ever want to write the same song twice so I try taking different routes to finish the line.

ProseJonathan BrownDecember 3, 2019Ani DiFranco, No Walls and the Reoccurring Dream, Nonfiction, taco bout booksComment

Alpha Fish Moves in A Course In Miracles

So at first, I was confused. To overlook seems passive, as if it doesn’t require effort. But the way A Course In Miracles explains the idea, to overlook means to literally look over the ego and see the light inside the person you need to forgive.

ProseJonathan BrownNovember 26, 2019A Course In MiraclesComment

A Saggy Faced Basset Hound Who Could Have Also Been A Cinnamon Roll

I met a dog named Walter at the farmer’s market.

He seemed to have it all figured out.

Jonathan BrownNovember 22, 2019Comment

The Vocal Meat Beat Tape

This collection of soundscapes includes the found sounds from a church choir, a cat’s purr, Sheryl Crow, Abraham Hicks, and Paige Beller.

Jonathan BrownNovember 20, 2019Beats, ambient, music, soundscapesComment

Thoughts On Me, Elton John's New Book

I suppose my biggest issue with Me was I felt like Elton John trivialized suicide. When he recounted taking too much valium and jumping into a swimming pool during a party, it seemed more like performance art than a cry for help. Or maybe it was a cry for help disguised as performance art. Or maybe all cries for help require a little performance art in order to be effective. I can’t tell.

ProseJonathan BrownNovember 19, 2019Elton John, Me, Nonfiction, MemoirComment

“Perfectionism Is Fear In Fancy Shoes”

I felt better after our chat. He said, “Try not to put too much pressure on yourself,” right before we hung up.

ProseJonathan BrownNovember 17, 2019prose, essay, Big Magic, Elizabeth GilbertComment