COLORBLIND

"Colorblind," India ink and iridescent calligraphy ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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COLORBLIND

An American Sentence

What to do when we can
no longer discern
between stop, yield, proceed?

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

DOG DAYS

"Dog Days," India ink and Montana BLACK spray paint on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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DOG DAYS

During these dog days of summer, in my lap, beneath the light pressure of my palm, a small blind dog lies dreaming. He is deep in the dream. Running. Twitching. Yelping. What does he see in his dream? Can he imagine the form of the squirrel whose scent he follows in the yard? Is his heaven free of obstacles that would otherwise thwart his progress? 

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing. 

MEL'S MAGIC IPA

Mel's Magic IPA, an India Pale Ale, by Iron Horse Brewery.

12 ounce can served in a pint glass.

6.8% abv.

—

The pour: mostly clear, slightly hazy, orange body with an off-white head.

The nose: bold orange, tropical fruit, butterscotch, and biscuit.

The tongue: citrusy bitterness, lightly biscuity maltiness, and the faintest edge of alcohol bit.

The mouthfeel: medium and solid.

This is some wonderful stuff. I was sad to see Cand Hannon no longer on the list of Iron Horse year-round brews, but Mel's Magic IPA is an excellent substitute.

MOLT

 

"Molt," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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MOLT

There is skin
without     sin within

splitting     spreading
spitting     shedding

let us begin

peeling back with
tooth and fin

scraped and scoured
by bark and tin

seared and soured
once again.

And then.
And then.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

FAN

 

"Skylink," India ink and iridescent calligraphy ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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FAN

A halo
hallowed be thy name
beneath the night-heavens
heavy with heat lightning—

hanging our hopes upon
the hurricane deliverance
we desire

and the zephyr it instead
promises against the heat
and humidity.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

YOUTH

"Skylink," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival. (With an "asemic" poem of sorts within the artwork.)

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YOUTH

Remember the classroom
where you played Puck
to my Titania?

A day of late summer
early fall.

Where we practiced
as though Pythagoras
with our protractors?

A day of late autumn
early winter.

Where we ran
around at recess—
the day at our desks
already long forgotten?

A day of late spring
looming adulthood.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

SKYLINK

"Skylink," India ink and iridescent calligraphy ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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SKYLINK

Remember when you first saw
a string of stars slide across the night sky?

They were flying south for the winter
as we warmed our hands over the campfire

but they would fly south for each
and every season you and I could ever imagine.

To find out what they were
and where they were headed

we looked them up on the internet
on your smart phone

to discover the path they took
fueled the very song that we sought.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

FOR a MOMENT

"For a Moment," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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FOR a MOMENT

I remember Rilke’s laughter
in the backyard

intoxicated on absinthe
or the words that Esmé spoke

syncopated rhythms of jazz
echoing the flames of the firepit

both disrupted for a measure
or three

then all was black,
spectral, gone.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

DEVIL DANCE

"Devil Dance," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard.

—

I've taken to illustrating some of the songs I've been listening to. I choose a color scheme, throw an album on the turntable, find the track I want to illustrate, and get my palette knife, brushes, and pens moving.

The above illustration for the song "Devil Dance" by Khidja, as found on the 2019 album In the Middle of the Night represents three spins through the track. The first listen I used the palette knife to lay down some "L" forms and "pulses." The second listen I used a color shaper to add colored dots to the postcard. The third listen I used a pen to add the black "figures."

India ink colors were yellow, orange, bright red, red, magenta, and black.

Nineteen minutes of music and there is birthed an interpretation of "Devil Dance."

FOUR ALBUMS

Clockwise from upper left: In the Middle of the Night by Khidja; Source by Gábor Lázár; Civic Jams by Darkstar; and Articulation by Rival Consoles.

—

These four albums have helped keep me sane during the past couple of months. They've been musical companions in the late evening and early morning hours when the rest of the household is soundly sleeping.

In the early months of the pandemic, I found myself reading a lot (especially poetry and short stories), praying, and walking. As a quasi-normal sense of routine and rhythm returned to my workplace and home, I found less time spent on reading (mostly due to exhaustion) and walking (due to injury). I purchased a turntable so that I could play vinyl albums that I hadn't been able to spin for nearly twenty years.

Each of these albums is unique from the others, even as I believe they share some similarities. (1) There is a dreamlike quality to the tracks. (2) The tracks are individual, but function almost as parts of a larger movement. This is something that I enjoy about albums (and find it more prevalent on vinyl than other formats), but it seems that is lacking in many current productions. (3) Tracks are primarily instrumental, and when vocals are present they tend to function as another instrument alongside the synthesizers, sequencers, percussion, programming, and other electronics.

—

Album: In the Middle of the Night.
Artist: Khidja.
Label: DFA.
Category: Experimental house and techno.

Tracks:

1. Don't Feed the Animals (Hiding in Your Room).
2. Devil Dance.
3. I Can Never Relax.
4. I'm So Bored.

Favorite track: "I Can Never Relax." There is something slightly off-kilter, bordering on sinister but then pulling back, that intrigues me. Plus the electronic throb that undergirds the piece just grabs me from the beginning. "Tell me, can you feel good?"

I don't know how to explain how much this album has captured my imagination since I stumbled upon it's tracks in a late-night internet rabbit hole. All 25½ minutes of the album speaks directly to my id/shadow.

More album info HERE and HERE.

— 

Album: Source.
Artist: Gábor Lázár.
Label: Planet Mu.
Category: Electronic and electronica. Braindance and IDM (intelligent dance music).

Tracks:

1. Source.
2. Stream.
3. Phase.
4. Excite.
5. Focus.
6. Effort.
7. Route.
8. Return.

Favorite track: "Focus." At times I hear echoes of Aphex Twin in these beats, which is a good thing.

This is deconstructed dance music that is simultaneously academic/clinical and emotional/approachable. The album collapses time—looking back at types of electronic dance music (past), living in the moment as a piece of art in it's own right (present), and providing tracks for other DJs to sample (future). I think the album functions as an examination of the "sources" of music that influenced Lázár and as a "source" for others to build upon.

More album info HERE and HERE.

—

Album: Civic Jams.
Artist: Darkstar.
Label: Warp.
Category: Electronic and electronica. Shoegaze.

Tracks:

1. Forest.
2. Jam.
3. 1001.
4. 30.
5. Wolf.
6. Loon.
7. Tuesday.
8. Text.
9. Blurred.

Favorite track: "1001." The vocals on this track are catchy, dreamy, and, for the most part, undecipherable. There is so much manipulation on the vocals that they easily become one with the insistent percussive beat and "low growl" and "ethereal hum" synthesizers that ground the track.

Dream-oriented dance music with pop leanings, this music has been haunting me both while I sleep and while I'm awake.

More album info HERE and HERE.

—

Album: Articulation.
Artist: Rival Consoles.
Label: Erased Tapes.
Cateogory: Electronic and electronica. Dancefloor and techno.

Tracks:

1. Vibrations on a String.
2. Forwardism.
3. Melodica.
4. Articulation.
5. Still Here.
6. Sudden Awareness of Now.

Favorite track: "Vibrations on a String." I love the squelch of the organic synthesizers, the metronomic precision of the percussion, and the light throb in the background. At times, this reminds me of some of Orbital's work or even something I would expect to hear in another Blade Runner sequel.

There is a playfulness on this album, perhaps even a hopefulness, if one can identify such in instrumental music. The album is sequenced perfectly; I cannot imagine it laid out otherwise. Every time I listen to the album I discover new sounds buried within the tracks. Something seems to emerge anew each time the needle hits the grooves.

More album info HERE and HERE.

—

I've been listening these albums just for the pure enjoyment of the albums themselves, as well as when I'm writing or painting. I've even been experimenting with new painting techniques, using the time constraints of individuals tracks to see what I can do with a palette knife and various colors of India ink while the track plays.

PIMIENTO

"Pimiento," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

—

PIMIENTO

It was jazz you wanted
and jazz you got.

We bipped and bopped
through one cold beer
after another.

The backyard brick patio
was never more alive
than that particular night.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing. 

PERSEPHONIC

"Persephonic," India ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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PERSEPHONIC

We dreamt a garden in the midst of our concrete and chaos. We named the animals. Sebastian. Siobhan. Shawn. Simeon. The garden grew and greened. All was splendor until the fruit ripened and we couldn’t keep the pith and flesh and juice from passing our lips. Then we could once more smell the notes of asphalt and tar and turmoil beneath the petrichor that promised summer rain.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

DEMOLITION DERBY I and II

"Demolition Derby," India ink and Montana BLACK spray paint on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. One of the cards I sent out for the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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"Demolition Derby II," India ink, Montana BLACK spray paint, and iridescent calligraphy ink on 4" x 6" watercolor postcard. Another card for the August Poetry Postcard Festival.

—

In the case of both of these cards, the image came before the poem. The first "Demolition Derby" was originally heading in a different direction, but I didn't like how it was turning out, so I added some spray paint. Once I did that, the car came into focus, and details followed. The "monster truck" that emerged reminded me of my father's high school friend who raced in demolition derbies. On a couple of occasions, we got to visit him at the fairgrounds and be down "in the pit" and watch the races. The poem was birthed with those memories in mind.

About two weeks later, I learned that my father's friend had died from COVID-19 after being hospitalized in an out-of-state intensive care unit for a couple of weeks. The second image was a reaction to his death, although I really wasn't quite sure what it was. I just knew that it was another "Demolition Derby" piece. Perhaps it was a smash up on the course. The Wife thought it was an eyeball. (Maybe it was/is.) Anyway, the poem soon arrived, mostly writing itself.

Not only do they stand as memorials of a sort to Fred, however. The addition of the spray paint shifted my thinking about the art I was creating for cards, as well as freed me up to experiment with my process in other ways.

These two cards were a couple of my favorite of the entire month. Partly because they are paired together. Partly because I was a bit looser in my approach to both, in image and word. Partly because the poems and their illustrations worked well together.

—

DEMOLITION DERBY

I’m the driver
     and you’re the driver
and there is no driver

dented fenders
     and dragging tailpipe
and flattened tires

yet still we persist
     and still we insist
as metal twists

and our engine
     smokes and flames
and we run and laugh.

—

DEMOLITION DERBY II

the ghost teeth
     grit as they did
in real life

when the engine
     stalled and the
flames arose

only then was
     the collision
remembered.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.

THE GATES of JERUSALEM

"The Gates of Jerusalem," India ink and iridescent calligraphy ink on two 4" x 6" watercolor postcards. Sent to separate individuals (as "The Left Gate" and "The Right Gate") as part of the 2020 August Poetry Postcard Festival.

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THE LEFT GATE

The left gate is law—

stark, stern, immobile
protection for the chosen few

its gems as though
knife edges—
angular, unfriendly,
dead and cold

like the prayer-polished
hearts of those within.

—

THE RIGHT GATE

The right gate is righteousness—

a door cracked ajar
in subtle invitation

Come in, come in
it calls to all passersby—

the gems of its door
glitter as though

adorning the crown
you’ll be asked to wear.

—

All artwork and poems by Troy Kehm-Goins © 2020 Troy's Work Table Publishing.