Half Mystic Radio, Season II, Episode VII: So Many Dogwoods In Bloom

Half Mystic Radio is back with Season II: featuring eight brand-new writers & musicians, & guest hosted by poet & comedian Stephanie Dogfoot. Each episode interrogates, lingers with, & puts in conversation & context art by diverse artists in diverse mediums, expanding & redefining narratives of what poetry & music “should” be. This kind of art is what we came for: the wreck, & not the story of the wreck. The thing itself, & not the myth.

A reminder that you can stream Season II as it continues (along with all eight episodes of Season I, hosted by myself!), on your favourite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Soundcloud, Stitcher, & Amazon Music. Or, listen directly on our website.

If you love Half Mystic Radio, you can spread the word with the hashtag #halfmysticspeaks, leave us a rating & review on your podcast platform of choice, or @ us directly on social media—@wearehalfmystic on all platforms! This is the second to last episode of Season II, so we want to hear your voice as we think about what comes next.

Season II, Episode VII: So Many Dogwoods In Bloom is out now. Listen anywhere you get podcasts, or right here at Half Mystic:

Episode VII features Anthony Thomas Lombardi’s poems “what happens when the addict finds himself drawn to deeper shades of blue?” & “the profits of gravity”, & Babushka’s song “Sherpa”.

Anthony Thomas Lombardi is a Brooklyn Poets Fellow, a Tin House Writers Workshop alumnus, and a recipient of a scholarship from the Shipman Agency. A former music journalist, he served as Assistant Director for Polyphony Lit’s Summer Scholars Program, and is currently a poetry reader / contributor for The Adroit Journal. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in wildness, North American Review, Third Coast Magazine, Gigantic Sequins, RHINO Poetry, DIALOGIST, Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn, NY with his cat, Dilla and is still recovering from his alliteration addiction.

Babushka is a Singapore-based band playing original instrumental jazz, folk and world music. Babushka’s soundscape is a combination of 5 instruments—Fauzo’s electrifying guitar solos, Sophia’s free-flowing keyboard playing, Don’s rhythm chops and loops, Jennifer’s dynamic drumming and Jana’s improvisation full of surprises. Their repertoire consists of original jazz, folk and world music compositions—all instrumental. Each ambient tune has a story to tell and a place in mind, from treacherous mountain faces to sun-kissed beaches.

This season of Half Mystic Radio is guest hosted by Stephanie Dogfoot & produced by me, editor-in-chief Topaz Winters. If you’d like to support Half Mystic financially so that we can keep this podcast & other projects free for you, do consider purchasing one of our books or journal issues.

If you so choose, you can read along to each poem in Episode VII right here. Thank you for listening, dear songbirds. Half Mystic loves you.

what happens when the addict finds himself drawn to deeper shades of blue?

he spits saliva into bottles containing ships / ponders how far his DNA can take him / the ink on his divorce still glinting / aspires to be stately / in ways he fell short as ​man of the house​ / a term he waves away like stale smoke / he breaks his teeth on pearls / folds into carpets tongues lash at his ankles / he’s on the fast track he tells himself / look at him go / stretches his legs his smile scalding the earth / sunlight leaks in through the blinds like a fugitive / then vanishes behind trucks groaning past / shadows lick corners crevices / this tenderfoot divorcee sequestered / draws his silhouette without a body / the skill of the unseen he quarantines thirst / siphons hunger / hasn’t invented a polite word for ​crave​ yet / cups his hands catches fireflies who turn to ash / when they lose their glow / his mouth claps abruptly apologies that crack like gunshots / he chases ghosts imbrued with entrails membranes fish eyes / spits the remains in a bucket / his shirt is sodden from what he calls busy work / rowing the soil / he has no shame / he has no shame / walks through walls his limbs cut the shape of a keyhole / his lopsided grin would flip a canoe / laughs as he kicks the surf / he knows the way home the north star twirling twirling / hums with wild abandon corn straw clamped between his gums / he smacks his lips relishes the last sweet swan dive of summer / when the heat’s about to break / catches his breath without repose / releases the weight of planets / punctures a needle’s eye to thread them in the sky / a reaction to change / is still evolution / moths drink the tears of sleeping birds / that fact is implanted here to tell him something useful / the aviary door creaks he noses it open & open & open & as he flies he sings

the profits of gravity

She don’t believe in ghosts til I get ghost. —Lil Wayne

the french don’t say ​i miss you.​ 
they say ​tu me manques​—

you are missing from me​.
isn’t that lovely?

i’ve severed
enough flesh

i can’t recognize
my reflection in storefronts—

my gasp is a shrillness
that t-pain would jump to correct.

remind me again
where the line breaks

in a sunset.

remind me again
why empires fall.

this love is so lyrical i want to break it.

two waxwings
in washington square

mingle
feed each other fresh berries

then fly off like applause.

i often wonder
if they’re named after icarus

& what remains
of my merciful side slips out.

please stay close.
there’s so much out there

that profits off gravity.

so many dogwoods in bloom
so many pomegranates to peel.