My book...

"Having a Baby Totally Sucks,

or, The Things They Are Scared To Tell A New Father"

By Heath Mensher, M.Ed.

click the title for excerpts...

My Band...

The Suffering Blues Band

(click for songs, video, & dates)

How The Blues Came To Earth...

… according to Howlin’ Wolf.

“God and Lucifer had a terrible fight up in heaven. They battled for days and days and finally God won and knocked Lucifer off his cloud. As Lucifer fell to earth, his tail hooked on to God's cloud and pulled some things down to earth with him: dice, cards, guitars and other stringed instruments, and harmonicas. God still has his horns up in heaven. That's why horns are played by good people and why guitars and harmonicas are played by people like me."

An Abbreviated Year in Social Status-ing

A Thanksgiving Prayer...

from the inimitable William S. Burroughs...

(click for his reading)

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts

thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —

thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —

thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —

thanks for the American Dream to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —

(more after the jump)

The Poet's Hovel

whisper it

and never tell

the things I give and offer

to you, my Mistress Moon.

I give you my obedience

sweet pale pond reflection.

I give you my life

lonely pane refraction.

I'll take you as Wife

and to me you will be

all and nothing.

hm 11.11.10

Re-Vamp.

I have revamped my website, oobermensh, to include my miscellaneous esoterica. Included now are two blues tunes and a mysterious reference to being some kind of oracle.

Do visit.

Thank you. Here's one bone. Tell me its significance...

The Poet's Hovel

Slightly shifting eddies without

When watched through drowsy eyelids

Speak a simple story

Yet so simple misconceptions spring

As summer phragmites

Aside wetland preserves

To strangle first intent.

10/25/10 hbm

Monday Night Haiku

When it all wears off

I pray the decision stands

Some measure of peace

Hang on.

Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said.

You might want to think about that. You forget some things, don’t you?

Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.

-- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

"God's Eyes" - The Wild Deer (5/22)

Acoustic show at The Living Room, 5/22/10

website

Movie Review Haiku

Alice in Wonderland

Richly bittersweet.
Performance commitment with
Tim’s maturation.

***1/2 stars (out of 5)

Movie Review Haiku

Bronson

The Sociopath

delightful and terrible

seeks his audience

***** (a perfect film)
trailer

clickable trivium

Look Who's Coming To Seder!

It's the Passover Season, and it's time for gefilte fish in clear jelly, things unleavened, and... Popopo Candy? It seems there's some new guests following Elijah in the door. Better tell Aunt Shelia to bring that extra bridge table...

Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe'

Welcome, new friends! Let me show you a bit about a New York Passover...
Mensher-Style.

Paper vs. Computer.

Writing, to me, is something magical. Where do the words come from - placed one after the other, to form coherent (sometimes) ideas meant to move me (and subsequently, others)?

When writing for real, I always compare it to spelunking: diving down deep to my reservoir of words and thoughts to see what I can retrieve. I am of the belief that if I dive far enough (and am left alone), I can get the good stuff.

It's like Pearl Diving.

And it's just as dangerous*.

So it's a question of Muse. And it got me thinking.

What is the best way to get deep:

Pad & Paper, or Keyboard & Computer?

The easy answer is "whatever works". But that's too vague.

There is something visceral about using a Pen and sheet of Paper. Something analog that speaks to me in a "rubbing two sticks together to make fire" kind of way. It adds to the illusion of Magical Process, and whatever adds to that illusion builds on that illusion, and (may) produce better (deeper) work.

Alternately, at 70, writer Charles Bukowski started using a Mac that his wife gave him for Christmas --

"There is something about seeing your words on a screen before you that makes you send the word with a better bite, sighted in closer to the target. I know a computer can't make a writer but I think it makes a writer better. Simplicity in writing and simplicity in getting it down, hot and real. When this computer is in the shop and I go back to the electric, it's like trying to break rock with a hammer. Of course, the essence of writing is there but you have to wait on it, it doesn't leap from the gut as quickly, you begin to trail your thoughts -- your thoughts are ahead of your fingers which are trying to catch up. It causes a block of sorts indeed."

My own personal process has moved from Pen & Paper to Post-it's and Computer. But I'm torn enough to write this post, hoping that by the last word I type I'll have the answer.

*Sometimes I don't want to come back up for air. It's cozy down here.

Well.

Surreal Saturdays...

Saturdays sometimes feel surreal to me now.
Memories of a past life when responsibilities seemed fewer.
Worries a different, less opaque shade.

And so, safe save surreal sights:

(click)

(click)

2009 Facebook Status Highlights

"The Butcher Bride" by Vince Churchill

The following is my Amazon.com review for Vince Churchill's "The Butcher Bride"...

(I love this guy's work)




Addictive, like "Paranormal Activity" dipped in liquid Cocaine.

Vince Churchill's "The Butcher Bride" is a book that you cannot put down.

Like a rusty tilt-a-whirl in Hell's official Theme Park, the story sets an erotically gruesome tone and only lets up because the author seems to sense that you'll need the occasional breath. It takes the classic "Haunted House" story and covers it in lye, burning away the extraneous to get to the sweet marrow that frightens us all.

In "The Butcher Bride", the author skewers not only the characters of the story, but the Media, Hollywood, and those types of people who slow down at traffic accidents hoping for a dark glimpse of Death itself. The writing is special in that the words leap off the page at you with such clarity you'll feel like you're watching a movie.

An enormously satisfying read, you'll be sucked into the pages, at times whimpering to be let out again.


Visit Vince at his site and tell him I said hello...
http://www.vincechurchill.com/

Movie Review Haiku

Paranormal Activity


hype-worthy high jinks
its only Achilles' heel
shaky-cam nausea

***1/2 Stars (out of 5)


Bonus.

Like a beautiful butterfly...

... with hideous dripping fangs.

Really?
Really, Universe?
You really feel this is best?
Sigh.

(curveball)

Well, times are a' changin' here at Heathenblog, and it either means the frequency of Posts and Quippy Updates will vastly increase or peter out entirely. We'll know soon enough.

(image unrelated, but makes me feel good)

It looks as if I'm starting a new job. A full time job. I'm not sure I can type it out.
More soon.

The Poet's Hovel.

to open up the inner eyes
to see behind, where clear thought
shies away from light,
away from spies
who'd hope to glean
their mask-less guise

And spoil life's one last great surprise.

into this void I'd dare to wade
where shapeless forms likely forbade
those like myself whose timelines braid
one starkly lit
one drenched in shade

Where lives go on but memories fade.

Movie Review Haiku

The adroit auteur
his love letter to war films
damp with Nazi blood

**** (4 Stars out of 5)

Movie Review Haiku

Religulous

Something to offend
all viewers lacking the knack
of patulous mind.

***** stars (out of 5)

Maudlin.

maudlin
–adjective

1.	tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental

Aohkigahara Forest, west of Tokyo at the base of Mount Fuji, is known as the "suicide forest."
There were 2,645 suicides recorded in January 2009, a 15 percent increase from the 2,305 for January 2008, according to the Japanese government. And so, a sign has been posted:


Translation:

Life is a gift you were given by your parents. Please think about them, the rest of your family, and any children you have. You don’t have to suffer by yourself, please give us a call (the Fuji Yoshida Police Counseling Service) and talk to us.


If you're still feeling "up"...
findagrave.com


And because balance is important, here's a box full of kittens.

Some Things I'd Like To Do Before I Die.

• Address the United States Congress.
• Own a Robot Manservant, and treat it so well that he'll protect me from the other Robot Manservants' when they rise against humanity.
  
• Travel to Russia and wear a furry hat.
• Be in a meeting where one of my advisers says "Sounds great! Well the first thing we'll need is a white robe."
  
• Find out the true meaning of my tattoo.
• Travel to Machu Picchu and nap in a shaded corner.
  
• Sit in my personal library surrounded by old paperback books, breathing deeply through my nose.
  
• Train for a Biathlon. Then subsequently realize what kind of commitment this actually entails. Spend the rest of the afternoon at White Castle.

In the meantime, here's some riddles (if you enjoy that kind of thing).