Words & Music

by Mike Power

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  • Happy Labor Day

    If you can read this, on a paid day off from work, thank a union, and all the men and women who fought and fight for unions and the rights of working people in this country.  Here’s Pete Seeger singing Woody Guthrie’s “Union Maid.” There once was a union maid, she never was afraid Of Read more

  • Fictional Humans of New York – Frank

    I want to kiss the back of your leg. Just that. Just there. Soon enough the cooler weather’s going to come – you can see the sun is setting earlier now – and your legs will be covered up again until the warm days come back in the Spring. Who knows if I’ll still be Read more

  • I Talk to You the Way Other People Talk to God

    I talk to you the way other people talk to GodIn silenceInside my head Hidden from the rest of the worldWith no expectation of response I talk to you with memories that I believe we share  Of little things: A kickball A piece of sushi A street sign A melody   I experience you the Read more

  • Ifs and Might-Have-Beens

    “Life’s too short for wasting For ifs and might-have-beens.” The Sawdoctors The quote above is used in a song by a man trying to convince a woman to join him in bed. It’s a good line for that purpose but I can’t help thinking that all lives, no matter how they’re lived, are full of Read more

  • Fictional Humans of New York (FHONY) – Me and Claire

    I have incredible taste in women. It’s a rigid taste though, restricted and discriminating. So much so that I’ve hardly ever felt Cupid’s arrow. That’s a good thing, too since I’m particularly susceptible to pleasurable sensations, no matter how bad they sting.   I spent so many years hiding from myself that it’s quite a Read more

  • Sicilian Sketchbook #3 – Agrigento

    The third and final installment from my Sicilian sketchbook comes from Agrigento in the southwest of Siciliy, home to the Valley of the Temples. It’s two months since we left and the memories, the feelings of calm and joy, are already starting to fade. But the temples, dating back to the 5th Century B.C., aren’t Read more