Words & Music

by Mike Power

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  • Summertime

    Edwin Dubose Heyward wrote the novel Porgy in 1925. It’s the story of a crippled beggar living in the slums of Charleston, South Carolina. It’s been called “the first major southern novel to portray blacks without condescension.” Dubose Heyward’s wife Dorothy began working on a stage version of the novel and the play Porgy opened Read more

  • Breaking Dishes – Mike’s Musical Monday

    I wrote this song a long time ago. It’s a testament to my lack of personal and artistic growth that I still like to play it sometimes, and it still makes sense to me. I take some consolation in the fact that my grammar’s improved. You’re always kissing somebody goodbyeYou act like someone tells you Read more

  • Raymond – Fictional Humans of New York (FHONY)

    Raymond was born at the bottom of the heap and that’s where he was determined to stay. It isn’t easy to push or claw your way up through the fetid flesh that festers among the inhabitants of the bottom rung but for most bottom feeders it’s worth the struggle. Not for Raymond. He preferred the Read more

  • Catskill Sketchbook #2

    You can take the man out of the Catskills but you can’t take the Catskills out of the man. Or something like that. Lately, you can’t even take the man out of the Catskills. I spent four nights last week in the town of Phoenicia and it turns out like a cheesy horror movie where Read more

  • I Love You So Bad It Hurts – Mike’s Musical Monday

    Love is wonderful. All things considered, it’s the most wonderful thing there is. But it has a downside. You can fall in love with someone who doesn’t love you back, or is an asshole, or who dies on you and leaves you all alone with your love. You can fall in love with someone who Read more

  • Blue – Fictional Humans of New York (FHONY) #10

    There were three of them and they were all good kids. Funny how time changes things. Only one of them would make it all the way to adulthood without losing his goodness. His name was Wes but everyone called him Blue because of the way he held his breath when he didn’t get his way. Read more