Sublime eclectic mayhem. That’s been my playlist project and musical life, one that begins with The Muppet Movie soundtrack and later involves performing hymns, death metal, surf, and bluegrass. I’ve played in theaters, tents, and basements, for multi-stage festivals and squirrel rodeos. I’ve written and recorded music for The Drunken Odyssey. Sublime eclectic mayhem. A warning and a welcome for joyous noise, for those navigating what Beckett called “this bitch of an earth.”

---

Archie,

I need help. I have forgotten
the words. I lost the shape
of memory. How to sing.

Bring me my Crayolas
and let me see to see.

Focused fumbling—
why can’t I be specific?

I would like to say it plainly,
but maybe that impossibility
is why I end up writing poetry,
or trying to.

There are no sidewalks in my town
except around the old square.

Gravel and blacktop
circle the neighborhood,
but the woods don’t meet
its edges anymore.

Even the lakes
are man-made.

Still, the forest hangs
with dew.

The shapes between the trees
are as hard to see
as the individual leaves,
always leaving.

Spiderwebs hang thick
between the branches,
blowing in the wind,
appearing to twitch.

Fog listens along the road.

My neighbors have hens
and occasionally give me eggs.

They sit on the counter
begging for use,
each with a perfect yolk,
orange as a bad joke.

Little yeasties burp
inside the bread dough.

Clouds gather again,
gray with faint light
burning through.

Soon the heat will pool beneath us,
choke the breeze,
dampen our clothes.

Archie, is this what you meant?

The fog, the egg, the sweat,
the woods stopping short
of where I remember them—

not symbols,
not yet,

only colors whose names
I may have known once.

So much of the world
happens without us.

Hand me the green.
No, the other green.

Yours,
in the weeds.

---

In the Weeds
Listen on Tidal. Listen on Spotify.

1. “Do It Again” – Beverly Kenney
2. “Weed Stores Everywhere” – Homeboy Sandman, Jack Splash
3. “Death Destruction Mayhem” – Ceremony
4. “Even Yeti’s Ready for Spring” – Nate Lepine
5. “love that stains” – Pink Pablo
6. “She/Her/Gone” – Valentina Magaletti
7. “Penny Arcade” – The Cyrkle
8. “Ligeti: Etudes, Book 1: No. 4, Fanfares” – Bruce Liu
9. “Biomechanical Neurodegeneration” – Hypertrichosis
10. “E.T. Boogie” – Extra T’s
11. “Toys” – Mike Clark, Eddie Henderson, Patrice Rushen
12. “Recognize” – Fana Hues
13. “Buldak Rose” – Donor Lens
14. “Freaks for the Festival, Pt. 1” – Rahsaan Roland Kirk
15. “Pre-Barok” – Mica Levi, Oliver Coates
16. “Call Him Up (Part I)” – The Mississippi Mass Choir

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Stephen McClurg (Episode 473 & 666) composes and improvises inSerenity Dagger, The Abdomen, and other projects. Along with session work for mid-Alabama singer/songwriters, he frequently collaborates with musicians across the state adding bass, guitar, and synths to friends’ recordings. He currently writes reviews for Horror DNA and is the substitute low end wrangler for Mobile-based punk rock band Future Hate. You can find out more about his work here.