PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I was a fan of The Blasters back in the mid 80s when they were recording for Slash Records. I always viewed them as an interesting roots band. At the time, I really had no grasp of how good a songwriter and poet Dave Alvin was. That knowledge would come much later. 

When Alvin went solo with his career, I began to notice a lot of poetic nuance in his lyrics. I also discovered that he was a published poet who put out some pretty good poetry. One volume showcases his career is Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You. This book collects poems and prose from 1979 through 1995 and gives a broad sampling of his writing. 

This is a collection of poetry that I peruse often. It is very gritty and earthy verse. Alvin writes in free verse and has a very frank style. It's also verse that is easily accessible to the average reader. Some of the language might be a little strong and there is a lot of sexual content. Of course, what is offensive to one reader is appealing to the next.

Alvin is an L.A. punk poet who obviously cut his teeth on Bukowski. There is a tribute poem to Bukowski in the book. The poem entails putting up with many faults in a woman but drawing the line at her insistence he give up Bukowski. He admits that he quit smoking, disavowed many friends and tossed his porno stash in the name of love but being asked to burn Bukowski books was the last straw. 

“I never burned my Bukowski books/and I never seen the woman I lived with in years. I guess I didn't really love her.”

 Alvin is a very adept wordsmith. He writes of all night diners after long sessions in bars, of listening to Hank Williams in a juke joint and hearing the American voice in Nebraska truck stops and South Street bars in Philadelphia. Some poems make a nod to Kerouac and revel in the joys and travails of the open road. 

The title for the book comes roughly from the fortune in a Chinese fortune cookie. The fortune read “Any bad times are now behind you.”  This is from a poem called After We Had Sex. Most of the poems are very direct. Alvin writes of smoking, drinking too much and enduring hangovers. I writes of many of the towns he visits on his journeys. 

He also has a fondness for country music and an awareness of pop culture. This comes through clearly in his verse. He pays homage to Merle Haggard and Hank Williams. He writes a poem called Madonna's Kiss where he writes of watching Madonna on MTV while listening to a radio host talking about the first Gulf War.

“It's after 2 AM and the bombing/ has been going on for a couple hours. /I look at the tv as Madonna french kisses a man/then she french kisses a woman.”

Alvin is very poignant in many of his poems. Here he juxtaposes bland pop culture with the reality of soldiers being killed in the war. This poignancy is a quality that makes Alvin a special poet. Some of his poems about eating in diners at 2 AM can be poignant. He reflects on conversations with lonely old men. He talks of relationships being shattered by the pressures of modern life. 

 There is a very real honesty that comes through in this verse. Alvin doesn't seem to be trying to glorify anything he has done. He also doesn't seem to be apologizing for very much either. Most of the verse is written in a very matter of fact style. He may express joy or anger but he seems like he wants to capture the moment in his verse.