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Painting by Rigsby Smith

Eyes Like Mingus (For Steve Fowler)

Eyes like flint
like flecks of coal
like shiny bits of starless sky
trapped in the ruins of a slag heap

Eyes like molten steel
sullen and angry
piercing — a bullet finding its mark
like a jaguar
passionate and alive
yet hating the trap
pacing behind the bars
bars like a skeleton
trapped inside the mind
behind

Eyes like Mingus
like notes caught in the net
like the grid of notation
like Mingus
in shamanic Mexico
trapped in a chair
no strength to grip
no fingers to coax notes with
no feet to stand up and count with
no time — no signature

Eyes like concrete — shattering
like glass — splintering
like the wrecking ball’s slap
like voltage — unregulated
like a passion laid bare
to the gallery’s scrutiny
like the madman’s frothing nightmare
like the inexplicable accuracy of random fate
like a shot to the belly
like Coltrane’s “Favorite Things”
like your fingers — stilled

Eyes like an empty glass
staring bug-eyed into space
upturned and dispassionate
like a dream — lost in the stars

Eyes like Mingus
silent but never
silenced.

RD Armstrong

RD Armstong aka Raindog Photo: Jim Coke

The Lummox Press began in 1994 as a self-publishing tool for RD Armstrong. It allowed RD to publish two collections of his poems (Love is Dancing Just Out of Reach & Unkissed by the Angels). Very soon after, towards the end of 1995, he started the Lummox Journal. In 1998, the Lummox Press published its first anthology: DUFUS! It wasn’t quite as successful as one could have hoped for, but the learning curve kept RD honest. The book was a dismal flop, but it taught RD about quality control. DUFUS later became a poetry EZINE (2002).

Then, in 1999, He started the Little Red Book series or LRB. LRB format was simple: a book that could fit easily into one’s pocket or purse, and would give the reader the opportunity to read a selection of poems from known, as well as, unknown poets. 48 titles later, and poets still clamor to be a part of this series. 2004 saw the publication of LAST CALL: The Legacy of Charles Bukowski. The Lummox empire continues to spread. Besides publishing, RD also is fairly active in the poetry scene, giving readings in both Nor/SoCal and has an active reading calendar where he promotes, not only his own work (his latest book, RoadKill, is already in its second printing), but the work of the many poets he has published, as well.

The Lummox page is here…

read an interview made by RD Armstrong and J.A.Deane here…

Raindog Armstrong recites an original poem, Eyes Like Mingus, from his new collection, Fire & Rain.

Rigsby Smith

A preview of my Moving Paintings exhibition at the Utrophia Project Space, Deptford. For more information on the show and how to see it, visit utrophia. Unfortunately, youtube’s encoder has made the motion a little jaggedy, this is obviously not the case with the films at the exhibition. The music is Vitamin C by Can, purely for the purposes of this preview.

some related articles are listed below:

1. rd armstrong | yardbird burned YardBird Burned (A duet written for voice and sax) by RD Armstrong YardBird burned All Wick — No Candle Made it to the sun and back Unlike Icarus – YardBird couldn’t burn out – his spirit was the flame by which HE burned. YardBird burned ‘til there was only a husk left ‘til all the notes – the be-boppin’ bitty black notes – were piled at his feet like cigar ash. YardBird swung his sax in a mighty arc like an ax spinning like a Dervish carving a niche out of the “don’t-take-it-for” granite walls of Swing-Jazz-Tradition. YardBird shaped...
2. raindog aka rd armstrong | zoot Zoot I thought I saw the ghost of him floating over the boulevard at half past ten last night. His tenor called to me down the long corridor of the Harbor freeway, distant and haunting like the final notes from Micheline’s Hohner lost in the screech of brakes at ride’s end. I’ve got it bad. I thought I felt a strand of moonbeams or was it a string of notes, gently wrapping themselves around my legs, sending me tripping across Hawthorne nights. Sending me into a velvet fog so cool and wet that neither A Train nor Strayhorn could...
3. bone | poetry by todd moore & rd armstrong 5 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide more Todd Moore books are available here… more RD Armstrong books are avaulable here… var lcValues89 = new Array(1); lcValues89[0]=5; localCurrency("EUR","USD",lcValues89,89); Show currencies in localCurrencyUserSelection('EUR','USD',89); [Please enable JavaScript to change the currency used on this page] Powered bythe LocalCurrency plugin for WordPress. Rates from Yahoo! Finance Share and Enjoy: ...
4. raindog | fire and rain The following poems are taken from the book ‘Fire and Rain’ by RD Armstrong aka Raindog. This book will be available for purchase June 1st. 2008. Just click on the above image to place your orders for this ‘MUST READ’. Pueblo de las Putas She stumbled down the sidewalk fighting with a large white “sports” bag. She wore a tight knit black dress that seemed determined to ride up to an interesting height. It was late, nearly one AM, and I was heading south on Pacific back to the point, back home. I would’ve liked to stay and seen...