A Filthy Letter is now available from Black Scat Books! Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) was a novelist and poet, one of the champions of Romanticism. In 1850, he and his friend Louis de Cormenin visited Italy, so he wrote his friends back home a letter about their adventures. The result was a rollicking “filthy letter,” packed […]

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What’s Christmas without frankincense? I wrote this for Meg Reichardt’s annual Holiday Recording Party, and recorded it with Brian Dewan at the controls. It marks my debut on the bass recorder. Here’s the first page, and you can listen to it here.

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A piano piece from my student days. These are some of the savory dissonances I was stirring up when I was 18.

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From an upcoming issue of Black Scat Review, here’s the beginning of a story about a fisherman and the fish who promises him wishes. Unfortunately, fish with magical powers are not always trustworthy. THE FISHERMAN’S WISH    The fisherman started out one bright morning, toting his rod and tackle. He was in a merry mood, […]

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A song about an old woman and an old man who don’t meet, and the tropical fish who just want flake food. It can be found on That Regrettable Weekend and in The Doug Skinner Songbook.

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This unusually brief story appears in my collection Sleepytime Cemetery. It’s short, but long enough for a happy ending. THE FUNERAL DINNER Little Tommy sat under a tree, pulling the wings off flies. When he pulled the wings off one, he tossed it onto the grass, where it died. He then plucked the next one […]

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The idiosyncratic poet and cabaret performer Maurice Mac-Nab had a short but appreciated career in Paris in the 1880s. He was known for his deadpan delivery and limited vocal range; it was said of him that he could sing only three notes, but each was flawless. My translation of his poem “The Fetuses” is a […]

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From a projected book of my verse, here’s a translation of a song by the surprisingly prolific Jules Jouy (1855-1897). The problem was to translate the lyrics as closely as possible, within the original meter and rhyme scheme. It’s a paraphrase, but (I think) comes closer to the original than a literal rendering could. THE […]

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My version of the Faust legend is 152 lines, in tetrameter couplets alternating masculine and feminine rhymes. It has a cheerier ending than most; Faust and the Devil get drunk, become friends, and open a bar together. Here’s how it begins. I’ll cut it off before we get to the sex magick. Perhaps you’ve heard […]

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A song about the free wine at gallery openings. There was originally a second chorus about the free wine once offered in Chinese restaurants, but the chorus was removed when the practice was abandoned.

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