#david rivard

[llovelymoonn]

favourite poems of february

avery r. young peestain

claudine toutoungi future perfect

david rivard bewitched playground: "not guilty"

brian kim stefans the future is one of place

lisa gill post-traumatic rainstorm

clare pollard pinocchios

rebecca lindenberg love, an index: "catalogue of ephemera"

etel adnan the arab apocalypse: "xxxvi"

stanley moss god breaketh not all men's hearts alike: "a blind fisherman"

robert browning an epistle containing the strange medical experience of karshish, the arab physician

tom sleigh beirut tank

khaled mattawa ismailia eclipse: "date palm trinity"

mark levine unemployment (3)

lucia cherciu butter, olive oil, flour

reginald shepherd fata morgana: "you, therefore"

john updike claremont hotel, southwest harbour, maine

bruce smith the other lover: "february sky"

johnny cash forever words: the unknown poems: "don't make a movie about me"

eamon grennan what light there is & other poems: "jewel box"

eduardo c. corral in colorado my father scoured and stacked dishes

thomas mccarthy the beginning of colour

divya victor curb: "blood / soil"

henneh kyereh kwaku in praise

joanna fuhrman to a new era: "lavender"

rosemary catacalos sight unseen

sam willetts digging

megan fernandes winter

jaswinder bolina the plague on tv

juan felipe herrera notes on the assemblage: "almost livin' almost dyin'"

kofi

[aprocessblog]

Because at heart

it’s just that simple

maybe. I wanted to be

held, that’s all. When I say

the word “world”

I mean love of course.

When I say “then”

I mean now. Always.

- By Then by David Rivard

[poemwav]

David Rivard, from "Strictly Speaking" (2017)

[doedipus]

jazz

hey it could happen!

credits under break

from the bandcamp page:

Musicians: Brahim Fribgane: oud, vocal, bendir, karakab, cajon, frame drum, dumbek; Mike Rivard: acoustic bass, sintir, electric bass, tamboura (7), chorus vocal (9); Dean Johnston: drums, chorus vocal (9); Duke Levine: guitar (1-4, electric mandocello & 6 string bass (3); Kevin Barry: lap steel (1-4); Paul Schultheis: Rhodes, Wurli, organ, Moog, clavinet, ARP Omni (1-4); John Medeski: Rhodes, Wurli, organ, Mellotron, clavinet (5-10), chorus vocal (9); David Fiuczynski: fretted and fretless guitars (5-10); Mister Rourke: turntables (2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10); Amit Kavthekar: tabla (6, 8); Andrew Fogliano: tenor sax (1, 8), bari sax, flute (8); Phil Grenadier: trumpet (1, 6, 8); Thorleifur Gaukur Davidsson: harmonica (3).

Produced and arranged by Mike Rivard.

Recorded by Chris Rival at Middleville Studio. Horn overdubs by Will Holland at Chillhouse. Horn arrangements (1, 8) by Andrew Fogliano. Additional recording by Jeff Misner at The Chop Shop, Trausti Laufdal at TLA Studios, and Duke Levine. Mixed by Danny Blume at Hidden Quarry Studio. Edited by Evren Celimli. Mastered by Alan Silverman at Arf Mastering. Face Pelt Records FP 2201

[chrisryanspeaks]

Discover Bibi Club's New Single “Shloshlo” & Anticipate Their Upcoming Album 'Feu de garde' – Out This Friday!

The Montreal-based duo Bibi Club, comprising Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque of Plants and Animals, recently unveiled their new single and video "Shloshlo." This release marks the final sneak peek of their upcoming album, Feu de garde*, set to debut this Friday (May 10th) via Secret City Records. The track features vibrant, captivating synths that envelop Trottier-Rivard’s smooth vocals, as she delivers lyrics in her native French about "confidence, strength, acceptance of fate, and joy." The duo describes "Shloshlo" as a reflection on the complexities of parenthood and the resilience and power derived from it. The accompanying video highlights Trottier-Rivard with her and Basque’s son Noé. Pre-orders for *Feu de garde* are currently available. "Shloshlo" follows tracks like “Parc de Beauvoir,” “L’île aux bleuets,” and “Le feu,” which have garnered accolades from sources such as Brooklyn Vegan and Exclaim!. The album has received significant acclaim, featuring in conversations and reviews from outlets like Talkhouse and MOJO. Produced with the expertise of Ali Chant and mastered by Matt Colton, the album also includes vocal contributions from artists like Helena Deland. *Feu de garde* stands out as a compelling collection of French pop/rock music. The name Bibi Club pays homage to the home discotheque where Trottier-Rivard and Basque entertain friends and family, reflecting the spirit of their gatherings. Their debut album, *Le soleil et la mer*, made the 2023 Polaris Music Prize Long List and was praised by BBC6 Music among others. Throughout *Feu de garde*, Trottier-Rivard revisits core values such as courage and sisterhood, shaped by her time in Montreal's first all-female scout group, Les Guides. These experiences are woven into the album, which draws on themes of community, the nuances of parenthood, mortality, and strength. The album resonates as a vibrant tribute to life's intersecting journeys and shared moments. Bibi Club Live Dates: 05/11 - Val David, QC - Mouton Noir 05/12 - Ste-Thérèse, QC - Festival Santa Teresa 05/31 - Toulouse, FR - Festival Week-end des Curiosités 06/01 - Chateauneuf de Gadagne, FR - France Festival Cafi 06/06 - Paris, FR - Le Pop Up 06/07 - Laval, FR - La Fosse 06/08 - Dunkerque, FR - Festival L’ilôt 10/05 - Sherbrooke, QC - La Petite Boîte Noire 10/11 - Lévis, QC - Le Vieux Bureau de Poste 10/12 - Verchères, QC - Le Phare Culturel 11/21 - Montreal, QC - Theatre Fairmount (M pour Montreal) 11/22 - Quebec, QC - L'ANTI Read the full article

[audiofuzz]

Discover Bibi Club's New Single “Shloshlo” & Anticipate Their Upcoming Album 'Feu de garde' – Out This Friday!

The Montreal-based duo Bibi Club, comprising Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque of Plants and Animals, recently unveiled their new single and video "Shloshlo." This release marks the final sneak peek of their upcoming album, Feu de garde*, set to debut this Friday (May 10th) via Secret City Records. The track features vibrant, captivating synths that envelop Trottier-Rivard’s smooth vocals, as she delivers lyrics in her native French about "confidence, strength, acceptance of fate, and joy." The duo describes "Shloshlo" as a reflection on the complexities of parenthood and the resilience and power derived from it. The accompanying video highlights Trottier-Rivard with her and Basque’s son Noé. Pre-orders for *Feu de garde* are currently available. "Shloshlo" follows tracks like “Parc de Beauvoir,” “L’île aux bleuets,” and “Le feu,” which have garnered accolades from sources such as Brooklyn Vegan and Exclaim!. The album has received significant acclaim, featuring in conversations and reviews from outlets like Talkhouse and MOJO. Produced with the expertise of Ali Chant and mastered by Matt Colton, the album also includes vocal contributions from artists like Helena Deland. *Feu de garde* stands out as a compelling collection of French pop/rock music. The name Bibi Club pays homage to the home discotheque where Trottier-Rivard and Basque entertain friends and family, reflecting the spirit of their gatherings. Their debut album, *Le soleil et la mer*, made the 2023 Polaris Music Prize Long List and was praised by BBC6 Music among others. Throughout *Feu de garde*, Trottier-Rivard revisits core values such as courage and sisterhood, shaped by her time in Montreal's first all-female scout group, Les Guides. These experiences are woven into the album, which draws on themes of community, the nuances of parenthood, mortality, and strength. The album resonates as a vibrant tribute to life's intersecting journeys and shared moments. Bibi Club Live Dates: 05/11 - Val David, QC - Mouton Noir 05/12 - Ste-Thérèse, QC - Festival Santa Teresa 05/31 - Toulouse, FR - Festival Week-end des Curiosités 06/01 - Chateauneuf de Gadagne, FR - France Festival Cafi 06/06 - Paris, FR - Le Pop Up 06/07 - Laval, FR - La Fosse 06/08 - Dunkerque, FR - Festival L’ilôt 10/05 - Sherbrooke, QC - La Petite Boîte Noire 10/11 - Lévis, QC - Le Vieux Bureau de Poste 10/12 - Verchères, QC - Le Phare Culturel 11/21 - Montreal, QC - Theatre Fairmount (M pour Montreal) 11/22 - Quebec, QC - L'ANTI Read the full article

[jshoulson]

Today’s Poem

Lucky Day Still --David Rivard

Lucky day still spent wrestling the private problems and obsessions encountered first in your youth but played out now within the spectacle of public aging (tho, strangely, as you age you feel less & less seen by the young, a citizen active in frequencies of light waves increasingly invisible—not even boring to 15-year-olds). Of course, some problems you once had really have vanished—you can sense that as your daughter lays out the tactics crucial to "pre-gaming," her teen friends setting out to get toasted or stoned before house parties, parties at which they've been warned not to drug or drink— no longer a worry for you (except as relates, of course, to your daughter)—you can drink & drug somewhat "it would seem" to your heart's content. Not your style, you say? Not any longer? Still, the urge to lift or get lifted from self-conscious woes hasn't gone away totally, has it? Wanting to be free of your self has always been a mission big in your church—evangelically so! You got in a way (the wrong way) your wish— your skin certainly got looser on you—baggy, rounder, wrinkled—prescriptions for departure—the rigging's untuned, & no milk bath full of rose hips can compensate (so your friend likes to say), no fish oil omega-3 in gel capsules manufactured by entrepreneurial ex-hippies no wifely fruit smoothies or mod boots will cure jowls now or allow for glamour without the costume.

[allyourprettywords]

“Ghosts on the Road,” David Rivard

A bookkeeping man, tho one sure to knock on wood, and mostly light

at loose ends—my friend who is superstitiously funny, & always sarcastic—save once,

 after I’d told him about Simone’s first time walking—a toddler,

almost alone, she’d gripped her sweater, right hand clutched

chest-high, reassured then, she held on to herself so, so took a few

quick steps— oh, he said, you know what? Leonard Cohen, when he was 13,

after his father’s out-of-the-blue heart attack, he slit one of the old man’s

ties, & slipped a message into it, then buried it in his backyard—

73 now, he can’t recall what he wrote—(threadbare heartfelt prayer perhaps,

or complaint)— his first writing anyway. The need to comfort

ourselves is always strongest at the start, they say—

do you think that’s true? my friend asked. I don’t, he said,

I think the need gets stronger, he said, it just gets stronger.

[nofatclips]

AN ITERATION by The Armed from the album ULTRAPOP - Video starring David Hayter

[bostonpoetryslam]

No poem will ever capture the changefulness of being, in spite of our wishing one would.

David Rivard, “On Complexity,” as featured by the Poetry Society of America

[slateblueearthbelow]

There is the question of bearing witness, of being yourself seen by yourself, & seen clearly, cleanly, without weapon or bible in hand; as this was the wish, the sturdy & not-so-secret wish of those who named us—

our parents wanted us to be known to ourselves without confusion: without judgment, sans suffering. Never force it, they said, always find it.

OK, strictly speaking, that’s not entirely true. My particular, sole, insistent, moody mother & father probably never thought much about it at all. Those two anxious citizens, they were never exemplars of patience. The weightlessness of detachment & acceptance as I think of it now would have frightened them— for good reason.

If you could see these words I’m speaking to you tonight printed on a page as typeface & magnified x 500 you would feel just how ragged & coarse they really are, heavy.

Well, playing the part of a butterfly must be tiring, right? I’m happier being the old ox, right?

On some plane of existence these two scraps are all my news: where the mess is that’s where my heart is.

Strictly Speaking | David Rivard

[literarycatchall]

On some plane of existence these two scraps are all my news: where the mess is that’s where my heart is.

David Rivard, “Strictly Speaking”

[thelightjournals]

On some plane of existence these two scraps are all my news: where the mess is that’s where my heart is

David Rivard, Strictly Speaking

[acey68]

Fall River" BY DAVID RIVARD When I wake now it’s below ocherous, saw-ridged pine beams. Haze streaks all three windows. I look up at the dog-eared, glossy magazine photo I’ve taken with me for years. It gets tacked like a claim to some new wall in the next place— Bill Russell & Wilt Chamberlain, one on one the final game of the 1969 NBA championship, two hard men snapped elbowing & snatching at a basketball as if it were a moment one of them might stay inside forever. I was with my father the night that game played on a fuzzy color television, in a jammed Fall River bar. Seagram & beer chasers for hoarse ex-jocks, smoke rifting the air. A drunk called him “Tiger” and asked about the year he’d made all-state guard— point man, ball-hawk, pacer. Something he rarely spoke of, & almost always with a gruff mix of impatience and shyness. Each year, days painting suburban tract houses & fighting with contractors followed by night shifts at the fire station followed by his kids swarming at breakfast and my mother trying to stay out of his way, each of the many stone-hard moments between 1941 & 1969— they made up a city of granite mills by a slate & blue river. That town was my father’s life, & still is. If he felt cheated by it, by its fate for him, to bear that disappointment, he kept it secret. That night, when he stared deep into a drunk’s memory, he frowned. He said nothing. He twisted on the stool, and ordered this guy a beer. Whatever my father & I have in common is mostly silence. And anger that keeps twisting back on itself, though not before it ruins, often, even something simple as a walk in the dunes at a warm beach. But what we share too is a love so awkward that it explains, with unreasoning perfection, why we still can’t speak easily to each other, about the past or anything else, and why I wake this far from the place where I grew up, while the wall above me claims now nothing has changed & all is different.

Torque (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1988)

[jshoulson]

Today’s Poem

Common --David Rivard

The American common is no collective or princedom but privacies of need & pleasure as they intersect in public spaces, tho the insufferable powers that be breed their plots behind our backs, thinking us witless, seemingly blind to their afflicted intentions, just a bunch of demographic motormouths & screw-ups to be targeted by commodities traders & search engines— a marketing niche for every need, stereotypes tagged by algorithms—here is a typical team of baton twirlers in an airport bar, each of them clad in foxy red track suits & tuned-in to the dollhouse stimulations of pigeon-talking sales reps; there is a previously undetected aggregation of retirees, evangelical camp kids, kickass bowlers, and mothy nuns in starched wimples, for whom the news of the day means the aging boy-man Hugh Grant's fear of double chins—neither of these or any other data dump entirely false, but so narrow-minded sometimes as to lose sight of us entirely: the midtown lady in Capris, a four-square surgeon off-duty & headed out to play poker, the plumber fly-fishing by the river— a sky of twilight slate now—not a word written on it.