No Way Out but Through

After long winter, giving each other nothing, we collide with blossoms in our hands. by ChiyoChiyo (1703-1775) was a Japanese poet of the Edo period, a Buddhist nun, and widely regarded as one of the greatest poets of haiku (then called hokku). After Long Winter is one of the best haiku ever written. Period. Translated by David Ray.This piece originally appeared in The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters episode.Featuring: Susan Kay Anderson, Glen Stohr, Curt Hopkins, Richard L...

The Playlist:Thanks Gratefulness puts the pedal to the metal and crashes into the void in W.S. Merwin's poem Thanks.Once Once I was in love with my future. It was lit like a Japanese city. My life was charmed. I got into fistfights. I turned on a dime. I was fiercely optimistic. I was the luckiest man alive.Self Portrait It doesn't interest David Whyte if there is one god or many gods,he wants to know if you belong — or feel abandoned.The Sleep of Reason We colla...

Kindness is the second single from my upcoming podcast episode, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, and an amazing poem by Naomi Shihab Nye. The Transcript can be found here

Once is the first single from my podcast episode, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters. OnceOnce I was in love with my future. It was lit like a Japanese city. My life was charmed.I got into fistfightsI turned on a dime.I was fiercely optimistic.I was the luckiest man alive. Once, I was shot out of a canon,I landed on the moon,I killed seven with one blow,I balanced ten torpedoes on the tip of my tongue like a sailor.The future was up for grabs,The past was simply a ...

Excerpted from Separation EnergyIt is also included in my upcoming book, October.October 20thThe temperature has dropped, the constructs have vanished, and the woman the lab assistant’s been seeing will not return his calls.He shakes his head, saying,The tensile strength of the bridge cableswill not hold if the vibration continues at these unprecedented levels. How will it continue to function, he wonders, if the party in power chann...

This is excerpted from Episode 4: Separation EnergySweet Darknessby David WhyteWhen your eyes are tiredthe world is tired also.When your vision has gone,no part of the world can find you.Time to go into the darkwhere the night has eyesto recognize its own.There you can be sureyou are not beyond love.The dark will be your hometonight.The night will give you a horizonfurther than you can see.You must learn one thing.The world was made to be free in.Give up all the other worldsexcept the one to ...

This is excerpted from Episode 4: Separation EnergyWhen Death ComesBy Mary OliverWhen death comeslike the hungry bear in autumn;when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purseto buy me, and snaps the purse shut;when death comeslike the measle-poxwhen death comeslike an iceberg between the shoulder blades,I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?And therefore I look upon everythingas a brotherhood and a si...

Lines to a Poetby Josephine JacobsenBe careful what you say to us now.The street-lamp is smashed, the window is jagged,There is a man dead in his blood by the base of the fountain.If you speak,You cannot be delicate or sad or clever.Some other hour, in a moist April,We will consider similes for the budding larches.You can teach our wits and our fancy then;By a green-lit midnight in your studyWe will delve into your sparkling rock.But now at dreadful high noonYou may speak only to our heart,Ou...

A performance of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's great poem I am Waiting—excerpted from episode 4: Separation Energy. Music and performance by Scott Taylor ©2020. Listen to the whole show here: Separation Energy

Stories, poems, and monologues with music for that special sheltering-at-home time of your life.1. Messages (Taylor): A woman sends messengers into the afterworld 2. Sweet Darkness (David Whyte): Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to recognize its own. There you can be sure you are not beyond love.3. Cosmodemonic (Taylor): If you want to speak to a human being who will sympathize and empathize, someone who will actually listen to you and help you to solve your proble...

An excerpt from Episode3: Matter The Race is On (after George Jones, with inspiration from Tom Durkin and Larry Collmus) ...Now on the back stretch,Happily Married is leading along the railfollowed by Is This All There IsStuck in the Middle with You is three lengths backit’s still Happily Married, Is This All There Is,and here comes Late Night at Work,now Attractive Secretary is making her move,is This All There Is has moved in front of Happily Married,Attractive Secr...

An excerpt from Episode 1: Past TenseThe Past Comes CallingThe past is the pitcherwho does not botherbacking you off the plate with high heatbut simply throws at your unhelmeted head.The past is the catcher who kicks you in the nutswhile you’re sprawled out on the ground.The past is the umpire who laughs,and calls you out.Words and music © 2020 by Scott Taylor Transcript at Scott Taylor's cover is blown

Imagine yourself in the middle of a world-destroying catastrophe. Now imagine that we have a short quiz for you. It won’t take but a minute. The world is a dusty, dark chaos, and the trap our unreliable narrator finds himself in, gets more dire as the story goes on. Agents Angstrom and Kinski find themselves in a different kind of trap—and due to a lack of budget, and thus, vocal talent, poor Kinski doesn’t even get a speaking part. An announcement that the hit show Arena is returning to the ...

A chance meeting at the airport, a serious case of misplaced empathy, and an obsession that destroys everything.This show is actually Episode 0. It was originally recorded in November 2018, and released on my YouTube channel. Because of the feedback I received—and the fact that I had a great time making it—I decided to change gears and develop No Way Out but Through.Words and music © 2019 by Scott Taylor Transcript at Scott Taylor's cover is blown

A psychic finds a strange piece of metal with a map brought back from her dreams. Scott draws some questionable conclusions about the present, based on serial misreadings of his own past. A town reacts to long-awaited infernal signs. The Past is your permanent crazy ex who knows all your passwords—and secrets—by heart. From the radio desk, Scott suggests a weekend activity for the kids at the Armory, involving art and knives. He then gives a quick update about last week's freak eclipse. And f...