Tom Waits is a funny bloke - irreverent, cynical, eccentric, witty, often given to dark humour, but full of surprises. His music identifies with "low-life" characters. They often populate his songs. The residence of colourful characters in his lyrics is a style he shares with Bob Dylan. However, in the case of Waits he seems really to inhabit their zone. Indeed the New York Times labelled him "the poet of outcasts." It can seem like he gets down in the gutter with them, or at least in a "4 dollar room." His voice sounds like it's been soaked in the Chivas Regal that at least one of his characters drinks instead of paying for a room upgrade.
Slicer is a big fan of Waits. So he was intrigued to find that, again like Dylan, Waits has decided to publish some writing other than song lyrics. Similarities don't end there. In 2009, Dylan released a Christmas album (which divides opinion), and donated the royalties to benefit those who have fallen on difficult circumstances: specifically via agencies helping the hungry and the homeless - in the USA, the UK and globally. Just after Christmas 2010, Waits has chosen to print a limited edition (1000 copies), first release of a poem entitled "Seeds on Hard Ground."
It's being released in conjunction with Anti Records, and his website states that the purpose is "to raise funds for homeless services... and to bring attention to a growing problem in today’s hard times." Slicer has his pre-order in already. At the time of writing it is possible to view the poem here but Slicer encourages readers to be amongst the first 1000 to give £20 or so* to own the limited edition hard copy and benefit a worthy cause. The poem has been inspired by photographs
of Michael O'Brien, who shot the cover photo of Waits' Glitter & Doom live album. It seems that there will be a subsequent publication of an abridged and rearranged version of this poem, and others, together with some of O'Brien's photographs in a book entitled "Hard Ground."
O'Brien is a highly respected freelance photographer whose work has been published in Life, National Geographic and Esquire, to name but a few. Some of his work is housed permanently in the National Portrait Gallery. Visual art can be a powerful influence:
“What we need is a critique of visual culture that is alert to the power of images for good and evil.” W. J. T. Mitchell. Picture Theory (1994).
Apparently the book is modelled on a prior collaboration between poet and photographer, published in the 1940s, entitled "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men," which depicted depression era farmers - but clearly there are influences from multiple sources in this most recent effort. The publisher (University of Texas) has stated that the book "impels us to look into the eyes of people who live on the hard ground and recognise our common humanity." The title of the limited edition has a fairly overt resonance with the Parable of the Sower. The poem is highly empathetic with the plight of the homeless (as was the author of that Parable), and it's been described as "a long lyrical ballad in the voices of those who walked, fell or were pushed to the margins of society." The plight that some find themselves in may be a result of lifestyle choices, or harmful habits and addictions - ie problems of their own making. However, Slicer considers that this is no excuse for a lack of compassion for them. Those of us who do not find ourselves in such circumstances probably have lots of reasons why that is the case. And those reasons are often not ones for which we deserve any credit; but rather they are a consequence of good fortune/providence (birthplace, genes, nurture, example, innate gifts and talents).
Alongside reference to a "boner," (!) the poem contains the recurring question "How long?"- which U2 incorporated into '40' (their adaptation of Psalm 40), from the book of Revelation, where it is the cry of the martyrs for justice. It encompasses the notion/aspiration that suffering is only temporary. However, the solution/answer may lie in another Parable - that of the Talents. With privilege (genetic, birthplace, financial well-being) comes responsibility. Perhaps we need to do better than toss the odd coin at the homeless in a charitable fashion. Perhaps we need to take a lesson from healthcare - prevention is better than cure. Slicer thinks we need to get serious about initiating structural change to society to address better the causes of homelessness. This would be the real "Big Society," described in David Cameron's rhetoric, and one not driven by a need to limit governmental expenditure. That is not to be disparaging about the motives and methods of some of those behind the Tory vision; merely an observation that current societal notions of 'charity' fall short of the original broader meaning, as expressed in the phrase "faith, hope and charity."
Slicer confesses ignorance on how best to go about fixing root causes, but presumes there are enough folk out there with academic and practical credentials in social & political sciences (and in preventative healthcare) to set the direction, if we made it a political priority for government. This will, of course never happen if we avert our gaze (like the priest and the levite in yet another Parable). Waits and O'Brien have made it just a little more difficult for us to avert our gaze. As the acclaimed photographer from a previous generation, Dorothea Lange, put it:
"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."
Despite the subtitling on the cover of Hard Ground, it's been reported that Waits isn't too keen on the term 'poetry' applied to his work, preferring instead the description "inebriational travelogue." Slicer thinks that Waits' published verse (and his music) may do something akin to Dorothea Lange's thoughts on photography:
"He who has ears to hear..."
*it's a pity that, in the UK, the actual cost is inflated by DHL courier being the only choice of delivery method - at a further £11. Slicer would happily have paid £30 for this limited edition with the proceeds going to charity but it certainly takes the shine off it to have to pay such a large sum for delivery which will not go towards charitable purposes. The UK retailer should have adopted a similar approach to delivery costs as Amazon, or joined the charitable exercise.
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