New buds on the branches of a red maple in Van Cortlandt Park

Imperatives https://johnpauldavis.org/photography/imperatives/ #photography

Thinking about how the first time, as a kid, I had Turkish Delight & immediately felt cheated, because it tastes meh, & C.S. Lewis made it out to be something so delicious you'd betray your siblings for it.

Album cover art for Fruit Bats's A River Running To Your Heart

#morningcoffeelisten Fruit Bats’s 2023 album A River Running to Your Heart. Tenderly-crafted tunes with hooky melodies, plainspoken poetry, shimmering guitars, driving bass lines that lay bare the emotional peaks & valleys in ordinary human love Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen220 #nowplaying

A lamppost, filled with light from the rising sun along the Pelham Greenway in Van Cortlandt Park

A Little Borrowed Light johnpauldavis.org/photography/a-little-bor... #photography

Album cover art for Thom Yorke's The Eraser

#morningcoffeelisten Thom Yorke’s 2006 album The Eraser. On his first solo album Yorke sings hauntingly about climate change, political anger, & a sense of helplessness over skittery, angular beats, fizzy synths & gorgeous piano & guitar. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen219 #nowplaying

Ice crystals forming in a rain puddle in early spring in Van Cortlandt Park

Winter's Final Message johnpauldavis.org/photography/winters-fina... #photography

Album cover art for Local Natives's Hummingbird

#morningcoffeelisten Local Natives’s 2103 album Hummingbird. Grappling with loss & reckoning with healing, the band digs deep lyrically while pushing themselves sonically to try new approaches, yielding an album that uplifts & soars as it aches. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen218 #nowplaying

This tree trunks cast long shadows in early morning light in Van Cortlandt Park

Days Before the Green johnpauldavis.org/photography/days-before-... #photography

Album cover art for R.E.M.'s Green

#morningcoffeelisten R.E.M.’s 1988 album Green. The band switch instruments & avoid writing in their comfort zone, resulting in an album that sounds like nothing they'd done to that point, while still sounding like only R.E.M. could. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen217 #nowplaying

Trunks of thin, leafless trees in Van Cortlandt Park

Long-Term Strategies johnpauldavis.org/photography/long-term-st... #photography

The Uncomputable: Poems by John Paul Davis

New episode of my podcast #theuncomputable : Proof https://johnpauldavis.org/podcast/proof/ #podcast #poetry

Album cover art for Silver Jews's American Water

#morningcoffeelisten Silver Jews’s 1998 album, American Water. "Repair is the dream of the broken thing," David Berman plaintively sings, a summary of not just this gorgeous album of outsider folk-rock but also of the band's rickety aesthetic. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen216 #nowplaying

Shadow of a tree on grass in Van Cortlandt Park

Everything Means More Than One Thing johnpauldavis.org/photography/everything-m... #photography

Also: The Moviegoer by Walker Percy

Album cover art for The Decemberists' The Crane Wife

#morningcoffeelisten The Decemberists’ 2006 album The Crane Wife. Colin Meloy's imaginative, evocative songwriting is matched in scope & execution by the band's tight, fierce & masterful playing in this collection of tales of love & war. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen215 #nowplaying

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. The Book of Bebb by Frederick Buechner. Son of Laughter by Buechner. Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis.

Trunks of several leafless trees along the Bridle Path in Van Cortlandt Park

Trees Wear Less When It's Cold Out johnpauldavis.org/photography/trees-wear-l... #photography

Album cover art for Patti Smith's Easter

#morningcoffeelisten Patti Smith’s 1978 album Easter. Smith dives for musical transcendence & surfaces with a set of rousing rockers as she examines the ambiguities & demands of relationships - with other people & with music itself. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen214 #nowplaying

John Paul Davis standing with outstretched arms in front of a small cave in Corriganville Movie Ranch Park

Happy Easter!

Here is an unrelated photo of me in Corriganville Movie Ranch Park last spring.

Shodow of a tree and its branches on asphalt

Self-Explanatory https://johnpauldavis.org/photography/self-explanatory/ #photography

#morningcoffeelisten Idles’s 2021 album Crawler. The band step outside their sonic comfort zone with dynamics, melody & gorgeous layers whose daring match the lyrics' fearless exploration of addiction & recovery. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen213 #nowplaying

Early morning sun pokes through the treeline, casting long shadows along the east side of the Parade Ground in Van Cortlandt Park

Everything You Can See Is In Motion johnpauldavis.org/photography/everything-y... #photography

The template for the alt text in the album covers I post for these mico-reviews is "Album cover art for [artist]'s [album name]" which means this morning I produced the phrase "Beyoncé's Beyoncé," which *also* sums up the album's central theme.

Album cover art for Beyoncé's Beyoncé

#morningcoffeelisten Beyoncé’s 2013 album Beyoncé. The icon pushes her sound in a bold new direction with texture, atmosphere & unconventional song structures supporting the album's themes of romantic & sexual actualization & exploration Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen212 #nowplaying

Mallards standing on a fallen branch in Van Cortlandt Lake

Both Worlds Are Real johnpauldavis.org/photography/both-worlds-... #photography

The Uncomputable: Poems by John Paul Davis

New episode of my podcast #theuncomputable : The Soft World https://johnpauldavis.org/podcast/the-soft-world/ #podcast #poetry

Album cover art for Lyle Lovett's It's Not Big It's Large

#morningcoffeelisten Lyle Lovett’s 2007 album It’s Not Big It’s Large. Backed by his touring band, Lovett captures his genre-defying swinging, smiling, sassy & sublime live sound in these stories of sin, survival, & salvation. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen211 #nowplaying

The roots of a fallen tree in Van Cortlandt Park

Bad Hair Day https://johnpauldavis.org/photography/bad-hair-day/ #photography

Album cover art for Alicia Keys's As I Am

#morningcoffeelisten Alicia Keys’s 2007 album As I Am. The singer-songwriter experiments with new colors in her musical palette & soulful singing while staying groove-oriented, exploring themes of love, loss, & life transition. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen210 #nowplaying

A small leafless tree lit by early morning sunlight near a bridge over the Henry Hudson Parkway in Van Cortlandt Park

Birthplace of Fire johnpauldavis.org/photography/birthplace-o... #photography