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My Brother Is Asking For Stamps

from Forgotten Portraits by NadNavillus

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about

“My Brother’s Asking for Stamps” from An Incomplete List of Names by Michael Torres
Copyright © 2020 by Michael Torres
Used with special arrangement with Beacon Press, Boston, Massachusetts

This song was composed around the words of Michael Torres, as sourced from Poetry Magazine February 2021 issue, "The Practice of Freedom" Volume 217, Number 5.

Magazine cover art by Damon Locks; guest edited by Joshua Bennett, Tara Betts, and Sarah Ross.

lyrics

And photos. Photos of me and my
new wife. He’s asking for pictures
of the wedding. He’s very sorry
he couldn’t make it. He can’t wait
to meet her. My brother is asking
if I can call a warehouse office
in Albuquerque and tell them Ray
(his cellie) is fine, and that Ray
would like his old job back, one day,
if possible. My brother is asking
for paper, asking for postage stamps,
and for a few dollars on his JPay. It’s June,
it’s July. He says it’s not so bad in here,
says he’s not getting institutionalized,
won’t get institutionalized, not like
the others. He has TV. He reads. A lot.
My brother is asking for book 5, 6, or 12
of the Women’s Murder Club Series.
It’s May. It’s March. It’s May. It’s October.
Happy Halloween, Brother. He’s asking,
again, for postage stamps, telling me
he might be programmed, sure, but
who isn’t? We all need routine, he says
that one time, after chow, they let
the guys stay out a little longer
and the guys looked at each other like
why aren’t we being locked down yet?
My brother says he’s a confused mouse
sometimes. Sometimes he won’t go out
for rec, can’t stand the fact that it’s going
to end. It’s June. It’s July. Happy Birthday,
Brother. My brother is asking for stamps,
he’s ending every letter with a cartoon
of himself, all homeboyed out,
even though he wasn’t like that before.
It’s like he’s grown an extra life in there
and the Him I grew up knowing is closed
until not-this August. I know I shouldn’t
imagine him this way. But I will always be
younger and looking up. That’s my brother,
he’s asking for stamps.
Outside, the leaves
have turned without notice. It is the week
when every walnut seems to be falling
from the sky, and every time I drive home
I run as many over as possible. It’s June.
Happy Birthday. It’s November. My brother
says he’ll write when he can, he knows
I’m busy. Everyone’s busy. It’s August.
It’s August, and he’s looking for stamps.

credits

from Forgotten Portraits, released June 9, 2023
Words by Michael Torres
Dan Sullivan: guitar, vocals; Keith Hanlon: drums, atmospheric guitar
Mixed by Brok Mende with Keith Hanlon and Dan Sullivan
Mastered by Brok Mende

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NadNavillus Chicago, Illinois

Equal parts guitar and vocal driven, sonically and structurally diverse, Nad Navillus is the music of Dan Sullivan.

Two releases on Jagjaguwar "Show Your Face" (JAG037) and "Iron Night" (051) proceed the latest album "Forgotten Portraits". ... more

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