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December 17, 2019
Chrissy Kolaya's Playlist for Her Poetry Collection "Other Possible Lives"
In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book.
Previous contributors include Jesmyn Ward, Lauren Groff, Bret Easton Ellis, Celeste Ng, T.C. Boyle, Dana Spiotta, Amy Bloom, Aimee Bender, Heidi Julavits, Hari Kunzru, and many others.
Chrissy Kolaya’s poetry collection Other Possible Lives is a brilliant and haunting exploration of the choices people make and their consequences.
Vandana Khanna wrote of the book:
"Grappling with the consequences of real and imagined choices, Chrissy Kolaya’s Other Possible Lives gives us a world of shifting landscapes, of missing girls and temporary homes. With devastating detail, the poems trace the tumultuous geographies of everyday life and love in flux. These poems offer up glimpses of alternate endings, of the freezing and thawing of love, leaving us to wander a world full of possibilities, where “everything was about to happen."
In her own words, here is Chrissy Kolaya's Book Notes music playlist for her poetry collection Other Possible Lives:
Many of the poems in this book are from a time that now feels very far away, almost like another life, and that’s part of where the book’s title comes from—these are glimpses of other possible lives I might have led if not for a turn here and there.
Rather than having a thematic connection with the poems, the music here conjures that time and mood for me. For many of us, a song can do that, in much the same way as a smell can—instantly transporting you back in your memory to another time and place.
In putting together this playlist, I dug out old mix tapes friends had made for me, a kind of soundtrack for that life, and which now (in a very different life) I can only listen to in our old rust-bucket minivan, which has the only functioning tape player in our household!
I. The House Sitters
Sometimes you write a poem about housesitting in your twenties, about what it’s like to try someone else’s life on for a bit, to get a practice run at being a “real” adult. And then you blink, and 20 years have gone by—in which you’ve worked on that poem and sent it out on submission, and finally it comes out in a journal and then in your book, by which time, you look up and realize that you are no longer the twenty-something house sitters. You are the middle-aged couple with two kids and an aging dog, in search of your own house sitter.
“That afternoon, she floated in circles in the pool, music drifting out over the deck.”
Our memories are flawed, imperfect, but when I think of that moment, it’s these songs playing in the background:
Wilco—"She’s a Jar” and “Sunken Treasure”
II. Geographica
A number of poems in this section are about the many different places I lived while writing this book—Chicago, Alabama, rural western Minnesota—so those places, in all of their notable differences, show up here quite a bit.
Driving at Night
“so dark/it feels as though/ we might tumble off the earth”
The Vulgar Boatmen—“Drive Somewhere”
“Drive Somewhere” is, to my mind, one of the great driving songs out there, and the song that made me fall in love with this band, a great hard-working, always-touring band my friends and I were obsessed with.
Isle Au Haut
“Seals sunning themselves on a rock/watch as the boat motors past.”
Liz Phair—"Explain it to Me”
Dear Boat
“Don’t think I’m speaking/in some kind of code/you’re meant to figure out.”
_____—“_____”
Not all of the poems from the book have songs paired with them. There were a few, like this one, that confounded me. I’d love to hear from readers what music feels, to them, like it fits the mood of these pieces. You can reach out to me at chrissykolaya.com.
How to Leave Behind
“Here’s some woman from your wedding—/a shirt, a sleeve,/a name./The dress falls away,/the pose in the photo.”
Alvvays—“Marry Me, Archie”
Fall On Its Way In
“The trees shift with the wind—/branches pulling/matted together, struggling/against this cooperative/of treeness.”
Rufus Wainwright—“The Tower of Learning”
Blizzard, College Town
“For now,/the flakes come down/like rain in slow motion.”
_____—“_____”
Flight
“From above,/the earth neatly divided:/rice field,/soy field,/village,/ocean.”
Liz Phair—“Stratford on Guy”
Camellias
“In the morning/we find the camellias/tucked in/against the frost,/…baby blankets/wrapped gently/around them.”
_____—“_____”
Church Skirt
“By Wednesday night it will be fresh,/full of good country air,/ready to meet/the new/lady pastor.”
_____—“_____”
Moving Day
“An appraiser on the way/will likely say it’s the land/that’s really worth something—"
The Velvet Underground—“Oh Sweet Nothing”
Night in a Prairie Town
“From the center/it’s a dense, small town,/but out at the edges/it frays off into prairie,/the moon slung low/over corn/and soy fields.”
The Vulgar Boatmen—“The Street Where You Live”
Thaw
“How good the gentle pizzicato/of water down the drain pipes,/storm windows/rattling in the early spring wind.”
_____—“_____”
III. Found
Feme Sole
“Her shoes she kept/arranged under the bed,/a neat line of steps/she might take, down the stairs/and into the night”
Cycling
“Jonna’s mother says this has happened before—/a girl gone missing in July/when the corn’s up”
Throwing Muses—“Rosetta Stone” and “Hook in Her Head”
I’ve loved Throwing Muses for years for their gritty, creepy lyrics. These poems, along with “Safe Conduct” later in the book, are all about what it’s like to move through this world as a woman and how dangerous that can sometimes feel.
Annus Mirabilis
“See, I have written you/on the walls of the city”
Alex Burtzos, performed by the UCF Chamber Choir—“Mirabilis”
This poem was inspired by a photograph of graffiti someone had spray painted on a wall near the ruins of the World Trade Center just after September 11, 2001. In 2018, University of Central Florida (UCF) music professor Alex Burtzos composed a choral piece inspired by the poem that was performed by the university’s chamber choir. You can read more about how a photograph of a single piece of graffiti began this whole process of inspiration across media here: http://chrissykolaya.com/photography-inspiring-poetry-inspiring-composition-inspiring-performance/
IV. New Evidence
The Most Beautiful Word in the World
“Dream dresses?/My Korean student struggles,/searching for the word—/nightgown.
_____—“_____”
Topics for Discussion at Today’s Meeting: A Found Poem
“4. People who are chickenshit/5. Other characteristics of Ken”
The Replacements—“Love Lines”
In the spirit of the found poem, a found song, of sorts.
Safe Conduct
“The ladies in the dress shop/you stop into/can’t help but stare, imagining/you wielding the bat, fleeing/with armloads of sundresses.”
The Breeders—“When I was a Painter”
Sonic Youth—“Kool Thing”
This one gets two songs. Just because.
Author Photos
“After only three beers/this guy/likes to tell you/he’s the twelfth-best/postcolonial scholar in the country.”
Tsunami—“David Foster Wallace”
Author photos are kind of ridiculous, right? Everyone ends up looking like an asshole, not at all like themselves. In my office, I have a well-loved anthology full of author photos from an era of particularly obnoxious examples. You know the ones—gazing off into the great beyond, hand on chin, contemplative, vacant dreaminess. So I wrote this poem.
Last of the Moguls
“The two crises have parallels:/a beer-bellied historian/and a lover of Cicero.”
Belle and Sebastian—“Expectations”
A weird little collage poem, based on text from a single issue of the Economist, part of a series I’m working on.
Salve Regina
“Mother of mercy,/of ten-cent candy,/itch cream,/and bee-sting/ointment,/she is the queen/of Gordono’s/Grocery and Pharmacy”
Beck—"Girl”
Years ago, I had a job working for a publisher of books about Catholic spirituality, and as I worked on those books, I found the language, imagery, and cadence of Catholicism seeping into my work. There’s a hymn dedicated to the virgin Mary, called the “Salve Regina,” that I’m riffing on in this poem.
Sleight of Hand
“he—behind you/—rests his hand/on the small of your back”
Jenny Toomey (singing the songs of Franklin Bruno)—“Cheat”
If you don’t know the work of Franklin Bruno, man are you in for a treat! And I just discovered that he has a book of poems, which I can’t wait to check out: http://franklinbruno.com
V. Alternate Endings
Bad Party
“Feigned hatred/as equal a passion/as real love,/as fingers left lingering,/eyes moving slowly over skin/smooth as fine paper.”
The Vulgar Boatmen—"You Don’t Love Me Yet”
Blue City
“I walked the revetment stones along the lake,/heard secrets/and kept them.”
Bettie Serveert—“Leg”
The Worst Month of the Year
“One man’s sending me music/that’ll woo me better/than he ever did./And I’m falling for it./Sitting up nights/following the waft of these songs/like a hungry cartoon animal.”
The Shins—"Young Pilgrims”
Again
“Maybe next year/we will have a small house/and a dog we are trying to train/not to leave us”
Liquorice (covering another Franklin Bruno song)—"Keeping the Weekend Free”
Chinatown
“The four of us/still damp from the mad dash/from Comiskey/to the car…/Your friend thinks it’s let up enough/to run for the Moon Palace”
The Pixies—“Where Is My Mind”
Factors that Control Weathering
“In the yard, you rush at me,/the grass wet from the snow/that melted the day before./When I fake left, ball/tucked under my arm,/you see it coming”
Beck—"Jack-Ass”
Columbus Evades America
“Don’t plan what you will do/when he presses into you at the top of the stairs/hours into the party”
Jenny Toomey— “Liar’s Dice (Flight of the Chickens)”
Oh, did I love me some Jenny Toomey on this list!
The Right Track
“You’ve no idea what it was like here this summer./It was about to happen./Everything/was about to happen.”
The Replacements—“Unsatisfied”
Beck—"Lost Cause”
For the palpable longing in both of these songs…
Launch Party Playlist
The Orlando launch party for this book was hosted by the fabulous Park Avenue CDs, who kindly let me take over the music for the night. But as I put together the book-themed playlist, I realized it was a lot of sad songs. I wanted the launch party to feel fun and celebratory, so I put together another part of the playlist to celebrate launching this book into the world: songs it made me happy to hear while everyone hung out talking about poems and music and drinking beer donated by Orlando’s Orange Blossom Brewing Company. It was the funnest!
Thanks so much to Largehearted Boy for letting me share this book and these songs with you all!
AC/DC—Back in Black
Rufus Wainright—California
Lizzo—Good as Hell
OK GO—Here It Goes Again
The English Beat—Save it for Later
Pavement—Harness Your Hopes
Beck—Dreams
Mark Ronson [featuring Bruno Mars]—Uptown Funk
Scissor Sisters—Take Your Mama
Bettie Serveert—Rudder
Lizzo—Juice
The Breeders—When I Was a Painter
Neutral Milk Hotel—Holland, 1945
Gogol Bordello—My Companjera
Wilco—Heavy Metal Drummer
Big Data [featuring Joywave]—Dangerous
The Velvet Underground—Rock and Roll
Beck—Colors
OK GO—Get Over It
The Strokes—Someday
Throwing Muses—the Visit
The Pretenders—Precious
Weezer—My Name Is Jonas
Thelma Houston—Don’t Leave Me This Way
Guns N’ Roses—Paradise City
OutKast—Hey Ya!
Beck—Sexx Laws
Britney Spears—Toxic
Gorillaz—Feel Good Inc.
Camera Obscura—Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken
Chrissy Kolaya and Other Possible Lives links:
the author's website
excerpts from the book
excerpt from the book
Necromancy Never Pays review
Nimrod Journal review
Savvy Verse and Wit review
Largehearted Boy playlist by the author for Charmed Particles
Working Title interview with the author
also at Largehearted Boy:
Support the Largehearted Boy website
Book Notes (2015 - ) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2012 - 2014) (authors create music playlists for their book)
Book Notes (2005 - 2011) (authors create music playlists for their book)
my 11 favorite Book Notes playlist essays
Antiheroines (interviews with up and coming female comics artists)
Atomic Books Comics Preview (weekly comics highlights)
guest book reviews
Librairie Drawn & Quarterly Books of the Week (recommended new books, magazines, and comics)
musician/author interviews
Note Books (musicians discuss literature)
Short Cuts (writers pair a song with their short story or essay)
Shorties (daily music, literature, and pop culture links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtracks)
weekly music release lists
