Picture this
There is a man who plays piano like it’s his job
Not like
It’s his job to make some money to feed his kids to maintain a socially acceptable home life slash cocaine habit
But like it’s his job
To remind everyone else that music is brutal and real love makes you sick
To keep people guessing when all they really really want is the whole world’s cheat sheet
To warm a room with his hands and to hand out chills to the few who deserve them.
This man plays piano like it’s his lover
Like he
Keeps his face so close to the elephant to be sure it won’t walk out on him
Like black and white bleed and he writes stories on a minor chord because the major ones
They don’t end happy like he grew up thinking they would.

You can bet
His piano fingers
Grip tight to the things he needs to stay awake
For Saturday night jazz and Sunday afternoon blues
And you can tell by the way his wrists bend,
Like he’s about to break into eighty eight pieces of black and white beautiful
That he needs it.
Like he’s got a girl back home with a middle C painted right in the center of her back and
You can bet
That when he loves her, he watches her real close to be sure she ain’t about to walk out on him
Oh, he is cool.
Like black turtleneck sweatshirt black baret because he’s not French but hell, he’ll sure smoke like it COOL.
He’s hoping hard for a cancer to eat him away because
He just has too much
And no one to play it to and
He only sees in colour on the days he speaks in greys.

He is the man who wakes up like an earthquake
And goes to sleep every once in a while.
He plays to the moon to serenade her down to his level
So he can whisper waltzes in her ears
And he pronounces “nightmare”
Like Toccata and Fugue
Mr. Piano man holds keys like they’re all he needs to breathe
Plays like it makes him cry and
God Damn, I wanna love something that much.

Now, Picture this:
There is me
And you.
Standing on bridges on fire and we don’t move
We need more heat
Because summertime will never be enough to just live for.
So for now
You be water. I’ll be air
And we’ll make those waves like we never knew the color blue and salt
Were something to be sad for
Or
You be that fire, just make me some of your air
And we will shine
We’ll have background symphonies
Because we shine
And damn, Baby, when we go toe to toe to toe with the angels
To sky and back
We’ll wear shades because that’s just how bright we SHINE
And Dear God, my dear God won’t know what hit him.

But beneath everything else
I’m taking chances you don’t want to know a thing about
Because I am brittle
And my fingers aren’t long like an elephant needs them to be.
And you have hands that make my face too small and my bed too big
Those piano hands, but you don’t play
And you are walking ivory irony and
You don’t believe in ghosts in quarter notes.
But you don’t run away from a bad sound and
I appreciate your appetite and those greys you play when it rains
Because I know
That music is brutal
And real love Hurts. Like. Hell.
So just give me little black answers
And I won’t mind their sharp edges cause I don’t need to know you mean it
I just need it.
Because beneath everything else
There is a man who plays the piano
Like the sky’s collapsing underneath him
Like its all he needs to inhale
And there is me
And you,
And when your shine runs out, mine will remain
And I wont forget those waltzes you danced with the moon.
So play me, Mr. Piano Man
Make me your beast.
Because, pale or not, your fingers are just strong enough
To measure the ivory sliding down MY back and
God Damn, I want something to love me that much

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Photo: Caits' ' The Wolf & Me' Cover

12 minutes of nourishment and discipline. You can’t hang or can you? To leap into Caits’ world, kindly click here. Stay tuned for the release of ‘The Wolf & Me’ on Saturday, May 1st, 2010. You don’t want to miss it!

MP3: “Blackest Blood” by Caits Meissner

Poet Caits Meissner releases her second EP, The Wolf & Me, May 1, 2010

Executive Produced by Just Plain Ant; featuring Maya Azucena, Jesse Boykins III, Dunce Apprentice and Broke MC; with production by Blu, Cazeaux OSLO, Just Plain Ant, Bisco Smith, Cave and The Aftermath.

Caits Meissner, well-known for her writing in respected poetry circles, and work as an educator/community organizer in youth circles, now steps out with a fantastic music project. Embedded in and influenced by the experimental hip hop community, Caits’ songs are word-driven vignettes delving deep into the heart of human experience: loneliness, inspiration, love and loss set over visually lush landscapes from current hip hop/electronic producers.

In regards to her past work, Erykah Badu calls her “fresh, honest and loving… a delicate heart like mine.” Doodlebug of Digable Planets describes her as “melodic words of wisdom… streetjazzoetry.” This round, surprising her fans by singing at times in her honest and edgy tone, Caits reveals the soulful songwriter beneath her poems. Something precious, her words beat like a full heart without false bravado, a seeking for something beyond, a prayer. The Wolf & Me is something that will linger in your soul.

The Wolf & Me is a multi-platform project, inspired by classic elements of the vinyl era, which includes a PDF download of the lyrics designed by Caits (who also holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Pratt Institute), art directed by designer Tishon Woolcock and shot by renown photographer Seth Kushner. London-based poet Warsan Shire contributes her words, reviving the lost of art of liner notes. According to Caits, The Wolf & Me aims to be “a multi-sensory journey, the kind of album you listen to under headphones, in the dark hours of the early morning.” She hopes the words bring you alive.

Caits has a substantial background in performance poetry but recently transitioned into working with music, most notably with German producers Comfort Fit and Portformat on the Tokyo Dawn record label. Originally from Albany, NY, she has been Brooklyn-based for the past eight years. Caits studied in Africa under Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, and building off such legacies as Gil Scott-Heron, works to create a musical experience rooted in storytelling.

Blurb from YAMS:

A day before my 24th birthday, I met with Caits Meissner to talk about inspirations, body image, vegan-sexuality and her initial thoughts about GrungeCake, the brand. To hear what Miss Meissner had to say, kindly press play. We’d love you to pieces.

Cait Meissner’s Bio:

Albany, New York raised, Brooklyn based Caits (Caitlin) Meissner is a poet, performer, educator and graphic designer with a BFA from Pratt Institute. Using her background in visual art, anti-racism work, disability advocacy and youth empowerment, her poems are visually rich testaments to the complexities of the human spirit. As a performer, she has featured for the progressive literary collective louderArts; Opened for the acclaimed Page Meets Stage series (with Thomas Lux); Shared sets with musicians such as Immortal Technique, Grandmaster Caz, Boot Camp Clik and many others; And has performed on countless stages- from street corners to Columbia University, The Nuyorican Poets Café to Rikers Island, including a tour throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in September of 2008.

MP3: “Audio Interview” with Caits Meissner