Punks and Poems

Phil Merwin. Photo courtesy Phil Merwin.

On Dec. 20, Eugene punk musician Phil Merwin reads from his debut book of poetry, For Hungry Ghosts, out now on esteemed Portland record label Cavity Search Records. Merwin’s band, dirtclodfight, started in the late 1980’s in Long Beach, California, releasing several projects on California punk label, Flipside Records. Since then, Merwin relocated to Eugene and revived the band with a new lineup in 2004. Music aside, Merwin loved poetry from the start. “I started out writing poetry,” Merwin says, “I used to go to open mic poetry readings in Long Beach. I started the band dirtclodfight as a way to do poetry and music,” inspired by Jim Morrison’s way of balancing words in music in The Doors, and literary poets like Charles Bukowski and Arthur Rimbaud. Now, he still writes a poem nearly every day, and several of the pieces in For Hungry Ghosts pay tribute to Merwin’s late friend and drummer, Eric Johnson, with photographs interspersed throughout. Johnson, who played in dirtclodfight while the band was briefly based in Portland, died in 2021, and the poems in the book “are mostly dealing with grief, loss and enlightenment,” Merwin says. Expect new dirtclodfight music and another book of Merwin’s poetry in the new year, he adds, still in the punk rock spirit. “I’m not a writer or poet. I’m not a guitar player, for that matter,” Merwin insists. “I’m just doing what I love. Punk allowed that.”

Phil Merwin reads from For Hungry Ghosts along with Eugene musician and writer, Skutch, reading from his own works, 4 pm Saturday, Dec. 20, at The Hybrid Gallery, 941 West 3rd Avenue. The event is free. For Hungry Ghosts is available now at CavitySearchRecords.com, and at the event.

A Note From the Publisher

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