A 1982 article from Ohio State’s student newspaper described The Slugs as managing to keep its audience “dancing wildly throughout the evening”.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“The music scene here, for a city of moderate size, has always been pretty open,” said Dwyer over coffee on a recent January afternoon.
“There were places like Sam’s and, later, the legendary Canal Street Tavern and the legendary Mick Montgomery.”
The sky seemed the limit until Dwyer “crashed and burned on alcoholism”. He left for rehab and avoided playing and writing music for many years.
“I carried a tremendous burden of shame,” he said of his drinking years and the two children he fathered at a young age — a daughter he raised and a son who he got to know later in life.
“Sometimes you tell a lie about yourself and construct a narrative. It tells some of the truth, but not the whole truth. And I did that about my son. It was kind of like — out of sight, out of mind.”
After several years of sobriety, Dwyer was ready to build a relationship with his son, and to revisit his creative passions. He started performing at Canal Street Tavern’s slam poetry night. The competitively performative spoken word style of poetry fused all his interests, and he challenged himself to write every day.
Dwyer has since been published and recognized nationally for his gritty writing and captivating stage presence that touches on recovery and human connection.
Now 75, he lives in Patterson Park in “a one bedroom apartment that’s actually just a space to hold books and CDs”, and can be seen performing at Dayton Poetry Slam night at Yellow Cab Tavern and at Front Street’s Vagabond Art Gallery. Dwyer has reformed a blues rock group with some former bandmates, including Tuss and bassist Dick Roll. They are The Figureheads of Dayton.
Early bird
In sobriety, Dwyer realized that he actually likes mornings. He gets up around 6:00.
“For people who are more in a bohemian frame of mind, like myself, there’s this natural aversion to discipline and structure. One of the things that you have to do if you’re going to stay sober is to develop routine.
“I do a 10 minute meditation. I use this app called 10% Happier. It’s mindfulness meditation. It’s helpful in being able to hear what my brain is saying to me, and when it’s saying things that are pointless or just noise.
“I’m type 2 diabetic, so I have to eat. They sent me to these diabetes classes, and I lost 30 pounds. The doctor was practically in tears, because somebody actually did what she asked them to do. So I have a little breakfast.”
Walk and write
“Years ago I remember reading that the romantic poets — Wordsworth, Coleridge — would take huge long walks. They would create and recite poems as they were walking. The walking helped them find the inspiration, ‘cause their minds would settle.
“I take my walks every morning. I walk for an hour or two, all over the city. I don’t have a necessary destination. I often get ideas when I’m walking. If I’m doing a poetry slam, I practice.
“Then I come home and write. I have a corner where I have a desk. For years I continued to use a typewriter. I think about those authors like James Joyce who wrote ‘Ulysses’ in long hand.”
(He uses a laptop now.)
Decay and resilience
“My father was born in 1912 and his family lived down by the river. They were rescued during the flood by people in canoes.
“I watched my father, who worked in advertising for Rike’s. He became the head of their advertising. Classic American story, a larger corporation takes over the business. Dad didn’t fit in. They demoted him and gave him more work. It was very hard, and he died very young.
“I watched that grind him down. It was the 60s, and I was influenced by the counterculture notions of community and trying to figure out how to live without consumption and accumulation.
“When I grew up, Dayton was sort of a smaller Detroit. It was a factory town, ethnic neighborhoods. Very working class, a union town. Dayton was devastated by the destruction of factory jobs in the 80s and 90s.
“That destruction and the impact it had on the city and people and neighborhoods I hung out in, still plays a large part of what I write about. The anger and grief.”
He points to the revitalization of Dayton’s historic neighborhoods as a hopeful sign.
“Along with the decay, there’s also resilience, which is something that I always have to keep in my mind.”
Write and read
“After lunch, I sit down and play word games. Wordle, Spelling Bee. Then I read.”
His favorite poets include Philip Levine, W.S. Merwin, Joy Harjo, and Ada Limón.
“I take a second walk, then I write again for another hour. Then it’s dinner. There’s nothing about retirement I don’t like,” he laughed.
Evenings are for friends or a meeting.
“As the Twelve Steps recommend, I try to give back. You give back by shepherding a person through the program. Share your ‘experience, strength, and hope’.”
He also spent 32 years as a professional counselor at rehabs in Dayton and Florida. Recently, he has started hosting events called “Poets Against Racism”. Funds raised at the door support progressive causes.
“I’m ridiculously lucky, incredibly fortunate that things have worked out the way they did. And of course, I’m white in America. A lot happened that could have gone a lot different.
“My friend Scott Woods is a brilliant poet from Columbus. He talks about privilege, and he says, white privilege is a machine that is constructed by white people for their benefit, and it benefits you whether you want it to or not. The only thing you can do is whatever you can to oppose it.”
As for the band, practice takes place in Tuss’s basement, which is where they started all those years ago. Just now it’s “a bigger house with a bigger basement”.
The Figureheads of Dayton have written several new songs, and played at Porch Fest and Trail Town Brewing in Yellow Springs.
“It’s so much fun to be able to do this again. We’ve shared a lot of our lives together.”
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
MORE DETAILS
To view a 2024 film by David Sherman of Jim Dwyer reciting his poetry, recorded in the studio of friend and fellow musician Michael Bashaw, visit YouTube @JimDwyerLoftPoetrySession
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