Black Coffee Blues, de Henry Rollins

Nunca tinha ouvido falar de Henry Rollins até um amigo me emprestar este livro; trata-se de um artista punk americano multifacetado - cantor rock, poeta, performer, escritor. O livro tem vários textos interessantes, por vezes Rollins consegue ser forte e intenso num estilo de desespero e existencialismo americanos que evoca influências de Jim Morrison (frequentes) a Raymond Carver (nas melhores partes). Achei no entanto em geral o livro de um homem imaturo e auto-centrado, que poderia ser escrito por um adolescente em crise de crescimento em fase de desencanto com o mundo
à procura de si próprio - todo aquele gloom angustiado e desesperançado dá vontade de dizer: "Snap out of it!", "Grow up!". (Como tinha 30 anos quando escreveu Black Coffee Blues, talvez tenha crescido e não tenha cedido à tentação de se fixar numa pose que lhe deu notoriedade:)

Mas é certo que tem bons momentos, curtos textos que nos tocam e impressionam, e os textos finais, como Exhaustion Blues, Monster (uma vívida e realista evocação da depressão) e I Know You, são muito bons.

I know you
You were too short
You had bad skin
You couldn't talk to them very well
Words didn't seem to work
They lied when they came out of your mouth
You tried so hard to understand them
You wanted to be part of what was happening
You saw them having fun
Seemed like such a mystery
Almost magic
Made you think that there was something wrong with you
You would look in the mirror trying to find it
You thought that you were ugly
And that everybody was looking at you
So you learned to be invisible
To look down
To avoid conversation
[...]
You had to be strong tokeep yourself alive
You know yourself very well now
You don't trust people
You know them too well
You try to find a special person
Someone you can be with
Someone you can touch
Someone you can talk to
Someone you won't feel so strange around
You found that they don't really exist
You feel closer to people on movie screens
Yeah, I think I know you
You spend a lot of time daydreaming
People have made comment to that effect
Telling you that you're self involved and self centered
But they don't know, do they
About the long night shifts alone
About the years of keeping yourself company
All the nights you wrapped your arms around yourself
So you could imagine someone holding you
[...]
For you life is a long trip
Terrifying and wonderful
Birds sing to you at night
The rain and the sun
The changing seasons are true friends
Solitude is a hard won ally
Faithful and patient
Yes I think I know you