My memories of the summer of 1996 – the last summer of college before my 'real' life began – are saturated with music from David Berman's band, The Silver Jews. The music is moody and simple with a guitar, some drums, a piano, but those lyrics! 16 years later, they still stick to my ribs: "All houses dream in blueprints. Our houses dream so hard. Outside you can see my shoeprints; I've been dreaming in your yard."

This is a selection from the only poetry collection he put out in 1999 called "Actual Air".