Autobiography

I was born inside a moving jet plane,
At 1 they took me away once again.
When I was 2 my brother joined my world.
At 3 the snows of Moscow whipped and furled.
4 years old, and music became my call.
At 5 we flew to Belgium, fled the squall.
I turned 6 and didn’t speak the language,
By 7 we rounded up our baggage.
At 8 I sang in Chinese children’s choirs,
At 9 I dreamt of psychedelic spires.
10 when a teacher groped me in Beijing,
11 when I said “Fuck everything.”
I turned 12 and chaos became my job.
By 13 I had joined the Brooklyn mob.
14 and I was beautiful and gay,
15, guitar, and all I did was play.
Then the music biz came pounding on doors,
By 17, I’m wasted on the floor.
18, red-haired, and throwing up on stage,
19, eating acid to turn the page.
At 20 I got off the bus for love.
At 21, put on my boxing gloves.
We were professionals at 22,
And if you missed out, where on earth were you?
When I was 23 the world loved me,
At 24 the cracks came out to see.
25 - what choice but to double down?
Now 26, the cult will raze this town.
The next year was when all the lights blinked out.
Now 28, and all is cast in doubt.
We almost did not survive 29,
And 30 was the year to realign.
At 31 I’m banking years of fun-
Still waiting, waiting, waiting for the sun-

Oliver Ignatius is a bipolar autodidact who grew up overseas as the son of traveling, career-driven journalists. He formally entered the music industry at age 15, although he admits that he found it pretty horrifying there. Still, he lingers - what else is there to do? - and is the co-founder and head producer at Holy Fang Studios, a network of exquisite and affordable recording studios. In 2020, Oliver and his partner Bernadette Higgins founded Chaos, the Magazine for Non-Believers together.