Honeywell closed their Minnesota plant quietly
and the addition of warning stickers on album covers
would save the children along with D.A.R.E., Nancy
and Tipper directing the conversation, for some reason.
I read, I traveled, I, Lina, thief’s daughter, a discarded toy by the campfire
at night, my planets – burned by sparks,
burned by coincidences, in my eyelashes – stalagmites of ashes.
Because Phil Collins is for fools and old ladies.
Because the ocean’s too wide a body of water
for a commando to cross alone. Because gentlemen
never kiss and tell, and soldiers never share
their kill count. Because you teach the meaning
of words like ‘amorous’ and ‘varnish’ and ‘leave.’
Women multiply miracles, raise dough for loaves, reel in sleek fishes, French-manicure-cling to beloveds’ wishes. Nevermind they’re too broke, too busy, too blue cuz compassionate women put others first and I love that too.
every second we spend together he slips further away,
replaced by some incarnation I’ll understand only
when it is time to say goodbye/hello. It’s cruel
this constant leave-taking, I think
Was this how they partied in the South—campy
gay guys and their campier girlfriends—I longed
to chew the fat with them for hours. Skinny dip
in their Georgia moonlight after 25¢ beers.
The mystery of Black Moon Lilith repeats and repeats
into itself: It is an
empty space, It is what happens
when we die.
Then Dad started to miss birthdays and funerals and anniversaries. When our cat, Sasha, and our turtle, Jamba Juice, died, Mom dug up the graves. My brother and I prayed for Sasha and Jamba Juice. Dad was still inside, playing video games.
My Aunt Sharon gave me a whole shelf-worth of conduct guides when I turned ten. She didn’t call them that, of course. And unlike Victorian conduct guides, none of them said my ovaries would shrivel if I read too much (although, my ovaries did eventually shrivel, or more accurately, they exploded, but that was years down the road yet. At 13 my ovaries were still intact, as far as I knew).
So that the jumbo popcorn in the movie
theater scene must be tempered with
a discussion about extra butter, a shaming
and a shushing, crushing the soft white
fluffiness of a kernel sprung brilliantly
into a flat bug on the floor. A joy-kill.
FILM / Clerks, Cruises, and Capitalism / Hannah Cohen
I’m not a die-hard Kevin Smith fan by any means, but when I had the opportunity to go on a cruise where not only Jay and Silent Bob themselves (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) would appear, but a whole cast of View Askewniverse actors, comedians, and musical acts, I caved to the peer pressure and purchased my cruise ticket a month before the inaugural cruise left the Miami port.
A small red circular shape on the lower left-hand corner of the canvas, a prize that looks like a rose. The painting instructs all of our ghosts, if you follow my madness, my paths, you too, can caress these petals, smell a sweetness, like a little girl’s smile, fall asleep under a dollhouse.
“I’d like to take a look at that book.” He wraps his hand around the nape of her neck, and they lock unblinking eyes like children in a staring contest. When she is the first to look away, Ted says, “Why don’t I give you a ride home.”
& it was the end of the world as we knew it & I felt
kind of shitty if I’m being honest here & I was pissed
my dad died of cancer the same week Kurt Cobain
killed our generation off with selfish shots of bourbon &
gunfire
Two sleepy people, twisted, on the rebound. Tonight, is there any chance? Disco inferno, boom boom, tempted. Rum and coke, tequila, blurred lines. Looking for the perfect beat, time, waiting for the miracle. The waiting.
When I would cry as an infant, my parents dangled me upside down until I stopped crying and fell asleep like a bat. Now, I have to spend nine hours a day asleep in a headstand. My pool’s inflatable. My neighbors are all old men. My role model growing up was Ivan from Brothers Karamazov.
To be sure, there’s a lot about the script for Delirious that I love. The soap opera characters and situations in particular are clever subversions of the genre, and anyone watching this movie on some level at least understands how soaps work. The movie takes your understanding and runs with it to some surprising and often surreal places. The movie operates on soap opera logic, but also works with dream logic, and it’s easy to see why Gable is more often than not way in over his head.
Because one morning the troubled woman seemed calmer, and I thought I might have a chance to get some information, build some rapport.
Because she asked me if I had any children and I responded an immediate “yes”.
Because then she suddenly shook her arms at me, and yelled “your children will die, die, die.”
FILM / The Abominable Dr. Phibes / Alfred Fournier
One night after watching Dr. Phibes, I woke from a horrid nightmare, grisly death scenes flashing through my mind. Timidly—I knew I was too old for this—I knocked on my parent’s bedroom door and begged to sleep with them.