It wasn’t on my mind to kill him, just shut his mouth for a bit. A body needs peace and quiet sometimes. The plunger was right there handy and I picked it up and stuck it over his mouth. It stuck real good, too, I didn’t expect that. Carlton turned red as a beet and before he could pull it off, he keeled over dead. If people knew how dangerous these things were they wouldn’t sell them just anywhere.
Continue reading “Taking the Plunge by M.A.B. Lee”
It’s somehow apt that among Shakespeare’s most idiosyncratic spellings is his rendering the word ‘silence’ as ‘scilens’. No other writer of the period is known to have spelt the word in this way. It appears in the printed plays and it appears in the manuscript of Sir Thomas More, a collaborative work written in six different hands, one of which, referred to by paleographers as ‘Hand D, is thought to be Shakespeare’s. There’s good evidence to back it up: quite apart from the distinctive spellings, the handwriting seems consistent with that of his various signatures.
Continue reading “Sunday Whatever – An essay by Geraint Jonathan – Shakespeare the Tease (Or, The Rest is Scilens)”
PLEASE NOTE – WE HAVE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE WITH THE SITE FOR THE LAST THREE DAYS SO WE ARE NOT WORKING THE WAY THAT WE NORMALLY DO. HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE SORTED SOON – Hugh, Diane, Leila.
Week 598 has arrived!!
I’ll leave the lists to Leila but I realised this week that I have a few tunes that I go back to when I need to calm down.
Strangely, my favourite one is one of the last that I’ll ever hear. Well that’s not true as I’ll be being cremated. Maybe it will calm my being / spirit / soul or the fuck all that I’ll have become. Weirdly it’s a piece of classical music. I don’t know much about classical but there are a few pieces that I enjoy. I will be accompanied into the after-life or the fuck all there with Delibes ‘Flower Duet.’
Continue reading “Week 598 – Spread Your Wings And Ragdoll Too, Crap Cocaine And Mr Bowman Would Have Had Their Backs.”
Darlene’s husband, Warren Mason, sells his lumber company for twenty million dollars. They build a forty-five hundred square foot deck house on thirty wooded acres bounded by three hundred acres of conservation land in rural North Carolina and plan to grow old amidst the trees. Five years after they build the house, while cutting down a diseased tree, Warren collapses and dies. Darlene considers moving closer to town, but cannot bear the thought of leaving the birds, the deer, the unseen creatures that forage through the woodlands and visit her backyard. At eighty-three years old, Darlene resolves to live and die in her beloved home.
Continue reading “An Arrangement by Kenneth N. Margolin”
“A dream fulfilled is a dream lost.”
—Mickey Lafferty
The year Rosemarie Zuccarrelli moved away from Ninety Second Street to live with her maternal relatives in the Midwest, we were thirteen.
She quickly metastasized into likenesses and lies, was diluted by adaptations and revisions I fabricated to fill forward the missing frames. I did what most teenaged boys did: I played sports, pushed my luck with inaccessible girls, snuck beers, and cheated on tests. I wrote poems. Spare poems I did not share, poems touching upon alienation and nothingness, the depths of the surrounding black and unyielding ocean, and the silence of God in the world.
I idolized her.
Continue reading “Twolips by Gerry Coleman”
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The Lernaean Hydra of Greek mythology has no set number of heads. Whatever the word in ancient Greek meaning “a buttload” applies to the noggin total of the belligerent Sea Monster, whose dispatch was the Second Labor of Hercules. But the previously Romanized version of the Hydra that recently arrived in Saragun Springs has just four heads–Vicki Beckious, Nikki Nolteious, The Situationious and Zippy-the-Pinheadious–but considering that they tend to talk at the same time, four is enough.
Continue reading “The Oz Solution by Leila Allison”
She had done the same thing every evening for three years.
She would pour tea into a cup with a chipped rim, sit by the window, pick up her phone, and dial a number.
The same voice, every time.
“The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable.”
Continue reading “The Last Number by Arpi Vanyan”
After the break-up of Dystopian Dentist, I immediately decided to form a new band. Screw those other guys, holding me back, crushing my artistic vision.
I was looking to move to a more blues sound, which made me immediately think of bringing in Croydon Dan. He was the only string slinger I coveted. Cat played like he’d been born in the Deep South, not South London. We’d lost touch over the years, so imagine my major dismay when I found out that Dan was pushing up the daisies. I never did discover how, but the dude did have issues. Still losing him was a massive bummer. He’d have been perfect; music was in his bones. Weird to think that would soon be the only thing left of him.
Continue reading “Resurrection Blues by Joel Bryant”
Whenever I go into the stacks I find myself seeing an item that I have not read before. This is true of much of the site’s early work, prior to around 2018, when I became a true daily reader.
Continue reading “Literally Rerun: Aunt Miranda by Diane M Dickson”
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This wrap has been a frustration. I have had too many ideas than a lack; when that happens everything collides and I wind up with an accident site instead of an intelligent article.
There’s an intersection in the community of Sunnyslope, Washington that is called Five Corners. It currently involves two large streets intersecting at a four way stop. But many years ago there was a third street (which was like a line joining a cross, stopping between two of the streets and did not go farther) that met at the intersection, nothing greater than a private drive granted streetdom and its own stop sign. This created the Five Corners. It is still called Five Corners to this day even though the smaller street was closed in 1980-something and there now is a giant concrete block at what used to be its meeting point at the intersection.
I’m unaware of any serious accidents at the intersection but it sure caused enough fender benders to vex the insurance companies. Imagine five drivers sitting at five stop signs, each one trying to figure out the meaning of life. I got in that mess once, and decided to drop gear, burn rubber and take all the fingers aimed in my direction with the best grace expendable. Life is too short when you are twenty-four.
Anyway a similar event happened in my mind this week. A pile up of five ideas that I had no real feelings for happened in my mental Five Corners. One involved religion (observations such as Sarah, Abraham’s Wife, was 90 but a hot 90); another featured personal music history observation involving how all popular bands sound like the one original group that existed for about three years; Catfoonery; an incomplete additional philosophy on Wildlife and something else that I do not quite remember and do not care enough to look for. It was a tiresome mess.
It may surprise some of you to learn this: Drugs and alcohol do not fix everything. You see, after you take enough of both you tend to find yourself isolated from the human race by mutual consent, which, believe it or not, is not a bad thing at all. Sadly, however, even after the most enthusiastic session of self abuse is over, the little Five Corners pile ups we create will still be there, and in the opium infused-bourbon afterdream, the situation gets no prettier.
Fortunately, however, for those of us who need to salvage enough of an idea to write a post, a lifetime of cobbling together something from nothing as a means of surviving until the next self created disaster arises, gives the strange hope of the forlorn and overdrawn. And as I looked into the dismal drear of it all, a few words popped into my head, left there by the hookah sucking angel employed by the small god of the pointless crisis. The angel said “Random Vexation, Volume 2” and went back to wherever such a personage dwells.
Well, by jingle, buy low, sell jangle fly high–there you have it. Consider all of the above Volume Two of my recently begun Random Vexations file.
And let us now proceed onto something more uplifting in purpose.
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The Week That Was
Dale Williams Barrigar comes by on every second Sunday of the month with yet another essay. These works are always happy surprises except for the fact that their is nothing unexpected about their high quality. Skid Row Wine a study of Jack Kerouac is Dale’s latest on the site, and once again he displayed his rare talent for making scholarship come off both personal and sincere. The focus here was the brilliant yet troubled (a fit all description for I’d say two thirds of all great artists). And although it is impossible, Dale has a capacity to transform his education into words that give the reader the impression that he was in the same room with the people he often writes about. Truly a stunning talent, and it is a pity that he is not yet better known.
Monday was a joyful occasion because it marked the debut site story by Cris Aboobaker, The Second Husband. Cris is a good writer who had some rejections, but it was never a matter of quality. And he has always been professional and continuously seeks to improve his work. Since this one came out, Cris has had a second acceptance, which will appear in a month or so. His work is well planned but not to the degree that is stiff or over-explained. It always feels great to see this sort of person do well.
Leanne Simmons (another fine person and a professional in style and attitude) returned and gave us Baby’s Breath on Tuesday. The closing lines of this are incredible and leave a wonderful impression. This vignette is a masterful work of timing and style. So often you can see where the writer is struggling to get everyone in, but not here, it passes as effortlessly as a summer breeze.
Joe Mallon dished out the noir and then some on Wednesday with No Moon in January. This is an especially easy type of story to fuck up (forgive the profanity here, but when in noir…), the line between crisp and cool and laughable is not clearly defined. And there are even times when a bit of over the top works perfectly. And although this is a long piece, for us, Joe was able to pull it off with style and restraint. The amazing part was the tension never waned, not once. It always felt on the edge of danger.
The Claw by Mark Czanic made Thursday a better place. Sometimes when people look back, we do so with a lot of automatic mental editing. It’s the writer who can look back and recreate without flinching or selling out who has done (in this case) his job. I feel that this one requires you to think as you get along with it. And I also believe that is a good thing. A temendously alive piece that brings back the soul of the past.
Another Week that Was came to a head yesterday with Relentless Pickle by our dear site friend David Henson. In all ways, and a manner that cannot be artificial, David is the salt of the earth, a charming and reasonable and well mannered soul. And I find it especially encouraging that such a man can produce tremendous works of imagination as we have here. Hooray for David–and since he makes an effort to comment on the works of others, I hope that everyone who reads his work might leave him a comment.
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Word of the bi-week: Taradiddle (n) a petty lie
Bonus Word: Hobbledehoy (n) fancy word for a young dork
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Word I vow not to misspell any more: No one For years I thought it was one thing. “Noone” still catches me unawares. (I also have similar tussles with awhile and a while).
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The Big List
I have Hugh to thank for the title of this bi-week’s list: Who Would You Automatically Punch if Introduced to in a Pub/Tavern?
Ah, life there are so many punch-worthy faces yet so few fists. The list contains job titles and specific persons. The abundance has resulted in an A to Z, with A and W suggested by Hugh himself
A: Advertising Fuckwits (Hugh has this nailed tighter to the cross than was the Man from Galilee. I refused to watch the show Mad Men because I consider advertising only a link better on the food chain than rapist)
B: Blithering Blabblers (These are the loudmouths who called themselves “influencers.” For some reason these fools often get themselves shot to death by cartel hitters in Mexico. I’m never for that sort of thing, but it doesn’t surprise me much, either)
C: Charlie Sheen (I cannot support the idea of getting rich by being an asshole, then exploiting HIV as though it were a resource or an excuse. Plainly, dude is a drunk loud mouth and if you get a chance be sure to wear gloves)
D: Demonae Suburbiae (These are the well fed little twinks and twinkettes who go around clad in black all the while pretending just how miserable they are. It’s cool when kids need to experiment as a part of growing up, but it is a long way from cool when they verbally abuse older people and clerks because they can get away with it. I’ll give them all fake ID’s so they can catch their well earned punches)
E: Ever-tuned Goons (These are the bastards who walk around blasting their music on their phones, often amplified by cheap bluetooth speakers on lanyards. The music is usually abusive and is especially keen on racial epithets and misogyny. Almost always scrawny skinheads who are Black wannabees and wear their pants down to their knees. Really can’t expect much from someone who fails to understand just how stupid he looks)
F: Fuckery-fuck-fucked-fuckers (More fake IDs for these underaged fecal skulls who go around making sure that everyone hears their profanity laced observations. Hell annoying from a twelve-year-old, utterly pathetic from a high schooler)
G: Gay Super Heroes: (For some reason there are people who think that behaving like a horny talking Richard Simmons is not only amusing but it is designed to make a social statement. These fools queen it up to the extreme around “straight looking people.” My friend Kevin is an openly gay man who is confident in himself to the degree that he does not feel any need to don a “uniform.” He is a very conservative looking person, by choice not out of fear nor any need to “blend.” Seattle, like most big cities, has a large annual Gay Pride event. A bunch of us went downtown to watch the parade and this one Hero emerged from the crowd and thought he’d shock his interpretation of Kevin by saying a bunch of stupid shit that will not be repeated here. Kevin smiled and grabbed the dude by both butt cheeks, brought him close and laid one on the guy, who turned beet red. Books and covers people, books and covers)
H: Holocaust Deniers
I: Iconics (Everything that is popular is iconic for these dopes. Jessica Simpson referred to “Daisy Duke shorts” as iconic.)
J: (A tie) Jerry Springer Show Guests and Jersey Shore People
K: Kilt Wearing Americans Who are Only Half Scottish (I know two of these guys–and trust me, neither have the legs for it)
L: Larry Flynt (Big difference between Playboy and a dirty porn rag, Larry was it)
M: MAGA LOVERS AND HATERS (I’d love to send these guys to the moon)
N: Neo, Old Fashioned, and In Between Nazis
O: Oprah (I used to like her, but a person can run her mouth too long. Forty years is too damn long)
P: Prince and Princess Anyone
Q: Queen and Qing Anyone
R: Rae H. (An enemy from seventh grade until I graduated high school. Let’s just say she is not “for” people like me and leave it at that. I still hate her. In the song “Santeria” the singer “has something for Poncho’s punk ass”–just saying that goes too for little shitty Miss Rae)
S: Sally Jesse Rapheal (For non-Americans she was the female Jerry Springer)
T: Twenty-Seven of the Forty-six Presidents of the United States (sometimes all except Lincoln, Teddy, JFK and Madison)
U: Uri Geller (tiresome con artist–go bend shit in hell, Uri)
V: Vladimir Putin (Gotta be one obvious one on every list, he’s the one for this)
W: Wanks Who Change Systems Without Being Asked (Hugh’s second contribution to the list goes a long way to explain punched computer screens. The platform (I so hate the modern meaning of that once harmless word) we run the insides of the site on is famous for making unwanted improvements. Then they do not tell you about them and you find yourself having to figure out how now to do something that used to be clear. Bastards)
X: Xavier Cugat (Almost forgotten old time band leader responsible for inflicting Charo on the American public via game shows and guest roles on stuff like the goddam Love Boat–he married her when he was sixty-six and she was allegedly “fifteen.” I was one more fucking “cuchi-cuchi” away from committing an act of extreme violence on many occasions)
Y: Yuppies (These people change their labels constantly, but their gentrified smell is everlasting. Each and every one of them, male, female, whatever, has a voice that reminds me of Robin Leach)
Z: Zoot Suit Close Talkers (a rare species that popped up in the 1980s. Superskinny guys in baggy shiny suits and they always drew up real close in bars asking you all kinds of questions ranging from horoscope signs to your favorite sexual positions. This rare band of fool never assaulted me (oh so fucking as if), but they were all over the more naive types. Highly inspired by Prince and Morris Day of the Time, but minus the looks and talent. I’ve heard that there still are a few hanging around, but in my estimation that is as unlikely as Jimmy Savile coming back from the dead and getting elected PM)
Leila
Robert Plant turns 78 next week…don’t worry, it’s not Stairway
literally stories 