confessional – untethered

The Carrot and the Stick All of these fatigued and serious faces showed no evidence of despair…they made their way with the resigned expression of those who are condemned to hope forever.–Charles Baudelaire, To Each His Own Chimera Human beings are, necessarily, actors who…can be divided…into the sane who know they are acting and theContinue reading

Infernal Refugee Rag

I’ve got a little time left and nothing to lose. You have too much of both. Everything you do is contingent on your future; I have none. You must take care; I will take advantage. You pay your tithe in hypocrisy. You’re invested. I’m busted. But I won’t go away. I’m that crank with theContinue reading “Infernal Refugee Rag”

re-runs

An inborn dread, a sort of latent panic familiar to my line, preceded me. This inherent conviction that things must go wrong will not be loosed by any device of socialization, rebellion, or medication. Ironically, this same fixedness in the breast of its unfortunate host makes it perfectly portable, and impervious to geography–maybe this isContinue reading “re-runs”

Possession

I confess I’ve never been overtaken entirely by passion. I’ve never given myself over unconditionally and without reservation to anything; neither joy nor grief, hate nor love. Likewise for any given idea; but this is just another way of saying the same thing, for the passions are ideas too. The purest ideas, confounding transposition intoContinue reading “Possession”

cowardice

This is a little embarrassing. I thought I might write my way out of here. Setting messages in virtual bottles adrift in the electronic ether. Someone would find one, send out a search party. I would finally join society, whatever that meant. I had an idea of what it was, gleaned from a lifetime ofContinue reading “cowardice”

Commutation

People are afraid to merge…—Less Than Zero, Bret Easton Ellis There is not room enough. Not for everyone. The passage is insufficient for the mass of humanity bearing down upon it. Audacity and nerve will determine who passes ahead and who languishes behind; an instant hierarchy of the quick and the rude. Deference risks humiliation.Continue reading “Commutation”

Modes of Escape

I’m trying to find the way into your psyche. I’m looking for the passage. I’m shifting shapes and forms, trying one on after the other. I shrink myself down to a viral state, hijacking blood cells, remaking them in my own microscopic image, setting them adrift in your bloodstream to reproduce like a cancer. They’reContinue reading “Modes of Escape”