finished
nostrils
garden
found
fig
rib
alone
He flattened himself before the explosion. She flattened herself. Bleeding ears. Their ears were bleeding. The blood ran down their necks and onto their shoulders. The blood ran down their backs. Sweat going down your back. A drop of sweat dripping down your back. Cold and clammy hands belonged to the nurse. He was happy to be in a field that needed him. He could find a job in any city. He made a greenhouse out of recycled windows. He had melons and squash. He saws bees in squash blossoms. For lunch, he put a wad of white cheese in a squash blossom and fried it. When he learned of his father's death, he changed his pants twice. When he learned of his fathers deaths, he called the mortician and reserved five coffins. He had five fathers. A father for every decade of his life. He lived near a river. He lived near a forest. He lived near a graveyard. He lived near one of the saddest zoos on the country--one that had lost its accreditation. Most of its animals had been seized from drug dealers. It had become a fad amongst drug dealers to keep animals: komodo dragons, tigers, lions, pythons, civet cats.
She was in a basin with a sick pony. She had a pipe, which she filled with peanut butter and lit. He tripped when he went for a run and fell on his front four teeth. He dove underwater, and a surfboard hit his face, breaking his front four teeth. He tripped going down the stairs and broke his front four teeth. This was not his dream. During the summer, he slept outside on the trampoline. He would break open a 10$ roll of quarters on his trampoline. He would jump until those quarters flew up to him. It was ten degrees below zero, but he still sat on his porch. He wore his warmest clothes and had a blanket over his legs. He had a canister of coffee. He put out fake birds. He made fake black birds and set them outside. Look at that black bird. A mendicant on the mend. Small waves in his fingers told him to stop driving, to pull the car over and allow his head to subside into whatever firesale they had going on the corner. The corner was haunted.
He was a poor architect and a poor builder. He had designed and built a building for his family's animals. They kept two pigs and about twenty goats, so he built a building for all of them out of salvaged bricks, cinderblock, whatever sheets of metal he could find. And then there came a windy week, and then this building fell on all the animals. He finished his ponderous work. His nostrils were ripped open by an enemy. His garden was not productive. He found a clog and failed to unclog it. For the first time in his life, he ate a fig. It did not taste like a dried fig. Its inside looked like the pink inside of the id. He researched if, in fact, one could have one's rib removed. He wanted to get out as much of himself as he could because he was addicted to holding things that had once been inside himself. A piece of his hip had been removed--a ball of bone--and he loved to hold this piece. One of his ribs had been removed, and he loved to hold it. It was an epic with a chimp as its protagonist.
Monday, July 25, 2011
THE FIRST TIME HE SAW MR. KILGALLON HE FELL MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIM
1.
It was the work of the rushing gust--but then without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the Lady Madeline of Usher.
2.
There was blood upon her white robes and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame.
3.
As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell, the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed threw slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and ebony jaws.
4.
For a moment she remained trembling and reeling and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated, then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse
1.
The wind died as quickly as it had come, and the clearing was quiet again. The heron, motionless and waiting, stood in the shallows. Turning its head from side to side, a little water snake swam up the pool.
2.
Behind us was the town of Castle Rock, surrounding its green and shady common, spread out on the long hill that was known as Castle View. You could see the stacks of the wooled mew spewing smoke into a sky the color of gunmetal and spewing waste into the water further down Castle River. The Jolly Furniture Barn was on our left, and straight ahead of it, bright and heliographing in the sun, were the railroad tracks.
3.
Agatha watched for the star, standing at the front window and holding back the curtain. Because the sky stayed light for so long that the stars would more or less melt into view, in the summertime she had to be alert. Sometimes Thomas waited, too. No matter how often she warned him not to, he said his wishes aloud. As if the sky were one big Sears, he wished for definite objects--toys and candy and such. On the other hand, Agatha wished silently, and not even in words. In a strong wash of feeling, she wished.
[Though grammatically correct, nearly all the changes I've made worsen the writing. And why? Because, most often, I have taken modification (in the form of adjective phrases or adverb clauses) that appears toward the end of a sentence and moved it up. Something else to remember is that fluid writing comes not so much from phrase/clause variation but from sentence length. Most sentences (say 75%) will start with the subject.]
4.
At the admission gate, we paid our dollars, and like famished beggars at a feast, threw ourselves into the carnival. Over our heads like trapped stars, the strings of lightbulbs gleamed. Along with their parents, a lot of kids our age were there, and some older people and highschool kids, too. The rides grunted, clattered, and rattled around us. We bought our tickets and got on the Ferris wheel, and I made the mistake of sitting with Davy Ray. He grinned and started rocking us back and forth and yelling that the bolts were about to come loose when we got to the very top and the wheel paused to allow riders on the bottommost gondola.
[It's nearly always preferable to start with the main clause and the subject. By starting with an inverted element--or by starting with an adjective phrase--you give your readers a moment of uncertainty. They are forced to contend with the modification before they get the modified thing. Sentences that don't start with the main clause and subject create tension. Such tension can be useful, but should probably be present one out of four sentences. In the above PP, when the writer does start with a dependent clause, then that clause does special work to set up a strong moment. Now that I've flipped the order, the sentence looks dead because the exciting part comes first and the set up comes later. So make sure dependent clauses--when they come first--set up something that's worth the set up. And, probably, if the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then there should be a payoff at the end.
It was the work of the rushing gust--but then without those doors there did stand the lofty and enshrouded figure of the Lady Madeline of Usher.
2.
There was blood upon her white robes and the evidence of some bitter struggle upon every portion of her emaciated frame.
3.
As if in the superhuman energy of his utterance there had been found the potency of a spell, the huge antique panels to which the speaker pointed threw slowly back, upon the instant, their ponderous and ebony jaws.
4.
For a moment she remained trembling and reeling and a victim to the terrors he had anticipated, then, with a low, moaning cry, fell heavily inward upon the person of her brother, and in her violent and now final death agonies, bore him to the floor a corpse
1.
The wind died as quickly as it had come, and the clearing was quiet again. The heron, motionless and waiting, stood in the shallows. Turning its head from side to side, a little water snake swam up the pool.
2.
Behind us was the town of Castle Rock, surrounding its green and shady common, spread out on the long hill that was known as Castle View. You could see the stacks of the wooled mew spewing smoke into a sky the color of gunmetal and spewing waste into the water further down Castle River. The Jolly Furniture Barn was on our left, and straight ahead of it, bright and heliographing in the sun, were the railroad tracks.
3.
Agatha watched for the star, standing at the front window and holding back the curtain. Because the sky stayed light for so long that the stars would more or less melt into view, in the summertime she had to be alert. Sometimes Thomas waited, too. No matter how often she warned him not to, he said his wishes aloud. As if the sky were one big Sears, he wished for definite objects--toys and candy and such. On the other hand, Agatha wished silently, and not even in words. In a strong wash of feeling, she wished.
[Though grammatically correct, nearly all the changes I've made worsen the writing. And why? Because, most often, I have taken modification (in the form of adjective phrases or adverb clauses) that appears toward the end of a sentence and moved it up. Something else to remember is that fluid writing comes not so much from phrase/clause variation but from sentence length. Most sentences (say 75%) will start with the subject.]
4.
At the admission gate, we paid our dollars, and like famished beggars at a feast, threw ourselves into the carnival. Over our heads like trapped stars, the strings of lightbulbs gleamed. Along with their parents, a lot of kids our age were there, and some older people and highschool kids, too. The rides grunted, clattered, and rattled around us. We bought our tickets and got on the Ferris wheel, and I made the mistake of sitting with Davy Ray. He grinned and started rocking us back and forth and yelling that the bolts were about to come loose when we got to the very top and the wheel paused to allow riders on the bottommost gondola.
[It's nearly always preferable to start with the main clause and the subject. By starting with an inverted element--or by starting with an adjective phrase--you give your readers a moment of uncertainty. They are forced to contend with the modification before they get the modified thing. Sentences that don't start with the main clause and subject create tension. Such tension can be useful, but should probably be present one out of four sentences. In the above PP, when the writer does start with a dependent clause, then that clause does special work to set up a strong moment. Now that I've flipped the order, the sentence looks dead because the exciting part comes first and the set up comes later. So make sure dependent clauses--when they come first--set up something that's worth the set up. And, probably, if the dependent clause comes after the independent clause, then there should be a payoff at the end.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
WHAT IT IS
She is in the shower. The shower is all one piece of plastic. There is no soap on the soap ledge, but there is plenty of old gray soap sludge. She is in the shower. There is no soap. The water is on and goes from being lukewarm to scalding hot. When it becomes hot, she has to press herself against the side of the shower. There is no soap. The shower is plastic. The shower's door is frosted glass. Or maybe the glass isn't frosted--it's just so covered with soap scum. She is in the shower--but still wears her jeans, her vest. She still has her fake mustache on her face. Amazing how spirit gum can stick when you don't want it to and how it fails when you need it to work. It fails when you most need your disguise. The shower is in the kitchen. The kitchen sink is between the toilet and the shower--the shower that she is in. Across from the shower is a stove, and someone is at the stove frying something that smells like tofu. It must be tofu. There is no soap. She has on her mustache and her vest. Everything on her is wet. Everything inside her is wet, too, though she thinks it's all dry. She thinks her guts are dry and her hair is wet. It is all wet. Someone is frying tofu, and a piece of tofu flies over the shower door and slaps her in the face. It's still hot, and then it's at her feet. She closes her eyes and sees images from her awful day: a parrot, a piece of rusted metal, large gray underwear, broken green glass, a pint of blood still in its bag. Another piece of tofu flops over the shower door and lands at her feet. She still wears her boots. She takes off her boots. She takes off her jeans, her vest, her mustache. She asks the person frying tofu to leave, and he leaves. She thinks she is alone, but then, as the minutes pass, she smells thick gas in the air. Gas from the stove. She cracks the shower door open and sees the stove door open. The person who had been frying the tofu has his head in the stove. Naked, her vest and jeans and boots and mustache in a wet pile in the shower, she jumps over to him. He might have been her boyfriend. He was one of her boyfriends. He was her brother, visiting her from Chicago. She is naked and wet. His head is in the stove. The smell of gas is thick. She pulls him out, only to see his is wearing a breathing apparatus. He takes it off, laughs at her, turns off the stove. He takes a beer from the refrigerator and drinks it.
THE FIRST TIME HE SAW MR. KILGALLON HE FELL MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIM
1.
He ran from the place, leaving the quirt, leaving his suitcase, leaving the oak box of money.
Leaving his suitcase, he ran from the place, leaving the quirt, leaving the oak box of money.
He, leaving the quirt, ran from the place, leaving his suitcase, leaving the oak box of money.
2.
A mortgage financier, a forecloser, the father was respectable and tight and a stern, upright collection-plate passer.
The father was respectable and tight--a mortgage financier, a forecloser--and a stern, upright collection-plate passer.
The father, a mortgage financier and a forecloser--was respectable, tight, and a stern upright collection-plate passer.
3.
After Buck Fanshaw's inquest without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held on the Pacific coast, for nothing can be done.
For nothing can be done without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held after Buck Fanshaw's inquest on the Pacific coast.
On the Pacific coast, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held after Buck Fanshaw's inquest for nothing can be done without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment.
4.
With them, carrying a gnarled walking stick, was Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass, the littlest, oldest man I had ever seen.
The littlest oldest man I had ever seen was Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass, carrying a walking stick with them.
With them, carrying a gnarled walking stick, was the littlest, oldest man I had ever seen, Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass.
5.
Wearing a long flannel nightgown around his chest, a nightcap, and a leather jacket over long woolen underwear, he bounded out of bed.
He bounded out of bed, wearing a long flannel nightgown around his chest, a nightcap, and a leather jacket.
6.
Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn in the garden quietly cropping the roses.
Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn quietly cropping the roses in the garden.
7.
Out of a box on the bed, she removed the gleaming pair of patent-leather dancing pumps, grabbed my right foot, and shoved it into one of them, using her finger as a shoehorn.
She removed the gleaming pair of patent leather dancing pumps, grabbed my right foot, and, using her finger as a shoehorn, shoved it into one of them.
1.
The rear of the car lifted up into the air for a moment, and then it thumped down with a muddy splash.
2.
Then it moved around the side of the car.
3.
At the back, the animal snorted a deep rumbling growl that blended with the thunder.
4.
The big raised tail blocked their view out of all the side windows.
5.
It sank its jaws into the spare tire mounted on the back of the Land Cruiser and, in a single head shake, tore it away.
Then it moved around the side of the car. The big raised tail blocked their view out of all the side windows. At the back, the animal snorted a deep rumbling growl that blended with the thunder. It sank its jaws into the spare tire mounted on the back of the Land Cruiser and, in a single head shake, tore it away. The rear of the car lifted up into the air for a moment, and then it thumped down with a muddy splash.
He ran from the place, leaving the quirt, leaving his suitcase, leaving the oak box of money.
Leaving his suitcase, he ran from the place, leaving the quirt, leaving the oak box of money.
He, leaving the quirt, ran from the place, leaving his suitcase, leaving the oak box of money.
2.
A mortgage financier, a forecloser, the father was respectable and tight and a stern, upright collection-plate passer.
The father was respectable and tight--a mortgage financier, a forecloser--and a stern, upright collection-plate passer.
The father, a mortgage financier and a forecloser--was respectable, tight, and a stern upright collection-plate passer.
3.
After Buck Fanshaw's inquest without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held on the Pacific coast, for nothing can be done.
For nothing can be done without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held after Buck Fanshaw's inquest on the Pacific coast.
On the Pacific coast, a meeting of the short-haired brotherhood was held after Buck Fanshaw's inquest for nothing can be done without a public meeting and an expression of sentiment.
4.
With them, carrying a gnarled walking stick, was Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass, the littlest, oldest man I had ever seen.
The littlest oldest man I had ever seen was Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass, carrying a walking stick with them.
With them, carrying a gnarled walking stick, was the littlest, oldest man I had ever seen, Elmo Goodhue Pipgrass.
5.
Wearing a long flannel nightgown around his chest, a nightcap, and a leather jacket over long woolen underwear, he bounded out of bed.
He bounded out of bed, wearing a long flannel nightgown around his chest, a nightcap, and a leather jacket.
6.
Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn in the garden quietly cropping the roses.
Once upon a sunny morning, a man who sat in a breakfast nook looked up from his scrambled eggs to see a white unicorn quietly cropping the roses in the garden.
7.
Out of a box on the bed, she removed the gleaming pair of patent-leather dancing pumps, grabbed my right foot, and shoved it into one of them, using her finger as a shoehorn.
She removed the gleaming pair of patent leather dancing pumps, grabbed my right foot, and, using her finger as a shoehorn, shoved it into one of them.
1.
The rear of the car lifted up into the air for a moment, and then it thumped down with a muddy splash.
2.
Then it moved around the side of the car.
3.
At the back, the animal snorted a deep rumbling growl that blended with the thunder.
4.
The big raised tail blocked their view out of all the side windows.
5.
It sank its jaws into the spare tire mounted on the back of the Land Cruiser and, in a single head shake, tore it away.
Then it moved around the side of the car. The big raised tail blocked their view out of all the side windows. At the back, the animal snorted a deep rumbling growl that blended with the thunder. It sank its jaws into the spare tire mounted on the back of the Land Cruiser and, in a single head shake, tore it away. The rear of the car lifted up into the air for a moment, and then it thumped down with a muddy splash.
5MWE
We had a parrot. The parrot had a bell. The parrot removed the clapper--Is clapper the right word?--from the bell. The parrot would wear the clapperless bell on its head. I had an awful friend. I had a lawful friend. My friend and I took his cat. First, we tied a rope to a bucket. We put his cat in the bucket and then we swung the bucket over our heads. Around and around, and the cat couldn't get out because of the circle force. The force of the circle. It's pi that makes it go round. Just take some string, dye it black, and there you have your mustache. When I was 8, I went to kindergarten with a mustache. I was not allowed to go to kindergarten when I was five or six. I wasn't allowed to go when I was seven. I had to wait until I was eight. The school was near a graveyard, and I would often recruit other children to sneak with me into it and take stones. We would drag the stones back to the school. We would hit the heads and hands off angels. At the bar, we had to keep a carton of beef broth because there was a man who came in who liked to drink beef broth with vodka. The floor is sticky. The sticky end of the mattress floated into oblivion because it was lighter than the softest oats. I had taken to eating lots of chicken. I would blend up two pounds of chicken with 12 ounces of warm water and gag through it. Spend most of my morning drinking that mix in the broken squad car. Give me some whiskey--at least in my dreams.
Number of sentences. Longest sentence. Shortest sentence. Average sentence length. Percentage of sentences that start with an intro clause. Percentage that end with a clause. Percentage that start with a phrase. Percentage that end with a phrase. Percentage with a phrase in the middle. Let me tell you this. Let me pester you with a poke. Here comes a poke. Here comes me scratching at your shoulder. I was glad all at the top, and I sang. At the top of a sycamore. Sycamore was sick. Sycamore would pick at my face, even when I told her not to pick at my face. I had old scars on my forehead and in my jowls. I had old scars at the back of my jaws and under my ears. Old scars. I remember thinking that if I imagined the smooth marble foreheads of statues, then maybe my face would clear up. Applying things that make it tight can ruin a sunset, especially if you're sitting on a deck whose fumes are making you high in the last time of your only obsolescence. Schism. Smite. Strike. Pass me the mallet so that I can squint into some light and ask if the sound is okay. How is the sound over there? Picking at my face. Wanting to put swabs in my ear when they are not for cleaning ears. Marigolds to keep away the bugs. Beets for boiling. The foundry was next to the museum, and as a result, it was hard to keep it clean. What is it. It is an infested truck that is stuck on the end of a marble hostess.
My father forced me to wear a cup daily. I would come downstairs, and he'd be waiting for me. He had a wooden mallet, which he would use to tap at my groin. He wanted to make sure I was wearing my cup every day. An everyday cup. I wore it every day, so it was an everyday cup. The difference between an adverb and an adjective is not something that I can always inhabit, though, when I was much older I was a soldier in the ocean, pitting myself against the seashore. When I was much older, I had my hands pounded flat until they were flippers. I was lustful when I was much older. I listed. I careened. I careered. I foundered because I did not see the reef. The reef was dead and had many eels in it. My sister was sitting at the end of a dock. There were old tires tied to the end of the dock, and my sister put her foot into one of them. An eel was in that tire. It bit her foot and would not let go. My father had to chop the eel's body from its head. It is hard to see where its head ends. Since my mother had a husband, and since her husband had a mother, and since that mother of his--that mother of my mother's husband--could not be approached under any circumstance, I often found myself finding hopeful mothers in the grocery store, the grocery store where I stocked the frozen food without gloves, where I stocked the peanut butter next to the Fluff, where I often took my breaks only to listen to someone else talk about guns and the price of holding his sister underwater until she departed this planet for another. She has said it's much nicer at the other.
Number of sentences. Longest sentence. Shortest sentence. Average sentence length. Percentage of sentences that start with an intro clause. Percentage that end with a clause. Percentage that start with a phrase. Percentage that end with a phrase. Percentage with a phrase in the middle. Let me tell you this. Let me pester you with a poke. Here comes a poke. Here comes me scratching at your shoulder. I was glad all at the top, and I sang. At the top of a sycamore. Sycamore was sick. Sycamore would pick at my face, even when I told her not to pick at my face. I had old scars on my forehead and in my jowls. I had old scars at the back of my jaws and under my ears. Old scars. I remember thinking that if I imagined the smooth marble foreheads of statues, then maybe my face would clear up. Applying things that make it tight can ruin a sunset, especially if you're sitting on a deck whose fumes are making you high in the last time of your only obsolescence. Schism. Smite. Strike. Pass me the mallet so that I can squint into some light and ask if the sound is okay. How is the sound over there? Picking at my face. Wanting to put swabs in my ear when they are not for cleaning ears. Marigolds to keep away the bugs. Beets for boiling. The foundry was next to the museum, and as a result, it was hard to keep it clean. What is it. It is an infested truck that is stuck on the end of a marble hostess.
My father forced me to wear a cup daily. I would come downstairs, and he'd be waiting for me. He had a wooden mallet, which he would use to tap at my groin. He wanted to make sure I was wearing my cup every day. An everyday cup. I wore it every day, so it was an everyday cup. The difference between an adverb and an adjective is not something that I can always inhabit, though, when I was much older I was a soldier in the ocean, pitting myself against the seashore. When I was much older, I had my hands pounded flat until they were flippers. I was lustful when I was much older. I listed. I careened. I careered. I foundered because I did not see the reef. The reef was dead and had many eels in it. My sister was sitting at the end of a dock. There were old tires tied to the end of the dock, and my sister put her foot into one of them. An eel was in that tire. It bit her foot and would not let go. My father had to chop the eel's body from its head. It is hard to see where its head ends. Since my mother had a husband, and since her husband had a mother, and since that mother of his--that mother of my mother's husband--could not be approached under any circumstance, I often found myself finding hopeful mothers in the grocery store, the grocery store where I stocked the frozen food without gloves, where I stocked the peanut butter next to the Fluff, where I often took my breaks only to listen to someone else talk about guns and the price of holding his sister underwater until she departed this planet for another. She has said it's much nicer at the other.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
5 MWE: The dour criticism of the chancellor
She encountered much joy. She had no way to gauge it all, except by sitting in a tattered chair and cramming her fingers into all its holes and damages. Horsehair in the chair. Straw. Outside, her mother was hanging upside down from a treebranch. Her mother had her legs around a branch, and those legs of hers allowed her to hang upside down. Her dress fell over her head. A gardener came by and trimmed her dress with the shears he had sharpened in Tangiers. The family trait was jowls. They all had jowls with old acne scars on them. They all sat on tattered chairs and couldn't help but to cram their fingers into them. They hung--not hanged--from hickory trees. Elms. Chestnuts. They sat on their roofs and sang. They sat on their floors and cried. They, as a family, showed very little emotion. But it was guaranteed--by whom?--that if you were to get them on the roof they would laugh. And if you were to get them on the floor, they would cry. It was not uncommon for people from the town to wrestle them to the ground at funeral time. The funeral bell. It would give two loud dings and then the third one would be off rhythm and muted. The family sent a bus through the town to pick people up for the funeral. The family did this, even though they themselves did not board the bus. It was the first funeral to have not a single family member present at it.
The innkeeper was frail. The innkeeper became an inkeeper when he lost his inn. His lost his inn, but, on that day, he swallowed all his keys, so he became an inkeeper with just one n. The authorities did not visit him. Instead, they flew kites over his new house. He bought a small house and lived in it--only to have the authorities fly kites over his house. He still had all the keys from his old inn inside of him. He was sure of it. Do not ask how anyone could be so sure because that is a sure way to end up with a bowl of grass, no milk, and no spoon with which to eat the grass. It's one thing for a dog to eat grass every time you take it out. What most people say is that it is an indication that the dog is sick. If you take your dog out--and if your dog can't help but to eat grass--then that's a sure sign it is sick. But what if it's your child that won't stop eating grass every time you take it out? What if it's your child? And this same child, when you take it to the seashore, it can't help but to drink some of the ocean. This child might slurp at the little purlers. This child might have its own cup with which it drinks. That it drinks with. This child might have a hole in the side of its head--the result of an early trephine. What if this child were to become a famous cartoonist? This child sits on a concrete patio, a patio that's otherwise used to dry out coffee beans. The bean roasters complain that they often find bits on concrete amongst their coffee beans.
It was terrible because she had a cape made of eyelids. She had once heard of people making capes out of bird feathers. There might be a bird in a forest. This bird has just a smidgen of yellow on its chin, and a king decides that, yes, it's this yellow that must make up his long cape. He wants the cape so long that all these birds must be killed to make it. "How long should the cape be, King? Five feet? Nine?" "No," he says. "The cape will be as long as it must take to kill all the little birds with yellow on their chins." And so she had a cape made of eyelids, but she didn't have to kill everyone on the planet to have it made. In fact, she didn't have to kill--or have killed--a single person because she used the eyelids of dead people. These eyelids had to be treated with certain chemicals to keep them from drying out. In their dried-up state they become raisins. Not raisons. They have no reason, these people who have silly capes made at such great expense. A cape of eyelids. And the eyelids still have their lashes. Twenty lashes for those who don't wear capes. Give me a reason to share with you the essence of the unfairness. Its essence is that you have no frenzied moments in your family's historical interpretation of the rational focused turpentined creatures. Let me give you my motto: Never squat where the squatters lay their pavement.
The innkeeper was frail. The innkeeper became an inkeeper when he lost his inn. His lost his inn, but, on that day, he swallowed all his keys, so he became an inkeeper with just one n. The authorities did not visit him. Instead, they flew kites over his new house. He bought a small house and lived in it--only to have the authorities fly kites over his house. He still had all the keys from his old inn inside of him. He was sure of it. Do not ask how anyone could be so sure because that is a sure way to end up with a bowl of grass, no milk, and no spoon with which to eat the grass. It's one thing for a dog to eat grass every time you take it out. What most people say is that it is an indication that the dog is sick. If you take your dog out--and if your dog can't help but to eat grass--then that's a sure sign it is sick. But what if it's your child that won't stop eating grass every time you take it out? What if it's your child? And this same child, when you take it to the seashore, it can't help but to drink some of the ocean. This child might slurp at the little purlers. This child might have its own cup with which it drinks. That it drinks with. This child might have a hole in the side of its head--the result of an early trephine. What if this child were to become a famous cartoonist? This child sits on a concrete patio, a patio that's otherwise used to dry out coffee beans. The bean roasters complain that they often find bits on concrete amongst their coffee beans.
It was terrible because she had a cape made of eyelids. She had once heard of people making capes out of bird feathers. There might be a bird in a forest. This bird has just a smidgen of yellow on its chin, and a king decides that, yes, it's this yellow that must make up his long cape. He wants the cape so long that all these birds must be killed to make it. "How long should the cape be, King? Five feet? Nine?" "No," he says. "The cape will be as long as it must take to kill all the little birds with yellow on their chins." And so she had a cape made of eyelids, but she didn't have to kill everyone on the planet to have it made. In fact, she didn't have to kill--or have killed--a single person because she used the eyelids of dead people. These eyelids had to be treated with certain chemicals to keep them from drying out. In their dried-up state they become raisins. Not raisons. They have no reason, these people who have silly capes made at such great expense. A cape of eyelids. And the eyelids still have their lashes. Twenty lashes for those who don't wear capes. Give me a reason to share with you the essence of the unfairness. Its essence is that you have no frenzied moments in your family's historical interpretation of the rational focused turpentined creatures. Let me give you my motto: Never squat where the squatters lay their pavement.
Monday, March 16, 2009
5 MWE Now, I'm to be mistaked for your mother
I have never seen a kajet so bog. New ones never helped me pull the skin off my hands. I pulled it off like gloves. Glass. Brass. Have one get another a song for some money. I will now pull up my carpet so that I can lie beneath it. Had the habit of breaking into houses and shaving off mustaches. The family lives in a motel. The difference between a motel and a hotel is that you enter your motel room from the outside. You enter your hotel room via your sister's shoulder. She had it operated. Found a nightstick. Found a glowstick. Saw an inappropriate mural--well, I deemed it inappropriate. It could have been fine to some. My job was shaving persian cats. My job was grooming poodles. My job was to split three cords of wood with a hydraulic machine. I put cuarters in the wet concrete. I sucked on quarters. I asked for some red wine with ice cubes in it. I asked for the cheapest vodka--it must have been Popov. I was told to not get fat. I was told not to get fat and to get an agent by Rufus. Rufus drank a rusty nail. He had drunk three of them. I played a game with friends. We were near a jukebox. It got late and we looked at the Old Main--I thought they said Old Maid--from a roof. I was willing to eat off a concrete floor so long as it was shiny.
Tell me where the wet sand is. I would like to lie in it. I would like to see someone tromp across a wet lawn. You never put your words in my mouth. This is what I wanted to say: Leave my methods be. This is what I didn't say: You have never spoken a three-syllable word. I do not care if you took a workshop. I do not care if you've memorized the manual. I do not care if your friend is a Higher Up. What matters is that I have paved over all your friends--and not metaphorically. I have shaved. I have shaved treats down to what's really inside them. I have pulled out the smallest hairs from the smoothest faces. I have razored out cubes of skin. My chances are slim. I was rejected today by a place. I was rejected yesterday by a place. I was jerected. This is what I want: To no longer be called autistic. What I hear are words change. I hear toy boat become toy boyt. But I think memories have the same potential for distortion. The longer I remember something, the stranger it will cebome. Now hear this: I have forgotten my wallet. My wallet is a hat I like to wear. First, I put a banana in my shoe. Then, I put my foot in the shoe just to feel the squish. Dog shit in my shoe--not on it. My head is on the bridge.
St. John. Caravaggio. Surprise me. Let me hold my breath not under water but under petroleum jelly. The Preserves of Oilmen. Eat that and see what happens. Eat a half cup of almonds, an apple, and a pear. Eat the head of a cat. Heat the legs of a dog. A small dog is killed. It's legs are cut off and arranged in a vase. With ease. Fascinate me, why don't you? Try to show me that you can do something I haven't seen. Much of what I've seen lately has no feel to it. It has a hum that can't be hummed. I was not under blankets. I was under plastic. A jacket made of plastic bags. Shoes made of plastic bags. We lived in a motel for 800$ a month. We all slept in it. We spelt in it. We pelts in it. We were children with books and drawings. It was too hard for us to open certain containers. We got frustrated so easily. We made a juice out of what we found outside. I slept in a bed with my other siblings. We each had our own cherished blanket. We knew our father left the room because that's when the smell in our place would go from bad to better. He had nothing on. He had nothing, no. No, he had nothing. I am so old for thirteen. I felt myself sinking tino my yard. After, I had no losses.
Tell me where the wet sand is. I would like to lie in it. I would like to see someone tromp across a wet lawn. You never put your words in my mouth. This is what I wanted to say: Leave my methods be. This is what I didn't say: You have never spoken a three-syllable word. I do not care if you took a workshop. I do not care if you've memorized the manual. I do not care if your friend is a Higher Up. What matters is that I have paved over all your friends--and not metaphorically. I have shaved. I have shaved treats down to what's really inside them. I have pulled out the smallest hairs from the smoothest faces. I have razored out cubes of skin. My chances are slim. I was rejected today by a place. I was rejected yesterday by a place. I was jerected. This is what I want: To no longer be called autistic. What I hear are words change. I hear toy boat become toy boyt. But I think memories have the same potential for distortion. The longer I remember something, the stranger it will cebome. Now hear this: I have forgotten my wallet. My wallet is a hat I like to wear. First, I put a banana in my shoe. Then, I put my foot in the shoe just to feel the squish. Dog shit in my shoe--not on it. My head is on the bridge.
St. John. Caravaggio. Surprise me. Let me hold my breath not under water but under petroleum jelly. The Preserves of Oilmen. Eat that and see what happens. Eat a half cup of almonds, an apple, and a pear. Eat the head of a cat. Heat the legs of a dog. A small dog is killed. It's legs are cut off and arranged in a vase. With ease. Fascinate me, why don't you? Try to show me that you can do something I haven't seen. Much of what I've seen lately has no feel to it. It has a hum that can't be hummed. I was not under blankets. I was under plastic. A jacket made of plastic bags. Shoes made of plastic bags. We lived in a motel for 800$ a month. We all slept in it. We spelt in it. We pelts in it. We were children with books and drawings. It was too hard for us to open certain containers. We got frustrated so easily. We made a juice out of what we found outside. I slept in a bed with my other siblings. We each had our own cherished blanket. We knew our father left the room because that's when the smell in our place would go from bad to better. He had nothing on. He had nothing, no. No, he had nothing. I am so old for thirteen. I felt myself sinking tino my yard. After, I had no losses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)