So ain’t we all inanimate, George? –Jim Thompson, Pop. 1280 ‘Je’ est un autre. (‘I’ is someone else.) –Arthur Rimbaud You might, you’re perhaps fond of saying, occasionally like something concrete from me, something in the way of true disclosure, painful confession, political opinion, or merely, now and again, a bit of honest biographical kibble. … Read more
The most that anyone of us can seem to do is to fashion something –an object, or ourselves– and drop it into the confusion, make an offering of it, so to speak, to the life force. –Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death It may be that when we no longer know what to do we … Read more
He had this hackneyed phrase in his head –“adrift in a sea of confusion”– that he couldn’t seem to get rid of. Was this really the best he could do in describing how he felt? Yes, at least for the time being, he was forced to admit that it was. He wouldn’t be able to … Read more
Painting the word “Fuck” in fluorescent pink letters on the shell of a huge turtle would, I’m certain you’d agree, constitute a desecration. Such an act would be an affront to any definition of the sacred you could offer, and would thus be a grievous sin. Releasing in a muddy creek a turtle that had … Read more
“Nobody has ever lost basketball games in more novel settings than Klotz. He’s lost in a leper colony, on an aircraft carrier, in a bullring, a prison, the deep end of a swimming pool. He’s lost before kings and queens and four popes. He’s lost in 50 states and 117 countries. He hasn’t lost in … Read more
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. I understand that much of this material –such as it is– falls under the category of inscrutable. Some have gone so far as to call it impenetrable. At any rate, I’m willing to acknowledge that the bulk of what I have to say is more … Read more
A retired railroad brakeman named Eliot Show was cleaning his barbecue grill one afternoon when he inadvertently spilled a bucket of ashes and loosed a swarm of jinns on the neighborhood. A cleric who was later summoned for advice on dealing with the infestation informed the neighborhood council that jinns had long been disposed to … Read more
—Michael Thompson —Michael Hernandez De Luna Bad Press Books, The Stamp Art And Postal History Of Michael Thompson And Michael Hernandez De Luna The Museum of Bad Art Soviet Children’s Picture Books From the Twenties and Thirties The Golden Age of Iron Men Dictionary of Hobo Slang Vintage Drug Ads Thump Queen: Meryl Truett Photography … Read more
Surely you’re aware that there are dreams all around you. You’re moving through them everywhere you go. They’re on every block and corner of the city you live in, and flickering behind the curtains and shades up and down every street. Open the Yellow Pages of your local phone book –what is that if not … Read more
In this moment my body wants to evacuate my skin, rattle its bones, and, dancing, dream itself free. Or dreaming, dance itself free. But my mind swings so wildly, and in this moment –a moment later– I feel like I am blindfolded, with a broken broomstick in my hands, flailing at a cement pinata. Meanwhile, … Read more