March 2009
1 post
Ecclesiastes 8: 15
The city burns behind us. The flames from the buildings introduce brilliant shades of orange and yellow and red to the black canvas of the night sky. We hear the screams of the residents trapped in that burning display of God’s wrath. Maybe part of us wants to reach out and help those people, but it’s a small part. All we love and care about is here with us. Somewhere a clock is ticking...
December 2008
1 post
1 tag
The Battle Begins
There he stood, daylight fading behind him and the moon rising behind the line of his enemies. All the power of the universe was vested in him and each of the villains in front of him wanted a chance to take that power away. As they approached he thought of the truth in what his father taught him long ago. The old man had taken him aside one morning, put his arm around the then young hero, and...
November 2008
1 post
2 tags
Playlist Project #5: Billy Lyons and Stack O Lee -...
Mining colonies were dirty place to live, literally and figuratively. There’s a reason no man on Earth or Luna ever packed up his loving wife and two beautiful genetically accurate children and moved to Mars to start a new lucrative career as a dirt mover. Those people stayed far away because they knew that within a year the wife would be working in one of the brothels near the landing...
September 2008
1 post
Dilemma
He knows that there’s a balance that needs to be achieved in how he perceives and observes things. From a high enough vantage point he can see the world but he can’t make out any of the details. Drop down to the street though, and he can only see what’s in front of him. Where was the mid-point? Should he sacrifice the ability to track the flight path of a missile across the...
August 2008
2 posts
2 tags
Playlist Project #2: Hoochie Koochie Man – Muddy...
I was standing there when the gypsy woman told your mother all about you. It was a dark October night and we were coming home from Pastor Reynold’s weekly Bible study. The air was cool, but it was still close enough to summer’s end that we were glad to walk in the night in our short sleeves. Your mom, she was beautiful and her skin glowed in the moonlight. We’d just moved to St....
2 tags
Playlist Project : #1 Jimi Hendrix - Red House
Dear Jimi,
You’re freaking me out dude. You keep telling people about my house and they keep stopping by asking if I’m still your baby. It’s really getting annoying. I mean, every morning, I’m sitting in my underwear trying to wake up and face yet another day of corporate drudgery when some drugged out hippie or wannabe guitar player knocks on my door asking me if I can...
June 2008
1 post
1 tag
Defeat
The hero lay on the ground, bloody and bruised almost beyond recognition. Above him stood the enemies who’d united against him. The vantage point was not one he was familiar with, or fond of. Even with hit vision blurred, their towering frames struck fear into his heart as he discovered that he was incapable of moving. He’d fought all of them before. He’d beaten them countless times. That...
May 2008
2 posts
1 tag
Review: Prince Caspian (Movie)
Memorandum From: Cyr Guy from Earth To: Aslan Lord of Narnia Regarding: Psychological conditioning of front line troops Dear Aslan, Today the wife and I saw a documentary about your campaign to recapture the land of Narnia from foreign invaders. While I was impressed with the scenic vistas of your homeland and the deep rich beauty of the many diverse cultures, what captured my attention most was...
2 tags
Tales of the Southside: The Legend of Jug Man Joe
The Legend of Jug Man Joe
They say his name was Joe, but who knew for certain. All we kids knew was that he walked the streets of South St. Louis with a two gallon milk jug. He was unkempt, unshaven, and unruly. Dressed in clothes that had never been near a dictionary that had the word clean in it, Joe kept vigil at intersections and in alleys – always alert to the possibility that his services...
April 2008
3 posts
2 tags
Inertia
The top is spun upon the table. It’s a beautiful thing, decorated by hands concerned with craftmanship and balance. Its spin is precise and captivating initially. It balances and glides on a needle point. It rides the edge of the table without ever falling off. You watch the top spin. The colors and designs whirl together and hypnotize you. Even if there were something else to look at, why...
2 tags
The boy likes pancakes...
If you grew up in South St. Louis, you know this kitchen. It’s in a second floor apartment in a flat one house off the corner of Connecticut and Roger. It’s got that ugly green tile on the wall and that ugly beige stove no one wants to move out to the alley. The fridge is a second hand piece of shit that’s been spray painted to appear newer than it is. On the floor, the little...
1 tag
Self Contained
“Are you looking for a way out?” she asks. The question jars him. It’s not because the question is crazy, but because noone’s ever asked him that outright. The man looks around the room, then back at his visitor and shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s a very nice room.” he finally answers. “It is,” says the woman, “no one said...
March 2008
4 posts
1 tag
Actualization
The hardest part of killing someone is admitting that you want to. Once you get over the hurdle of honestly stating that you actually would like to place your hands around someone’s neck and squeeze until the breath won’t come to their lungs, the act of planning and executing your plan is mere formality. The problem for most people is that they brush away that first homicidal notion...
1 tag
Reality Test
Alice looked at the caterpillar and wondered what had gone wrong in her mind to make it appear in front of her like this. “Typical,” said the caterpillar. “What’s that?” asked the confused little girl. “Well,” he explained, “here I am. I’m here of my own volition and design. I have free will and am in control of all my actions…”...
1 tag
I have not come here to testify About our bad bad misfortune… The cigarettes are passed between us as we listen to the guy on stage. Old, black, spry, the singer is a frenetic one man show. Across his chest is a bandoleer of harmonicas and he blows into them for hours without missing beat. It’s a sight to be seen. Whiskey is poured and the glasses practically empty themselves. And...
1 tag
When no one else is looking...
I have a story that I need to tell you, but I can’t. The Hero has asked me not to. “Asked” is the wrong word. The Hero begged me to not tell this story. He doesn’t want you to hear it. Not because it’s a lie. Not because it lacks substance. No, the Hero wants this story burned because after you finish it, you won’t see him as the Hero. You won’t...
February 2008
2 posts
1 tag
The Talk
Max stood in the warm sun of a cold Saturday afternoon on the sidewalk of mid-town St. Louis. He’d just gotten out of class at the weekend college prep program he attended, where four Saturday morning hours of college math and science had been more than enough to drain his teenage mind. So there he stood, waiting for his mother to pick him up. When he saw the maroon LTD pull up next to him,...
1 tag
13 Different Ways: Rain
1. Lunch was nice. We sat outside of that little cafe in the park that spring afternoon. We ate our food and made small talk. We drank the wine and our talk drifted towards weightier topics. The wine ran out and we sat in silence. Not that awkward silence that oppresses people who don’t know how to communicate with each other, but that amazingly peaceful silence that embraces two...
January 2008
6 posts
1 tag
So Dragon’s Lair was actually performed last week at S&S Sydney in the Newtown Theater. It did not win any awards, but it looks like it went well. I can find two reviews online. Hopefully, I can get a dvd of the performance. The Good: http://www.australianstage.com.au/reviews/sydney/shortsweet-sydney-1039.html The Mediocre (though it’s main criticism is that the play isn’t...
1 tag
13 Different Ways: A Tube of Blistex
Thirteen different ways to look at a tube of Blistex: 1. Inactive Ingredients: beeswax, camphor, cetyl alcohol, dead babies, goat’s milk, the blood of christian babies, monkey semen, the callogen from Raquel Welch’s ass, oxyclean, terrorism, unnatural fear of white suburban youth, isopropyl stearate, lanolin, menthol, methylpaben, mineral oil 2. She sits there at the bus stop....
1 tag
The Vibrator King
Merb Titlebaum was the vibrator king of the Midwest. In a small workshop beneath his store, which lay just outside of St. Louis, Missouri in University City, Merb created precision balanced machines guaranteed to give its user the desired effect. Women from all corners of the St. Louis Metropolitan area came to him to purchase that special little device that every girl needs. Then, after they...
1 tag
13 Different Ways: A Pair of Scissors
13 Different Ways to look at a pair of scissors. 1. The scissors on my desk are in a coffee cup full of ink pens. They are steel and razor sharp with black handles. I’ve yet to actually use these scissors and I’ve been at this company for about seven months now. I hope someday to need scissors, because these look like they’d be fun to use. 2. It was an accident. She walked into...
1 tag
I have to go out...
From the outside looking in, it’s a typical home. The husband and wife sit next to each other on a large couch. He has a book in hand. She holds the remote control for the television. They’re enjoying a quiet night. As he kisses the top of her head, his cell phone rings. He answers it, and after hearing who it is he stands up to take the call in the other room. She can’t quite...
2 tags
Not a replicant...
“You’re in the desert and you see a tortoise laying on its back, struggling. You’re not helping. Why not?” “‘Cuz Fuck You, that’s why.” “I guess we’re done here then.”
December 2007
9 posts
1 tag
13 Different Ways: Iced Mocha
Thirteen different ways to look at an iced mocha. 1. On the table in front of me is an iced mocha. 2. On the table in front of me is a collection of alkaloids and proteins assembled by machine to resemble an iced mocha, yet deliver the nutritional content of a basket of fruit. 3. The iced mocha in front of me was poisoned by the the server who prepared it. She’s hated me since the time I...
1 tag
Definition: Sex
Sex (n, v, adj.) 1. A fairly ridiculous looking act that feels so incredibly good, humans predictably decided that it shouldn’t be enjoyed. 2. The act of procreation for sexual species. 3. You want a piece of this? Want a little sugar on your cookie? Come on baby…the doctor’s in.
1 tag
Definition: Happiness
Happiness (n) 1. Really, you looked this up in a dictionary? Are you completely fucking mental? Philosophers, theologians, artists, and everyday people have been trying to figure out what “happiness” is since fish grew hair and learned to walk upright.* Now here you come along and think, “Oy! I’ll just check the dictionary! I bet noone’s ever thought of doing that...
1 tag
Checkpoint...
The line to pass through customs at Houston International Airport came to a halt at 1:45 p.m. on December 29, 2015. Hundreds of U.S. citizens returning from trips abroad stood in line, holding trinkets and mementos of their holiday in South America and wondered why forward movement had stopped. The Rodriguez family was returning from visiting Grandmother Rodriguez in Colombia. Baby Ignacio cried...
1 tag
After the conquest.
“I am the god of fucking!” “Louis, you’re standing on my hair.” “Oh…sorry, Tina.” “Lay back down. Someone will see you.” “Fine…but this place looks pretty secluded” “Maybe…but isn’t it better like this?” “Well, yeah. But if you keep your hand there, I can’t be held responsible for what...
1 tag
Father?
“I don’t get it.” “It’s really pretty simple.” “Run through it again.” “Okay…First, the car batteries -“ “Right…those are going to give you enough power?” “Well, I’m using 10,000 of them.” “Right. Why aren’t you just using the power lines out back again?” “Becuase then...
1 tag
Definition: Writer
Writer (n) 1. One who writes. 2. One whose failure to maintain a grip on reality results in the creation of millions of new realities every minute making it harder for one to remember which reality is real.
1 tag
Gut Check
The thing is, the man told himself, he thought he was better than this. Emotions that normal men felt should have been behind him. He prided himself on his facility for reason - never being led around by his baser impulses. He’d played the hero for so long…he didn’t expect the detachment that came with the role to disappear so fast. Failure in hand, he stood there. He had no...
1 tag
Bible Study: Isaiah 54:17
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper…” - Isaiah 54:17 “Not only should no weapon formed against you prosper, but you should make sure that any mother fucker who may turn into a weapon, build a weapon, think about a weapon, or can even spell the god damned word ‘weapon’ is dead. Find them, cut them up into little pieces, douse the pieces with gasoline and...
November 2007
3 posts
1 tag
One Minute Play: Rescue
(LIGHTS UP) (Two women sit are on the floor of the stage. Toni is dressed in just an tank top and a pair of boy shorts. Melissa is fully clothed. Toni is lying with her head in Melissa’s lap and is clearly agitate. Melissa strokes Toni’s forehead trying to console her.) TONI So that’s it? MELISSA That’s it. TONI And you’re sure the hole’s deep enough?...
1 tag
Drip...Drip...Drip...
This rain…it provides a steady beat by which to time my avoidance of sleep. Ping. Ping. Ping. As the drops bounce off of the aluminum awning outside the window, I count three more seconds of wakefulness. Awareness. Three more seconds that I’m alive. How many keystrokes occur in those three seconds? Soon I’ll be asleep and the world will continue around me as if I...
1 tag
Lexicon...(a love story)
“Get off of me!” demanded Cindy. Ted was hovering over her, sweat beading on his naked chest, with her legs propped up on his shoulders. “What?” he grunted in mid thrust. Cindy pulled her legs back and placed her feet on Ted’s chest. Using all of her strength, she pushed and Ted was thrown past the foot of the bed to the floor. Cindy felt as if a cork inside her had...
October 2007
1 post
1 tag
Definition: Fine
fine: adj. 1) High quality. ex. The food there is an example of fine dining. 2) moderately well. ex. I’m doing fine. 3) Really, not that great. I mean, life sucks and no matter what I do, I don’t seem to be happy. I can’t make any changes that significantly improve my situation and I think my brain is screwed up. I hate waking up in the morning. I hate going to work. I want to...
September 2007
5 posts
1 tag
Point...Flip Top...Press Trigger
Last night I believe my liver decided to move out. While we parted on good terms, I can’t help but think that its decision was based on the amount of abuse I inflicted on it. Liver, if you’re reading this, I still love you. Call me. It had all of the makings of a great party. A projector with an XBox 360 kicking out the Guitar Hero II jams in face-off mode. A PA system that could melt...
1 tag
to say the bloom comes off the rose is to say that water’s wet for that’s the way everything goes we’d do well not to forget all things pale a bit with age and youth and glitter fail all books demand you turn the page else you destroy the tale when we obsess on larger dreams our demands are raised so hight that precious, priceless smaller things end up being passed by these...
2 tags
Change of Plans
“Fuck,” exclaimed Jesus Christ as he sat down on one of the large stones in the garden. Ralph Moore, the chief financial officer of the 21 century’s leading super conductor manufacturer, plucked a nearby flower and smelled it. He couldn’t believe he was actually standing here in the first century, talking to the man himself. Ralph saw the look of disappointment on...
3 tags
Balance...
The edge of the cliff is not there to scare him. It’s there to remind him how far he can go before there’s a price to pay. That edge is a warning. You can cross this line, it says, but you better be prepared for the fall. He may be uncertain of his role in life, but gravity doesn’t share those anxieties. Gravity knows its place in the world. He can see that edge. He plays with...
1 tag
False Dichotomy: Okay...you're a 9/12. That's...
or “Dick.” I’m going to be honest, I hate 9/11 in this country. It should be a day for contemplation. People should be able to put aside their politics for at least one day and say “You sir/madame…Today you’re not a pinko fag facist neocon pig moonbat feminazi pollyana bitch troofer. Today, you’re my neighbor. Congratulations on not being dead.” It...
August 2007
8 posts
1 tag
Infanterno
Look at the pretty baby Lying in the crib His pudgy little arms His pretty little bib Hear his joyous laughter Squealing with delight He giggles in the evening And sleeps all through the night He embodies innocence No evil in his ways But he’ll burn in hell If he dies today Because he’s a dirty sinner Because some time long ago Some jerkoff ate an apple And fucked up the whole show
1 tag
Design: A Prelude
EXTERIOR (City Street. Rows of skyscrapers line both sides of an abandoned thoroughfare. Empty cars crowd the street and litter is everywhere. It’s day time, though the buildings block out the sun. SANDRA LEE, a reporter, stands in front of her CAMERAMAN with a microphone raised. As she speaks, the wind scatters paper debris slowly across the scene.) SANDRAWe’re getting word that this...
2 tags
Hell Hounds, Loose Women, and Strong Drink
Completely fictionalized account of a notoriously fictionalized piece of history. A bar. The Delta. The air buzzes with electricity. The humidity hangs on everyone, coating them with a sheen of moisture. They shine in the low glow of the single incandescent bulb that hangs over the bartender. In the front of the bar, a man holds court. No…that’s not right. This guy’s not just any...
2 tags
Assemble...
“I’ll destroy you,” cackled the villian. “You’ll find no peace.” The man calmly sat down in his seat. The coffee house around him buzzed with the fear of other patrons who were still terrified from the explosion that removed the northern wall. Their fear was intensified when the face from their nightmares appeared in the settling dust. The man was used to this...
2 tags
Christ You Know It Ain't Easy...
(Exterior: The desert somewhere outside of Jerusalem. The camera pans from right to left showing dunes and sand and nothing particularly exciting. When the camera stops its panning, JESUS is in the frame. He is dressed in white cotton pants and a loose fitting white cotton shirt buttoned down to mid chest. The desert sun is reflected back towards the camera through his sunglasses. He sits in the...
2 tags
The Usual: A haiku
A table in back The 3 a.m. crowd laughing It’s been a good night
2 tags
Anniversary...
On the night of their ninth wedding anniversary, Ted and Marsha Croft had a lovely dinner at Trattoria Luigi, a small unassuming Italian restaurant in downtown St. Louis. It was a thoroughly pleasant evening. The two reminisced about their years of dating and marriage. They talked about their hopes for the future. Ted ate a 4 oz filet mignon that was served alongside pasta with clams in a cream...
2 tags
About whatever you want it to be about...
“I’m not sure…” “About what?” “This can’t be right.” “Does it feel wrong?” “No…it feels great.” “Then what’s the problem.” “It’s just…well…I’ve been taught -“ “Forget about that. How does it feel?” “Amazing…” “That’s all...