Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He watches Brian Williams rubs shafts with Matt Lauer. They spar. They spar verbally. There is tension and shark smiling. He wonders if Isis is just the ASL ice bucket challenge gone horribly wrong. Nominations for Saladin, Ishmael and Frank-n-Furter. George W Bush and Bill Clinton are now best friends. He is sick in his mouth. Power accretes power. An NFP football player is…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He watches Brian Williams rubs shafts with Matt Lauer. They spar. They spar verbally. There is tension and shark smiling. He wonders if Isis is just the ASL ice bucket challenge gone horribly wrong. Nominations for Saladin, Ishmael and Frank-n-Furter. George W Bush and Bill Clinton are now best friends. He is sick in his mouth. Power accretes power. An NFP football player is…
He wakes up. He watches Brian Williams rubs shafts with Matt Lauer. They spar. They spar verbally. There is tension and shark smiling. He wonders if Isis is just the ASL ice bucket challenge gone horribly wrong. Nominations for Saladin, Ishmael and Frank-n-Furter. George W Bush and Bill Clinton are now best friends. He is sick in his mouth. Power accretes power. An NFP football player is suspended when a video appears of him punching his fiancee. Even though they knew he did it he only got two game suspension because they hadn’t seen it. A reflection of what is important. Money, profit, optics. The optics are wrong. No matter the ethics no matter the morality. At least Mel Brooks is still alive. They didn’t see it. So it doesn’t exist. He didn’t see the moon landings so they can’t be real. He didn’t see his own birth so he didn’t believe it. He didn’t see the bus arrive so he doesn’t believe that it got here. He didn’t see the formation of the continents so he does not believe that they exist. He cannot see oxygen so he is not sure that he is breathing it. He has never seen the earth from space so he doesn’t believe the world is a sphere zipping through space. He watches food commercials he watches car commercials. All using fear and doubt. Be afraid America. Be afraid. Stop thinking America don’t worry that your heroes are weak tired hypocrits. Liars and cheaters and brutish billionaires. Better than Hippo Crits. River creatures reviewing popular culture. Maybe not better than Hippo Crits. He watches Simon Critchley and Cornell West talking. They are talking about religion and violence. He listens to John Pilger. He listens to Noam Chomsky. It is one of those kinds of days. Richard Branson is an odd looking man. Sometimes it’s okay to give up your dreams. You won’t die. The Queen of the United kingdom is worried about Scotland. The economist Paul Krugman is worried about Scotland. This maybe the only time they will be worried about the same thing. He thinks more about an idea he has. He thinks that it is a good idea and the he thinks it’s a bad idea. He is undecided. Angry atheists make him sad. Happy Christians make him cringe. He listens to Cspan. It is both uplifting and depressing. Imaginary People think Obama is a Child Eating Muslim Jewish Atheist Christian Kenyan Communist Socialist. These people have access to the same information as everyone else and also the right to vote. The anniversary of 911 is approaching. The day that Pinochet stole Chile and also the day that planes hit the twin towers in New York and today is Zeinab Badawi interogating John Mccain by the lake that Amidala and Anakin Skywalker fell in love. Today is Scotland divorcing itself from Britain as Britain first acts like a violent lover bullying Scotland to stay with threats and violence and then begging Scotland to stay with gifts and bouquets of power it all looks very embarassing and no one has really planned for the split. Then he eats some rice it is a lot of rice and it has vegetables with it and also tomato sauce and he finds a bag of almonds and he books a flight to London and London terrifies him already he hears the pulsing wet beat of it’s corrupt blackened heart in his ears as he feels himself being sucked back into the pit the comforting embrace of the oily pit. Then he plays Tiny Death Star. It is an awful game that has no other point than to teach children that the most soulless parts of capitalism are compelling and entertaining taught through the lens of the Star Wars universe. He is hopelessly addicted to it and then he watches America’s Got Talent and the sound disappears for the last act so only atmospheric cheering can be heard. It is like watching television in a dream and then he cuddles and then he goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. When he went to sleep there was no caliphate. There no chance that there was going to be an independent Scotland. There was no new royal baby in Britain ready to carry on the democratic bloodline of the German Royal Family. He wakes up unaware of all of these things. The plane that crashed in the ocean is still missing and Robin Williams is dead and Joan Rivers is dead and lots of…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. When he went to sleep there was no caliphate. There no chance that there was going to be an independent Scotland. There was no new royal baby in Britain ready to carry on the democratic bloodline of the German Royal Family. He wakes up unaware of all of these things. The plane that crashed in the ocean is still missing and Robin Williams is dead and Joan Rivers is dead and lots of…
He wakes up. When he went to sleep there was no caliphate. There no chance that there was going to be an independent Scotland. There was no new royal baby in Britain ready to carry on the democratic bloodline of the German Royal Family. He wakes up unaware of all of these things. The plane that crashed in the ocean is still missing and Robin Williams is dead and Joan Rivers is dead and lots of other people are dead but they aren’t famous. He wonders if waking up is ever worth it. He decides it is but he goes back to sleep anyway.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. The world is not going well. There is lots of violence. Someone stands up for gentrification without thinking about what that might mean why it might be better to help those communities with their problems rather than price them out of their homes and their lives so that rich white people can enjoy atmosphere ambience authenticity at jacked up prices the prison is being crushed…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. The world is not going well. There is lots of violence. Someone stands up for gentrification without thinking about what that might mean why it might be better to help those communities with their problems rather than price them out of their homes and their lives so that rich white people can enjoy atmosphere ambience authenticity at jacked up prices the prison is being crushed…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. A journalist rummaged through the luggage of dead people. It disgusts people even though it is what journalists do every day. A tacit agreement we have with them that we get to read what they write about tragedy as long as wet don’t have to be complicit in how they discover that tragedy. It was to much for us. We do not want to see how the sausage is made. The Senate votes to support…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. A journalist rummaged through the luggage of dead people. It disgusts people even though it is what journalists do every day. A tacit agreement we have with them that we get to read what they write about tragedy as long as wet don’t have to be complicit in how they discover that tragedy. It was to much for us. We do not want to see how the sausage is made. The Senate votes to support…
He wakes up. A journalist rummaged through the luggage of dead people. It disgusts people even though it is what journalists do every day. A tacit agreement we have with them that we get to read what they write about tragedy as long as we don’t have to be complicit in how they discover that tragedy. It was too much for us. We do not want to see how the sausage is made. The Senate votes to support bombardment of Gaza. Even the progressive heroes of the left. Children shields? No one cares. An excuse to flex anti-Semitic muscles on one hand an excuse to shake heads at the horror of civilian death on the other. Then there are all the other hands begging reaching grasping. This is what nation states do to perceived enemies. They expunge they delete they bleach it is wrong it has been done before it will be done again the lodz ghetto is now the Gaza refugee camp will be the Detroit forbidden zone will be the Birmingham prison city. Grind your families into paste we will all be Soylent Green one day. The clown of international law raises its buffoonish head above the parapet and is exploded by a sniper’s bullet but it’s okay folks that was just a balloon full of ketchup with a clown face drawn on it international law is safe and sound in an undisclosed bunker ready to be used by those with the most power as and when it suits them. He drinks a chai. He is in a library surrounded by books. It is pleasant. He reads that 66% of Americans now live in places that are not covered by the constitution which seems like a lot of Americans. Everyone is not the slug on the razor blade but more and more are joining it slowly slicing itself as it inches forward slowly splitting in two. He writes. He travels on public transport. He eats a tasty black bean burger. He shuts off from news. Objective news is shut off. He travels into another world. A place of giants and vikings. The end of the world. All the gods are dead. It is melancholy. Tribes wandering in the icy wastes the dry deserts the lush jungles. All lost. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He was asleep. Now is he awake. His brittle bones are softening after bikram yoga. His aching body is aching in a good way. He eats a salad. He presses some buttons. He watches a woman eat a hundred dollar ice cream. He is tempted by a burrito he finds on a bus. It has only been bitten once. It would be free supper. Earlier in the day he eats a sandwich and has a coffee. He thinks…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He was asleep. Now is he awake. His brittle bones are softening after bikram yoga. His aching body is aching in a good way. He eats a salad. He presses some buttons. He watches a woman eat a hundred dollar ice cream. He is tempted by a burrito he finds on a bus. It has only been bitten once. It would be free supper. Earlier in the day he eats a sandwich and has a coffee. He thinks…
He wakes up. He was asleep. Now is he awake. His brittle bones are softening after bikram yoga. His aching body is aching in a good way. He eats a salad. He presses some buttons. He watches a woman eat a hundred dollar ice cream. He is tempted by a burrito he finds on a bus. It has only been bitten once. It would be free supper. Earlier in the day he eats a sandwich and has a coffee. He thinks about making some soup but he doesn’t make any soup. The Caliphate seems to be spreading over Iraq and Syria. Everyone is learning about the Sykes-Picot Agreement. He learns more about the pirate origins of the British Empire – all open out in the history books that nobody reads. The President of America makes a joke about crack. His wife is not impressed. He presses some more buttons. He takes some photographs. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He was up until 2 in the morning looking for silver to dig up with his copper pickaxe. He found iron and copper and gold but no silver no silver anywhere. He was attacked by creatures. Then he hid in a cave barely protected from the acid rain. So now he is slumped at his desk at work not hiding from acid rain but hiding from work. He takes photographs of soccer fans. They look just…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He was up until 2 in the morning looking for silver to dig up with his copper pickaxe. He found iron and copper and gold but no silver no silver anywhere. He was attacked by creatures. Then he hid in a cave barely protected from the acid rain. So now he is slumped at his desk at work not hiding from acid rain but hiding from work. He takes photographs of soccer fans. They look just…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up the muzzy taste of beer in his mouth. It was only a quarter of a small bottle a tiny bottle. He farts he showers he farts he makes a coffee eats shredded crispy cereal. He waits for two buses that never arrive but a third arrives that he wasn’t expecting. He gets on that bus. He spend the day pressing things and then put in his place by a superior for no other reason than to remind…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up the muzzy taste of beer in his mouth. It was only a quarter of a small bottle a tiny bottle. He farts he showers he farts he makes a coffee eats shredded crispy cereal. He waits for two buses that never arrive but a third arrives that he wasn’t expecting. He gets on that bus. He spend the day pressing things and then put in his place by a superior for no other reason than to remind…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He gets on a bus. He sees a piece of paper on a seat. He picks up the paper and reads the outside of the folded up piece of paper it reads
Hey! Read this!
on one side and
Hey you! Read this!
on the other folded side. He opens up the piece of paper and reads:
Dear friend,
I have some good news! There is someone who loves you dearly, enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ,…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He gets on a bus. He sees a piece of paper on a seat. He picks up the paper and reads the outside of the folded up piece of paper it reads
Hey! Read this!
on one side and
Hey you! Read this!
on the other folded side. He opens up the piece of paper and reads:
Dear friend,
I have some good news! There is someone who loves you dearly, enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ,…
He wakes up. He gets on a bus. He sees a piece of paper on a seat. He picks up the paper and reads the outside of the folded up piece of paper it reads
Hey! Read this!
on one side and
Hey you! Read this!
on the other folded side. He opens up the piece of paper and reads:
Dear friend,
I have some good news! There is someone who loves you dearly, enough to die for you. His name is Jesus Christ, and He came to pay for our sins. He overcame all of our failure and shame, and in Him we find life. No matter what pain you feel, I promise, that someone cares. I was once an atheist, and I used to cut myself. I thought about taking my own life, but then I met a friend who showed me the good news of Jesus. He promises new life, and he wants the same for you. No matter how bad you feel, no matter what you think of yourself, Jesus loves you more than you could imagine. If you have questions about faith or want to know more about Christianity, I’d encourage you to find a church. There is one that meets at — —– theater on – Street in G——–n, Sunday at 10am. God bless you and take heart! God is with us!
Love,
A brother in Christ
The writing is neat and small and written in blue pen. It seems heartfelt but he probably won’t visit the theater to meet with Jesus. He folds up the paper and puts it into his pocket where it will remain for months forgotten and spinning and dissolving in the wash. There are so many people to be saved but saved from what? Each other and themselves. He eats some spinach and some quinoa and some lentils and drinks coffee and his ideas are shut down at work and his dreams keep him going all the way to his bed. He goes to sleep there on his sleeping bed.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He remembers no dreams. He drinks coffee and eats cereal. He takes a shower. He takes the elevator. He takes the bus. He takes another elevator. He types. He writes. He drinks another coffee. He has a conversation. He applies make-up. He eats turkey meatballs and tomato sauce. They are good. They sustain him. He enjoys them. He savours them. Mouths flap about Iraq and about…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He remembers no dreams. He drinks coffee and eats cereal. He takes a shower. He takes the elevator. He takes the bus. He takes another elevator. He types. He writes. He drinks another coffee. He has a conversation. He applies make-up. He eats turkey meatballs and tomato sauce. They are good. They sustain him. He enjoys them. He savours them. Mouths flap about Iraq and about…
He wakes up. He remembers no dreams. He drinks coffee and eats cereal. He takes a shower. He takes the elevator. He takes the bus. He takes another elevator. He types. He writes. He drinks another coffee. He has a conversation. He applies make-up. He eats turkey meatballs and tomato sauce. They are good. They sustain him. He enjoys them. He savours them. Mouths flap about Iraq and about Afghanistan and the injustice of imprisoning journalists in Egypt but remain quiet about imprisoning lawyers in America. He gets too excited about the opening of a new Shake Shack and not energized enough about the crumbling infrastructure of the Western World. He listens to a woman channel his dead father to his half-sister. The woman doesn’t even change her voice. She should make more effort being a spirit medium she should at least do voices and lock the door of the room she is in so her son doesn’t come in and ask for a snack and close the window so that the roadworks outside aren’t overwhelming the recording and not give false hope or closure with cold reading but this is all too much to ask for and it probably will help someone somewhere life is difficult enough without letting people cope with tragedy in their own way. He walks. He stands. He sits. He waits. He reads. He walks. He cooks rice and broccoli and cauliflower and soy sauce and he eats it and he drinks water and he watches Lawrence O’Donnell return to television with a fine beard but he doesn’t listen to the words because they will be the same words as before and not bad for that reason but he is tired and he can’t think and doesn’t want to concentrate on relentless horror on the outside because he is busy enough with relentless horror on the inside. He lies down and watches sleep take him away.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He showers. He eats a banana. He is roasted by the sun. He imagines Tony Blair weeping in a windowless room rocking back and forth. He eats some tasty chicken and spinach. He watches headless chickens dance. They strut and they dance. He drinks a glass of water. He asks some questions. He writes some words on some paper. He sorts out his paperwork. He finds useless pieces of paper…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He showers. He eats a banana. He is roasted by the sun. He imagines Tony Blair weeping in a windowless room rocking back and forth. He eats some tasty chicken and spinach. He watches headless chickens dance. They strut and they dance. He drinks a glass of water. He asks some questions. He writes some words on some paper. He sorts out his paperwork. He finds useless pieces of paper…
He wakes up. He showers. He eats a banana. He is roasted by the sun. He imagines Tony Blair weeping in a windowless room rocking back and forth. He eats some tasty chicken and spinach. He watches headless chickens dance. They strut and they dance. He drinks a glass of water. He asks some questions. He writes some words on some paper. He sorts out his paperwork. He finds useless pieces of paper but he keeps them just in case he might need them in the future. He remonstrates with the fridge. He repeats some of these actions. He fills a red pepper with rice and spinach and kale and hot sauce. He roasts the red pepper but even that and the hot sauce will not dampen down the taste of kale. Kale cuts through everything. The air is boiling outside. So hot is refracts the air and everything is seen as through satin stockings. He reads some Robert Bellah and the civil religion of America. The cult of America. He reads about the late Victorian Holocaust watches Thomas Piketty in a debate on British Television Jeremy Paxman cycling on a bicycle with the Mayor of London all jolly boys together at the same clubs at the same schools colleges picnics artificial debate illusion of dissent he tries to build a house on a purple planet that rains poison green liquid at regular intervals. Some of the creatures are trying to kill him but he has a large sword and a natty bow and arrow. He needs to find silver so he can create a beacon to escape the planet. He cannot find any silver. He has been searching for a long time. He is tired. He looks at his laundry go round and round and round in the dryer. He falls asleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He hugs. He showers. He kisses. He gets a taxi. He waits for the yellow bus for the last time. He is emotional. He gets on the train. A woman is wearing enormous shoes. Iraq is collapsing. The helicopters from Saigon moment is happening and nobody with power in America seems to know what to do other than ensure the world it is not Americas fault. ISIS are making their way down Iraq…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He hugs. He showers. He kisses. He gets a taxi. He waits for the yellow bus for the last time. He is emotional. He gets on the train. A woman is wearing enormous shoes. Iraq is collapsing. The helicopters from Saigon moment is happening and nobody with power in America seems to know what to do other than ensure the world it is not Americas fault. ISIS are making their way down Iraq…
.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He wakes up. Maya Angelou is dead. Then a real estate millionaire is giving out clues on Twitter to find money. He is seen as a hero but maybe he is a slum landlord a racist and he finds glee in manipulating the poor and desperate he makes them take pictures maybe he has a wall of them. He is making the greedy and desperate and poor his puppet playthings. An old man pulls a car with…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He wakes up. Maya Angelou is dead. Then a real estate millionaire is giving out clues on Twitter to find money. He is seen as a hero but maybe he is a slum landlord a racist and he finds glee in manipulating the poor and desperate he makes them take pictures maybe he has a wall of them. He is making the greedy and desperate and poor his puppet playthings. An old man pulls a car with…
He wakes up. He wakes up. Maya Angelou is dead. Then a real estate millionaire is giving out clues on Twitter to find money. He is seen as a hero but maybe he is a slum landlord a racist and he finds glee in manipulating the poor and desperate he makes them take pictures maybe he has a wall of them. He is making the greedy and desperate and poor his puppet playthings. An old man pulls a car with his teeth. A little boy plays the piano beautifully. Maya Angelou is dead. Cursory repeated conversations about mental health that are copy pasted from the last murderous rampage. It is national burger day. There is not much pollen but it is hot. Maya Angelou is dead. There is not much hope in the world. The powerful cling onto their power. The weak are left tumbling in the dark with only the infrequent sugar rush for company. Maya Angelou is dead. There is advice on morning television from sexperts. Should you love him or should you leave him? He does not wait for the answer. He accidentally strokes a woman’s hand when he tries to hold the door open. It is humid outside. He eats a salad. He reads. Thomas Piketty is still the topic of conversation. President Obama announces a new anti terrorist fund. It sounds terrifying. It sounds like a new school of the Americas. It sounds like a license for autocratic regimes to terrorize in the name of power and lies. It is $5 billion of oppression delivered by the American tax payer to perceived enemies of dictators and money mongers and oil oligarchs. A friend reminds him of an old history lesson oskar schindler was a sudetenland german. He watches the new Tom cruise movie. It is groundhogs day with aliens. It has a bad third act a poor ending of no consequence or jeopardy yet there are some good jokes but he would still not recommend it groundhogs day 2 edge of tomorrow shallow with a fun first act. Laughter in the theatre until a biker asks him to pee on him. He declines the offer. Ice cream and running for the bus and tasty meats and Maya Angelou is dead and sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He sees a Dog chasing two geese. He has a Happy bus driver. Joy heartache pensive children waiting for yellow bus graduates in gowns rich unemployed people with debt gathering to commiserate. Dreams deferred. Coffee. Fresh fruit. Salad. Swelling heart. Confusion. Got to make it past forty. Hopelessness. One hour a day. One mine at a time. Disappointment. Additional failures.…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He sees a Dog chasing two geese. He has a Happy bus driver. Joy heartache pensive children waiting for yellow bus graduates in gowns rich unemployed people with debt gathering to commiserate. Dreams deferred. Coffee. Fresh fruit. Salad. Swelling heart. Confusion. Got to make it past forty. Hopelessness. One hour a day. One mine at a time. Disappointment. Additional failures.…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Does he? He does. Vibrating pillow. Tweaks. Hazelnut coffee. Rice and peanut butter and broccoli and cake and cakes and cake. Glenn Greenwald is charming and speaks quickly. Glenn Greenwald is tired. Glenn Greenwald’s film crew films behind the scenes of his epic book tour. He reads. He does some art. He drinks some water. He imagines he is on a hill swash buckling a small group of…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Does he? He does. Vibrating pillow. Tweaks. Hazelnut coffee. Rice and peanut butter and broccoli and cake and cakes and cake. Glenn Greenwald is charming and speaks quickly. Glenn Greenwald is tired. Glenn Greenwald’s film crew films behind the scenes of his epic book tour. He reads. He does some art. He drinks some water. He imagines he is on a hill swash buckling a small group of…
He wakes up. Does he? He does. Vibrating pillow. Tweaks. Hazelnut coffee. Rice and peanut butter and broccoli and cake and cakes and cake. Glenn Greenwald is charming and speaks quickly. Glenn Greenwald is tired. Glenn Greenwald’s film crew films behind the scenes of his epic book tour. He reads. He does some art. He drinks some water. He imagines he is on a hill swash buckling a small group of animated skeletons. It is night but the fires from the burning forest below and the large full moon light the desperate action on the cliff top. He slips the skeletons rally and dash but it was but a feint and a twists and with ease slices them all over the clouds fading them on the rocks below but the night has only just begun. He is not hungry but he eats some vegetables. It makes him feel better. He probably eats a taco. He lies down. He plays a video game that is supposed to be art. It probably is art. It probably is overrated. It is overrated. He watches a man get onto a bus. He watches a woman get off a bus. He watches pixels explode in misty clouds of blood, digital viscera smears itself across the screen. He is moved to disgust then unmoved because it isn’t real but maybe it is real. Then he reads. Then he sleeps.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He is neither a lark nor an owl. He is exhausted. He drinks a coffee. He listens to Glenn Greenwald. Glen Greenwald sounds surprisingly polite and restrained as he talks to Matt Lauer. He does not shower. It is hot outside. Parched lips. He gets on the bus. He sits on the bus. He gets off the bus. He walks to work. He takes the elevator. He has followed a woman all the way from the…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He is neither a lark nor an owl. He is exhausted. He drinks a coffee. He listens to Glenn Greenwald. Glen Greenwald sounds surprisingly polite and restrained as he talks to Matt Lauer. He does not shower. It is hot outside. Parched lips. He gets on the bus. He sits on the bus. He gets off the bus. He walks to work. He takes the elevator. He has followed a woman all the way from the…
He wakes up. He is neither a lark nor an owl. He is exhausted. He drinks a coffee. He listens to Glenn Greenwald. Glen Greenwald sounds surprisingly polite and restrained as he talks to Matt Lauer. He does not shower. It is hot outside. Parched lips. He gets on the bus. He sits on the bus. He gets off the bus. He walks to work. He takes the elevator. He has followed a woman all the way from the bus to the office. He tries to maintain his distance but this fails when he gets in the same elevator. Luckily they get off at different floors. He has another coffee. He eats too many cookies. He is bloated. Already he wants the day to be over. It is not over. It is still going on. It is still continuing. It is not ending. The broken people of Homs return to their broken city. Everyone looks on in sympathy then returns to their candy crush bejewelled high scores. Then he writes some things then he tries to stay awake. It is really hard to stay awake today. Then he lies down. Then he reads but none of the words go in they slide off his eyes and form a puddle round his body on the bed. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He is neither a lark nor an owl. He is exhausted. He drinks a coffee. He listens to Glenn Greenwald. Glen Greenwald sounds surprisingly polite and restrained as he talks to Matt Lauer. He does not shower. It is hot outside. Parched lips. He gets on the bus. He sits on the bus. He gets off the bus. He walks to work. He takes the elevator. He has followed a woman all the way from the…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He is neither a lark nor an owl. He is exhausted. He drinks a coffee. He listens to Glenn Greenwald. Glen Greenwald sounds surprisingly polite and restrained as he talks to Matt Lauer. He does not shower. It is hot outside. Parched lips. He gets on the bus. He sits on the bus. He gets off the bus. He walks to work. He takes the elevator. He has followed a woman all the way from the…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Dirty wars Inside Job The Great Divide. These the things do not make for a happy-go-lucky weekend. bioshock infinite with it’s attempts at depth infinite shallows. Votes in India enormous democracy. Hidden poverty rampant corruption suicide on a hill. A house explodes after gunshot is heard. The girls are freed into the arms of Islam. Parents are doubtful. Leo Tolstoy imparts advice…
He wakes up. Dirty Wars Inside Job The Divide. These the things do not make for a happy-go-lucky weekend. bioshock infinite with it’s attempts at depth infinite shallows. Votes in India enormous democracy. Hidden poverty rampant corruption suicide on a hill. A house explodes after gunshot is heard. The girls are freed into the arms of Islam. Parents are doubtful. Leo Tolstoy imparts advice about art and religion. He eats an ice cream. He is getting fat. He eats a cookie. He is getting fat. He eats a lunchable. He is fat and sad. He drinks a coffee and it makes him feel better for a little while. He drinks a capri sun. He eats another ice cream. Will this torment never end? It is hot outside. Like an oven. Like an oven of pain. A painful oven. Not that hot. He goes inside and the air conditioning is welcoming. Drones fly over head. The Epic of Gilgamesh is mentioned. He waits to be targeted but he is not a high value target and he is not carrying a cell phone and he eats another ice cream. He reads Dollarocracy and feels like he needs a wire brush and hose down. American political financing is a giant fetid worm sliding and pulsing it’s way across the country as it feeds in at one hole and spews gelatinous Excreta out of the other swelling it’s swollen body expanding as it goes. It is hot wet and dark outside. It is night. It has rained. A context free fight been two relative by marriage in a lift spreads across the internet and diminishes everyone. He writes and writes and writes. He watches Veep. It is funny. He watches Late Night starring Jimmy Fallon. It is funny. Neil Young is soft spoken and his voice trembles as he sings. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Aching muscles and bones. He showers. He walks. An old lady walking very slowly up a very long elevator. She is wearing her Sunday hat. Two lovers talking quietly. Their speech barely breath. Smiling. A pack of Marlboro reds on the bench. Empty – he checks. He remembers the happiness of a good cigarette.Ladies in pink ready to walk for breast cancer. His mother dead on a slab skin…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Aching muscles and bones. He showers. He walks. An old lady walking very slowly up a very long elevator. She is wearing her Sunday hat. Two lovers talking quietly. Their speech barely breath. Smiling. A pack of Marlboro reds on the bench. Empty – he checks. He remembers the happiness of a good cigarette.Ladies in pink ready to walk for breast cancer. His mother dead on a slab skin…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. The sky is white like untouched paper. He waits for clouds and the sun and other sundry sky like things to be added but they remain missing for the remainder of the day. The buildings and other architecture remains so he makes his way to work based on these. He does not use more ancient methods of navigation such as bird-flight or moss on trees. He watches Neil Cavuto and Rudy…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. The sky is white like untouched paper. He waits for clouds and the sun and other sundry sky like things to be added but they remain missing for the remainder of the day. The buildings and other architecture remains so he makes his way to work based on these. He does not use more ancient methods of navigation such as bird-flight or moss on trees. He watches Neil Cavuto and Rudy…
He wakes up. The sky is white like untouched paper. He waits for clouds and the sun and other sundry sky like things to be added but they remain missing for the remainder of the day. The buildings and other architecture remains so he makes his way to work based on these. He does not use more ancient methods of navigation such as bird-flight or moss on trees. He watches Neil Cavuto and Rudy Guiliani on mute on the television. They seem to be in hysterics about something. He wonders if they are imagining and world in which each of them has a team of poor people who then pulls a chariot for them round a race track and they bet on the outcome throwing offal into the troughs of the winning team. He does not know whether they are laughing about this because he does not increase the volume. he suspects that what they are laughing about is much much worse. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He feels groggy. Then he feels alive but this feeling doesn’t last very long and he feels groggy again. He met his housemate last night with a firm handshake and eye contact on the door to the house when he had forgotten his key at work. There was warmth and friendliness and tiredness emanating from the man. He seemed kind. He puts on his clothes. He drinks a coffee. It is a hazelnut…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He feels groggy. Then he feels alive but this feeling doesn’t last very long and he feels groggy again. He met his housemate last night with a firm handshake and eye contact on the door to the house when he had forgotten his key at work. There was warmth and friendliness and tiredness emanating from the man. He seemed kind. He puts on his clothes. He drinks a coffee. It is a hazelnut…
He wakes up. He feels groggy. Then he feels alive but this feeling doesn’t last very long and he feels groggy again. He met his housemate last night with a firm handshake and eye contact on the door to the house when he had forgotten his key at work. There was warmth and friendliness and tiredness emanating from the man. He seemed kind. He puts on his clothes. He drinks a coffee. It is a hazelnut coffee. This is currently his favourite coffee. He remembers watching a man karate chop the rain away from him yesterday because he didn’t have an umbrella marching through the rain oblivous that his karate chopping was not working his clothes drenched his wet hairy plastered to his face. He is not the man who is doing this but he could see that in years to come he could be the man doing this unaware of the futility yet continuing to chop away at the beads of water as they pour down from the sky. He eats a curry sandwich. He eats some pasta. He reads a book. Everything conspires to mediocrity today. Until the moment he gets a frozen yogurt at which point the day turns into a musical with singing and dancing. Ehud Barack stands behind him asking questions about the missing Chibok girls. He seems saddened by the answers he receives. It is very hot outside. It is very hot indeed outside. He watches Dancing with the Stars and is said when Danica Patrick is booted off but he knew that already because he is watching it on Hulu and he read earlier in the day who had been booted off. There is no time for surprises now. There are spoilers everywhere. He eats rice and noodles and has a drink of gin or two or three but no more than three and tempers them with ginger ale and water. There is talking and laughter and love and John Oliver is getting better and episode two of his new show is very entertaining and clever and thought provoking and all the things the internet has already said. Then he reads some more. Then he lies back and thinks. Spoiler Alert – Life is going to end in death. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Battle Royale is very violent. He makes some people laugh. He drinks decaf coffee. He has pain behind his eyes. Allergies. Algiers. The Battle of Allergies. He reads. He thinks. He walks. He photographs. He types. He watches. He eats. He hugs. He laughs. He naps. He snoozes. He cries. He laughs again. He smiles. He drinks. He saves. He steals. He wishes. He lies. He demures. He…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Battle Royale is very violent. He makes some people laugh. He drinks decaf coffee. He has pain behind his eyes. Allergies. Algiers. The Battle of Allergies. He reads. He thinks. He walks. He photographs. He types. He watches. He eats. He hugs. He laughs. He naps. He snoozes. He cries. He laughs again. He smiles. He drinks. He saves. He steals. He wishes. He lies. He demures. He…
He wakes up. Battle Royale is very violent. He makes some people laugh. He drinks decaf coffee. He has pain behind his eyes. Allergies. Algiers. The Battle of Allergies. He reads. He thinks. He walks. He photographs. He types. He watches. He eats. He hugs. He laughs. He naps. He snoozes. He cries. He laughs again. He smiles. He drinks. He saves. He steals. He wishes. He lies. He demures. He disappoints. He improves. He sleeps.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up on the cold concrete floor of a room without windows. He walks through the door. He brushes his teeth. He unlocks the door he does not have a key he opens the door he heads north along a path to a wood he reaches a crossroads and goes west he ends up at a tower the tower has a door. He walks through the door. He finds some underwear. He puts on the underwear. He takes the underwear…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up on the cold concrete floor of a room without windows. He walks through the door. He brushes his teeth. He unlocks the door he does not have a key he opens the door he heads north along a path to a wood he reaches a crossroads and goes west he ends up at a tower the tower has a door. He walks through the door. He finds some underwear. He puts on the underwear. He takes the underwear…
He wakes up on the cold concrete floor of a room without windows. He walks through the door. He brushes his teeth. He unlocks the door he does not have a key he opens the door he heads north along a path to a wood he reaches a crossroads and goes west he ends up at a tower the tower has a door. He walks through the door. He finds some underwear. He puts on the underwear. He takes the underwear off his head. He has a coffee. He has some toast. He does not have a shower but he masks his bed stench with deodorant and hopes it will last throughout the day as long as he keeps his arms pressed by his sides his armpits firmly closed he thinks he will probably get away with it he should probably have also sprayed his genitals but it is too late for that now because he is sitting at work after having travelled on the bus with other tired commuters where he is told that his job is worth $300,000 he is not paid $300,000 so he is sure that this opinion dressed as fact is going to make him sad at least until lunch time. Then he has a donut and he forgets his unhappiness. He watches rebels retreat from Homs. He does not know what it means strategically but he suspects it will not improve the lives of civilians. He watches someone explain Indian politics. It is confusing and seems to be somewhere between dynastic and democratic held together with money – much like American politics. He watches Luke Russert talking about Tim Russert on the television and he wonders what it would have been like to have a father or a father like that but really a father at all and he wonders at all the failed attempts throughout his life to find father figures in teachers, friends, distant relatives and strangers and how he managed to fail every one of them so it’s probably rather good he didn’t have a father in the first place because wretched disappointment is best experienced in a realm of fantasy not in the concrete cold of reality. Then he watches and he listens and he chews the air thoughtfully. He wonders where his mother is and then remembers that she is dead and ash scattered on a mountain. Then he eats some nuts. Then he weeps at the missing and the dead and the wrecked and the damned. Then he goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Yesterday happened. Today is going to happen. An apartment fell through. It is irritating, frustrating, discombobulating, but then he remembers that he has a voucher to get a free custard shake at Shake Shack the next time he visits so he feels marginally less distraught but only marginally. Then he weighs himself and he is unhappy with the result and then he talks to a friend and…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Yesterday happened. Today is going to happen. An apartment fell through. It is irritating, frustrating, discombobulating, but then he remembers that he has a voucher to get a free custard shake at Shake Shack the next time he visits so he feels marginally less distraught but only marginally. Then he weighs himself and he is unhappy with the result and then he talks to a friend and…
He wakes up. Yesterday happened. Today is going to happen. An apartment fell through. It is irritating, frustrating, discombobulating, but then he remembers that he has a voucher to get a free custard shake at Shake Shack the next time he visits so he feels marginally less distraught but only marginally. Then he weighs himself and he is unhappy with the result and then he talks to a friend and then he talks to a sibling and then he reads an uplifting letter by E. B. White about the power of continuing, struggling, persevering, even in despite the face of desolate hopelessness. Again he sees monsters and again they look like human beings. All the angels are on strike or they have served as luncheon for the monsters. Even in this hope drought there is still reason to continue just to be stubborn just because it seems like it’s impossible just because it’s difficult. Then he eats some pasta and then he drinks a coffee then he wonders if the world is going to become a place where the young of the poor are farmed for their blood so that the old and the rich can maintain themselves with strong virile bodies forever based on the latest research with mice but he is probably being paranoid then he wonders if this blood will be combined with panda blood so create some kind of super serum that the wealthy will inject once a month as they retire to their armoured enclaves surrounded by automated drones all controlled via wireless electricty by the brain of an immortal Jeff Bezos but again he assumes that he is only being paranoid and then he reads a story about the FBI plotting to assassinate Occupy leaders in Houston, Texas but the evidence seems hidden under thick black lines blindness and unelected jackboots. He looks at trees and he finds their gentle swaying calm him down then he reads a review about a book that talks about race as genetic and he feels less calm and then he eats some chicken and potato that he heated up himself and he needs a nap and his shoulders hurt and he didn’t shower this morning so he smells bad in all the furrowed regions of his body. He pauses. There is time for pausing. “Life Alert definitely saved my mother-in-law’s life that day, no doubt about it.”, says the bitter looking man who knows that his wife’s inheritance will take a few more years to find it’s way into her bank account so that he can then cut the brake cables on her sports car and then wave her away on her regular cliff-top Sunday drive. This is what Life Alert stops. It stops murder in secluded summer houses. It stops nefarious plotting in the urban sprawl. Orson Welles celebrates his 99 years of something or other. He is dead. He is not celebrating anything but he imagines what it would be like for a 99 year old Orson Welles. Let me die, let me die, let me die, decrepit shrivelled wheelchair bound Orson Welles whispers wetly into his ear. He is held together by pain and missed opportunity. By genius and The Sublime. Too much sleep is bad for humans too littls sleep is bad for humans what is the right amount of sleep nobody knows if the right amount is discovered will it allow immortality like the blood of children? He feels that something very bad is approaching. There are injustices. There is inequality. There is a jarring sense of the not quite right about to get far worse. Where is the freedom. Freedom is in the toilet so he goes and sits on the toilet and reads his kindle. Then he goes to sleep. It is probably sleep or a continuation of whatever being awake is.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He sees bears, dancing, unicycles, politics. There are lies, kingmakers, overacting, underacting, artists work for free death death death life life life. A man recovering from a heart attack a man carrying a box of items going to work barely able to walk no health insurance waiting a month and a half for disability benefit been employed there for more than twenty years. Unshaven yet…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He sees bears, dancing, unicycles, politics. There are lies, kingmakers, overacting, underacting, artists work for free death death death life life life. A man recovering from a heart attack a man carrying a box of items going to work barely able to walk no health insurance waiting a month and a half for disability benefit been employed there for more than twenty years. Unshaven yet…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He enjoys the marmitish Noam Chomsky. He wants to be a 12 ft lizard. Maybe he is a 12ft lizard but the mind control device was turned against him and he thinks he’s a human being. He wonders if revolution is fermenting or if it is just old cheese and jelly in his fridge or both. He wonders why he takes things so seriously and he wonders why he is not taking things seriously enough.…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He enjoys the marmitish Noam Chomsky. He wants to be a 12 ft lizard. Maybe he is a 12ft lizard but the mind control device was turned against him and he thinks he’s a human being. He wonders if revolution is fermenting or if it is just old cheese and jelly in his fridge or both. He wonders why he takes things so seriously and he wonders why he is not taking things seriously enough.…
He wakes up. He enjoys the marmitish Noam Chomsky. He wants to be a 12 ft lizard. Maybe he is a 12ft lizard but the mind control device was turned against him and he thinks he’s a human being. He wonders if revolution is fermenting or if it is just old cheese and jelly in his fridge or both. He wonders why he takes things so seriously and he wonders why he is not taking things seriously enough. He watches novels die – one after the other leaping off a cliff into the darkness below. Sleepwalking into traffic surrounded by flaming tornadoes. These are dreams aren’t they? He thinks they are dreams but then he loses his camera battery and he isn’t sure. He drinks a cookies and cream milkshake. He pounds his swollen belly. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Allergies attack. The day is ruined on every conceivable level. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Allergies attack. The day is ruined on every conceivable level. He goes to sleep.
He wakes up. Allergies attack. The day is ruined on every conceivable level. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. A swollen whale carcass washes up on a beach. The enormous expanding metaphor terrifies the local residents with the underlying meanings that could be drawn from it’s rotting stench, it’s enormous size and whether or not it is possible to connect it to the worries in the centres of Capital or the Palaces of the powerful. He sees Matt Dillon. He sees Forrest Whitaker. They are…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. A swollen whale carcass washes up on a beach. The enormous expanding metaphor terrifies the local residents with the underlying meanings that could be drawn from it’s rotting stench, it’s enormous size and whether or not it is possible to connect it to the worries in the centres of Capital or the Palaces of the powerful. He sees Matt Dillon. He sees Forrest Whitaker. They are…
He wakes up. A swollen whale carcass washes up on a beach. The enormous expanding metaphor terrifies the local residents with the underlying meanings that could be drawn from it’s rotting stench, it’s enormous size and whether or not it is possible to connect it to the worries in the centres of Capital or the Palaces of the powerful. He sees Matt Dillon. He sees Forrest Whitaker. They are strangers with familiar faces. He stretches his psuedopodia out of the gelatinous mass of the public extending out to these two famous people reaching with his fronds to stroke and experience their physicality perfectly and completely. They look confused. He looks horrified. He doesn’t know them. They do not know him. He stares at the familiar masks that entertain him rictus on bodies that movie erratically below as if they were powered with hydraulics attached to steaming tubes trailing along the ground to a reeking back room full of engineers and chief scientists desperate to continue the facade that dreams are real as real as the misty mystery of reality. The joyful meandering debate continues about the nature of humane execution as there ever could be such a thing. Perhaps hemlock and milk would be the best way in the manner of Socrates. Everyone a philospher sent to their own existential oblivion.He reads that we are now in a post-antibiotic age. More end days. More fear. More enemies at every gate physical, mental, spiritual. He is winded by his orgasm. He lies back on the bed light headed and unable to breathe properly. He is old. Rob Ford is old. Rob Ford is going into rehab. Rob Ford is going to stop being a late night punchline for a while as he battles with his various illnesses. Jimmy Fallon misfires a number of jokes into an audience who, bless them, are willing him to succeed. He will have to try again tomorrow to satisfy his relentless hunger for approval. He squanders the rest of the day surfing the web – trapped in the web – stuck in the web. He eats a burger. He eats fries. He plays a video game called Risk of Rain which is not about the weather. The 234 girls abducted from Chibok school in Nigeria are still missing and unnamed but a swelling tide is rising to have them remembered and saved. He hopes that they will be remembered and saved. The world is awful. The world is not so bad. The world is full of people. People are awful. Except for the ones who are not awful. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He has the smooth soft skin of a young Cindy Crawford. The radio attempts to do an emergency warning test but it doesn’t work. What would happen if it wasn’t a test but the real thing. What if the real alert didn’t work? What if we are all dead. It didn’t work at the weekend. Tornadoes tearing down alarm systems. A terrible racist is banned from basketball for life. All the excellent…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He has the smooth soft skin of a young Cindy Crawford. The radio attempts to do an emergency warning test but it doesn’t work. What would happen if it wasn’t a test but the real thing. What if the real alert didn’t work? What if we are all dead. It didn’t work at the weekend. Tornadoes tearing down alarm systems. A terrible racist is banned from basketball for life. All the excellent…
He wakes up. He has the smooth soft skin of a young Cindy Crawford. The radio attempts to do an emergency warning test but it doesn’t work. What would happen if it wasn’t a test but the real thing. What if the real alert didn’t work? What if we are all dead. It didn’t work at the weekend. Tornadoes tearing down alarm systems. A terrible racist is banned from basketball for life. All the excellent racists go unpunished and carry on with their day, untrammelled. He looks at a poster. He is told that an elephant will be killed while you wait for the bus. Is this a threat or a promise? A warning but phrased as if a butcher waits at your pleasure ready to slice up pachyderm cutlets for your dinner. Is there an app for that? One button press away from watching those enormous loving eyes glaze and darken. There is a man shouting in middle distance. He can’t hear what the man is shouting about. Possibly Jesus. It’s often Jesus. No guarantee it’s Jesus this time. A police car sounds like it is wolf whistling other cars. Sexist police car. Objectifying civilian vehicles. A man is wearing amazing water proof shoe coverings that are red and make his real shoes look like clown shoes. A bold man unafraid of ridicule. The best of men. A man on the bus is reading Brave New World. Braver Newer World. A Lady in spectacles. Is she a Superhero in disguise? Wet blossom stuck to a car like confetti. A memory of catching thrown money as a child after a village wedding. Fistfuls. Fists full of coppers and silvers excited tumbling home down the hill to count the collected booty. The Voice contestants sing, desperate to cling on to the frayed edges of fame. Tasted. Addicted. Cold Turkey pain moments away. Chalmers Johnson mumbles into his hand about Rome and Russia and the decline of American power and Portia justifies her violence on the Housewivesof Atlanta reunion. Brian Williams has a serious face but it seems like there is nothing behind his eyes. An artificial glow added to his pupils by special effects artists who are well paid and unionized. His mouth opens and closes. Words come out. Ukraine, South Korea, tornadoes, a smile, warmth enough for what remains of the collective American soul and a promise to be there tomorrow night. The judges of The Voice could run the world. It would be an imperfect system but it would provide definite results. Carson Daley says they are singing for their lives. If this were actually the case then there would certainly be higher viewing figures but also police inquires and no doubt criminal proceedings. Unless society found something like that acceptable in which case there would only be police there earning overtime as crowd control and security before returning home to young families and suburban contentment. A music awards ceremony promotes a new song by Michael Jackson. He does not know what to make of this. He is saddened by the mental collapse of George Monbiot and the moral collapse of Tony Blair. Citizen arrest website performance art. Waiting for Bardot the most beautiful animal loving fascist in Europe. George Monbiot and Tony Blair star in Waiting for Godot. They sit under a fake tree waiting for two more actors to appear. The two actors do not appear. George and Tony are reading from two different plays. The coughing audience applauds the experiment and it is well reviewed on theater blogs. When he was a child no one told him how pungent and how quickly his genitals would smell when he grew to adulthood. No one told him. No doubt it would be frowned upon to talk of such things to children these days. It is raining hard outside. He eats lots off near for his supper and he drinks a number of beers. Lifetime ban of a racist basketball owner. But he still owns a team. A bald man screams. Does it mean anything? There is a funnel cloud warning. There is a funnel cake warning both dangerous in their own way. Bob Hoskins is dead. Who will save Roger Rabbit now? An execution is botched. A man is tortured to death with chemicals and then his heart explodes. The crime for which is he convicted is awful and the way the state destroys his life is equally terrifying. There is no respite from the abyss. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Consumerism consumes consumers. Yumyumyum. Cell phone searches. Police sweeps. We are our own surveillance. He watches people through the bus window and then realizes he is staring at strangers. The Ricky Gervais backlash continues slowly but steadily. He had a new House mate that he does not see but senses because there are shoes in a place there is not supposed to be shoes and…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. Consumerism consumes consumers. Yumyumyum. Cell phone searches. Police sweeps. We are our own surveillance. He watches people through the bus window and then realizes he is staring at strangers. The Ricky Gervais backlash continues slowly but steadily. He had a new House mate that he does not see but senses because there are shoes in a place there is not supposed to be shoes and…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He likes being asleep so he is unhappy to be woken up by the light and his body and the requirement to go to work for a living so that he can get money to buy food and shelter. He reads more of Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the 21st Century and starts to read Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness by Jane Lazarre. He listens to a skinny young child talk about taking a year off. Words…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He likes being asleep so he is unhappy to be woken up by the light and his body and the requirement to go to work for a living so that he can get money to buy food and shelter. He reads more of Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the 21st Century and starts to read Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness by Jane Lazarre. He listens to a skinny young child talk about taking a year off. Words…
He wakes up. He likes being asleep so he is unhappy to be woken up by the light and his body and the requirement to go to work for a living so that he can get money to buy food and shelter. He reads more of Thomas Piketty’s book Capital in the 21st Century and starts to read Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness by Jane Lazarre. He listens to a skinny young child talk about taking a year off. Words like ethnic, exotic, experience, character-building fly thick and fast out of the young child’s mouth. Does it mean anything? Other than signifiers of white male privilige not very much or that the rest of the world is a playground and a classroom for the paler peoples of the planet. Life is happening elsewhere. He drinks some elderflower drink. It transports him back to many years ago to a lovely time when he picked elderflowers with a friend and subtle elderflower champagne was made and fermented and he probably spent far too much time at his friends house but everyone was too polite to say anything but he is old now and on another continent so it probably doesn’t matter how we make mistakes and don’t see the signs and overstay our welcome and try to escape the inescapable. He watches Cosmos and it fills his heart with joy and he naps. He walks past a wall and on the wall there is a piece of plastic. The piece of plastic flaps in the wind. It makes a hard noises as it hits the wall. It does not seem to serve any purpose. It is not covering an opening or a broken window. It is just nailed into a brick wall.. Maybe it is street art. He saves some fake animals in a video game. It is not satisfying. He reads about Tony Blair. Tony Blair seems to be going insane. Maybe he has always been insane. Advertising is destroying the planet. It is destroying humanity. As has always been the plan. He drinks a French Coffee and eats a Jimmy Dean Breakfast biscuit. He opens the Jimmy Dean Box. The frozen layers are wrapped in plastic. He opens the packet. The biscuit looks like plastic. The egg looks like plastic. The bacon looks like plastic. It looks like a child’s toy. He wraps it in paper. He unwraps the second one and does the same. These two plastic toys are put in the microwave. He sets the microwave for 2 minutes then changes his mind and resets it to 2 and a half minutes. Then he stands by the microwave and waits for 2 and a half minutes wondering at how many times the West will be said to be wringing it’s hands as it stands by unable to do anything as darker hued people attack one another in a vacuum with no connection to any complex global interrelations that may or may not be connected to governments of the west or corporations of the west we are the good guys we are the good guys we are the good guys. Then someone uses the phrase Hobson’s Choice when he actually means Sophie’s Choice but no one seems to notice and no one seems to care. The sun is pleasant outside and there is a slight breeze. He eats some cake flavoured m&ms and he has mint flavoured m&ms and he eats some cookies and cream hershey bar. He is getting fat and he isn’t sure why. He remembers that he has forgotten his Jimmy Dean Breakfast biscuits. He returns to the microwave. They are soft and cold. He heats them up again. He chews them. They are very hot in some parts but there are still cold pockets of wet meat. He puts ketchup on them. He does not feel any better about himself. At least he is not being sentenced to death. He wants a pair of sunglasses. He wants to be drunk. He wants to forget. He wants to remember. He dives down the rabbit hole but only his hand will fit. He is not the space trader he wished to be when he was a child. He rends and he tears at the sky but it does not respond. He plays he talks he thinks he hopes he fears. He ignores grammar and spelling and syntax. He bores. He bores deeply into his head with a drill. There is just air inside his head. It is hollow like a jar. Like an old jar found in a cave. He goes to sleep.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. There is a new film with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. They will be in love. They visit Africa. All of Africa. Terry Crewes goons around. There are giraffes. There is dancing. No mention is made to what part of the country of Africa they are visiting. Lion King Land perhaps. The Scotland Independence debate is confusing. Federal system on a tiny island. Would independence turn…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. There is a new film with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler. They will be in love. They visit Africa. All of Africa. Terry Crewes goons around. There are giraffes. There is dancing. No mention is made to what part of the country of Africa they are visiting. Lion King Land perhaps. The Scotland Independence debate is confusing. Federal system on a tiny island. Would independence turn…
He doesn’t wake up.
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He swims in a sea of sadness. He sees the shore and makes his way, slowly, towards the firm ground. He is asked if he uses chewing tobacco or snuff. He did not realize that he woke up in the 19th century this morning.The only people who seem happy with Hamas and Fatah joining together are in a room shaking hands. Some people with flags also look happy but there is no sense what is…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He swims in a sea of sadness. He sees the shore and makes his way, slowly, towards the firm ground. He is asked if he uses chewing tobacco or snuff. He did not realize that he woke up in the 19th century this morning.The only people who seem happy with Hamas and Fatah joining together are in a room shaking hands. Some people with flags also look happy but there is no sense what is…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He feels refreshed as if he had a good nights sleep. His phone tells him he is in Alexander City, Alabama. He is not in Alexander City, Alabama. He looks up Alexander City, Alabama on the internet. It seems to be the home of many sports professionals. It had a different name once and it was burnt to the ground and then it was rebuilt. He wonders if all theater is dead. He sees an…
Appetite for Distraction – Another Day.
He wakes up. He feels refreshed as if he had a good nights sleep. His phone tells him he is in Alexander City, Alabama. He is not in Alexander City, Alabama. He looks up Alexander City, Alabama on the internet. It seems to be the home of many sports professionals. It had a different name once and it was burnt to the ground and then it was rebuilt. He wonders if all theater is dead. He sees an…
The SleepCoat League Presents: 