Chairman Mao

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The Chairman never brushed his teeth, preferring instead to rinse with tea and chew the leaves. As a result his teeth were green and his gums oozed pus from infection. He was a chain smoker. Unfiltered English cigarettes by the carton. The Chairman didn’t bathe. He considered it a waste of time. He would clean his body by the infrequent use of a damp towel, but more often than not through the act of intercourse. Peasant … Read more

Evil vs. Evil

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The total victory of communism over fascism, even in memory, is remarkable. Mussolini, Hitler, Franco and the bunch are reviled in our societies. They’ve been whittled down to nothing. A shorthand for evil. Commercialized, fetishized, two-dimensional bogeymen. Stalin and Mao on the other hand endure as near divine figures. Old women sobbing in Red Square, old men prostrating themselves on the Tiananmen parade ground. Stalin’s portrait as icon, Mao’s little red book as bible. Even … Read more

Uncle Joe

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Uncle Joe’s on the phone again. He’s telling me to pick up cigarettes and vodka. I tell him I don’t have time, they’re firing guns outside. There’s screaming in the hallway.

Uncle Joe is adamant. He tells me I should stop worrying. He tells me to be a man. “Are you a lion or a monkey?” he asks.

“Aren’t we all monkeys?” I respond.

I hear more gunfire outside. Screams. Shouting. Then nothing but silence. Uncle … Read more

The Bleak

I was thinking about the last words of Steve Jobs, which reportedly were “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.” Immediately this brought to mind a passage from Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions:

“Like all Earthlings at the point of death, Mary Young sent faint reminders of herself to those who had known her. She released a cloud of telepathic butterflies, and one of those brushes the cheek of Dwayne Hoover, nine miles away. Dwayne heard a tired voice from somewhere behind … Read more

Twilight

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Outside of the shockwave, maybe, but still close enough to feel the blast. The ground shakes and windows shatter. Animals run for the mountains in herds. And the rain is black with ash. Not that the locals notice. If the ground swallowed them whole I doubt the event would register. But that’s life here on the edge of the crater. It was fifty years ago, or so I am told, that the trains first passed … Read more

Thrift Store Jesus

Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for … Read more

Pieces

I’m sitting on the edge of her bed, buttoning my shirt. The walls are covered in red patterned wallpaper. There’s a thick white rug on the floor. The light in the room is diffuse. A single shaded lamp. Just over the bed is a print of an Egon Schiele painting he did of a prostitute. Her red hair tussled, her head resting on her knee.

“He died in 1918,” she says as she smokes a cigarette, squeezing a plume of … Read more

America’s Strength

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Art is so closely aligned with protest because both are forms of expression. We see this in Occupy Wall Street where protest chants mix equally with street performances. The result is a carnival atmosphere, one that the more straight-laced don’t really get. Is it politics or theater? Is it serious debate or sing-along? The art is what allows the powers that be to dismiss the very serious calls for economic justice that are at the … Read more

The Knight

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We’re obsessed with heroic images. We love the idea of heroism, but we also tend to resent it, run from it. We try to find fault in it. Heroes are celebrated and then torn to shreds five minutes later. I’ve always liked the idea of chivalry. Honor. Courage. When we look back to history we try to force a strict morality onto the people who lived then, but of course the image was far more complicated … Read more