"beginnings carved in an iron haze"
I. Prison Blues and Familiar FacesBuzzed in and buzzed out,Cameras tracking shadow withGlass eye and red blinking lightOne last fuck-up, one lapse in judgmentTo send black ass backUnder boot of man.No luck, no attempt,Just shuffling feet.Trading orange jumpers for denim...
She'll call herself Baby Blue when they're desperate for a name to moan. Stole it from a billboard ad along highway 70. Thinks it was the name for a zoo's newborn seal; bit like that song... Baby Beluga? Blue Jean Baby? Can't say for sure. Doesn't really matter....
The Black Keys thunder from pulsating speakers as Rex scorches us across a parched stretch of desolation. Madness glints in his eyes as he ups the volume and floors the accelerator, pushing the jittery needle past eighty-eight. The engine spits...
A vinyl record chirps out the chocolaty smooth baritone of Nat King Cole and his 1960 album, The Magic of Christmas, as we’re processed, lifting the precinct’s normally dingy atmosphere to something almost magical. Thing is though, the steel cuffs...
"Sometimes... losing is far better than winning"
“Yo, Dex. Ain’t no time to be drowning in misery, man. So you couldn’t pull it out. You’re what, eighteen? Barely outta high school and on the biggest sporting stage in the world. Shit. It took me longer than that...
"Rebirth is never easy endeavor, nor should it be"
The Old Absinthe House is dead. The French Quarter is a cemetery. The bar’s doors are thrown open to the elements and a gentle breeze drifts in with the dancing notes of a street corner clarinetist. I recognize the tune,...
"Don't believe what you see. Nothing is as it seems. Or is it?"
I. Giant, multicolored sails litter the rolling turquoise waves of the Pacific. From this distance, they’re like flecks of paper mache swaying back and forth in the wind, waving little goodbyes as they drift farther and farther out. There’s a...
Rich shades of orange and yellow flames flicker and crackle, their chaotic dance sending waves of soothing heat over my naked body. It’s a small comfort, but only just. I’m bound and blindfolded next to the fire, cold metallic cuffs...
"A new way to cope"
I never really planned on spending my last few hours on this fucked up planet in another pub, an empty .45 colt on the dark cherry wood of the bar, a half drunk bottle of whiskey shining in the dim...
"In the dark of night, magic happens at the carnival."
I never imagined working at a carnie, joining the ranks of society’s oddballs: the clowns, the “mystics”, the giants and dwarfs, and the creepy redheaded puppeteer twins. But here I am, looking ridiculous in a straw fedora, a big red...