Worry Doll
In the graphic novel world, Worry Doll probably comes closest to Dan Clowes’ internal world, yet the William Burroughs’ cut-up Naked Lunch type narrative makes it something more grotesque and a little more psychotic.
Susan Tomaselli on Matt Coyle‘s Worry Doll.
Pork Chops
On Jeff’s night to cook they had pork chops. Clearing the greasy plates, Sandy spied a wisp of vapor floating near the chandelier, as if someone had exhaled a long drag from a cigarette. Neither of them smoked.
By Gail Louise Siegel.
Kicking My Own Ass
Think of it, should I prevail, I would have a perfect record, should I kick my own ass, beating myself senseless, I would become no loser for having fought and stood up to the baddest, the most terrifying fighter for miles. I would have been in fact the only man to have stood up to myself and prevailed!
By Steve Vermillion.
To Perish a Turkey
No matter how badly I wanted to bash his face in with a shovel, I knew Travis was one of those miscreants who would burn my mother’s house down while she was sleeping inside.
By Charles Clifford Brooks III.
You and Helena
On the first proper date she’ll tell you about the fifty five blokes she’s slept with: the one she went home with at a bus stop; the best mate of the one she was seeing; the one who only ever wanted to do it in his car; etc., etc. She will attempt to wow you with her sexual bravado, as if fucking people is this great cosmic competition and she is the winner.
By Chris Killen.
I Will Video Myself Watching Myself Write This Poem
I did not shop on Black Friday
Because little boys would trample me
For VCRs at Best Buy
I would hamstring these boys
Then tear their throats out and scream
Until they became zombies
By Ofelia Hunt.
I’m 55 and Have No Health Insurance and I Just Got Fired
I am 55 years old and have 28 friends on MySpace.
A lot of them are bands or singers.
For a long time Tom was my only friend.
I will accept anyone as a friend.
By Richard Grayson.
Stuck Inn I
Even the ludicrous doctrine of Duchamp and Beuys that it’s art because an artist says so has been discarded as a needless nicety, and now it’s art because it’s in an art gallery – obviously what the curators really wanted all along.
Charles Thomson‘s new column for 3:AM on Billy Childish, Kylie and slides at the Tate.