A Short Tragedy of the Current Past

photo by Colette Anderson

1. These days, I cant remember How I Got Over The Suburbs. Was it through the Courage of Others? Perhaps I Swung from the Branches through the Wild Nothing. I dont recall that time; all I remember is our Teen Dream. We met in the Heartland at Expo '86. Your Twin Sister pointed to you and whispered “Thank Me Later” so I went to you and said “I’m New Here.” You handed me some Square Shells and said “Have One on Me. Happy Birthday.”

You were a Tomboy but I couldn't Say No to Love. I was Crazy for You. True Devotion. We Made the Harbor and did Acid and Everything. We had a Summer HeartBeat Connection. Here, High Violet was a Real Life Color and there were Nitetime Rainbows.

And then. One day you had a Disconnect from Desire. You looked at our Skin Collision Past and said “Romance is Boring,” you said I was Clinging to a Scheme. And then you left with the Pigeons yelling, “Blackbird Blackbird.”


2. Before Today, in the suburbs, there once was an Active Child who was called The Son of Chico Dusty. He lived on the Grey Oceans where there was no water. Only a Plastic Beach and many ArchAndroid Guards On Patrol. It was a cold White Hinterland. All the Sleigh Bells had become Broken Bells and he had no Bliss Release. He began to Fight Softly. In the empty Baths, the active child built Fossil Cities (he called them Secret Cities) using the Beach Fossils collected At Echo Lake.

He put his ear to the Innerspeaker and prayed to Saint Bartlett, the Tallest Man on Earth and practitioner of White Magic. The child asked him to show The Way Out. The saint came to him and said “There is Love in You. I Will Be a False Priest if I do not help your Prison Break. But you must know, it will be Rough Travels for a Rare Thing.”

But child said he wanted to see Hidden Lands, to Swim in Bodies of Water. To Go, to Search.
The saint gave a Wild Smile and said “you have Gone Blind.”

3. There are Heavy Ghost Appendices here now. King Night rules all but there are no Covers. After you left, my blood became Odd Blood. I was delusional, thinking I was the King of the Beach. I said “Tomorrow is Alright” and got Stoned Alone. Eventually, I traveled to the Golden Archipelago and built a Memoryhouse for you. For Four More Years, I obsessively made Memory Tapes. Libraries full. Like your memory was a Hypnotist, guiding my actions. The tapes said:

This was our One Life Stand

If Love is All, where are you?

Congratulations, Everlasting.

The Fear is Excruciating,

But Therein Lies the Answer

I learned the Hard Way,

We are the Causers of This Wise Blood

So Runs the World Away

There was Recovery and Rebirth:

A Frightened Rabbit and Mare

The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton

…And They Have Escaped

the Weight of Darkness,

the Dream was a Big Echo.