In Conversation

Art Appreciation A couple weekends ago, I had the opportunity to ride with the excitable crew of Rockin Robbie Billz, Maniacal Mike Matthews and Trevor up to Nashville for Galaxycon. I never miss the chance to show up for these pop culture conventions so long as I know Billy Zane isn’t going to be present. …

Champagne Murder Devils For Michael Grover Champagne Murder Devils lie lazily, streaming the measures of evil with every sip of drunken haughtiness. Hidden mansions stand among the humid reeds, where they suck in their bulbous guts while dipping swollen feet in a five-million-dollar pool. Trying to impress twenty-one-year-old coke queens who came for the ride, …

Babies from a Candy I am sitting around listening to the blues with my wife. Both very drunk. When I tell her that something would be like taking babies from a candy. She pauses for a moment, then corrects me. “I thought I could let it go,” she smiles. “But I just can’t.” We both …

This is not a drill The building is on fire. We are choking on smoke. No way to the left, no way to the right, the executive suites are safe but down here in the budget rooms outlook not so good. 9-1-1 is selling your data. The extinguishers all have legally binding end user agreements. …

snickerdoodles geri sees the big fat president on tv and says she hates all white men then amy says to her well, why are you dating one? living with one, if you feel that way? geri sees the genocide in palestine and swears she’s going to move there to help save lives and alleviate her …

Accounting 101 We lived inside our weariness      shattered by the level of force required to drive a post into the ground      the ice having only now melted      it was our town our inheritance that spent decades expanding or contracting      until it finally settled until we accepted the settlement all around us cheerfulness and fences and …

The Restaurant “The menu’s got a faux-proletarian vibe,” my friend Luke described the restaurant ahead. So often ironic, his jokes not always obvious, I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, and I googled the term on my cellphone. “Common choices include salmon, tuna, sardines and trout,” the text read. “Chicken and turkey, which are …

The White Trash Devil “Ellen’s invited us to her church to see Lovella get baptized,” the wife said, having busted into the bedroom like a snack cake chomping dervish. I sat there at my desk frozen for a moment. An untrained eye would have mistaken my industry for literary endeavor. The reality of it was …

Caused My Heart to Bleed Not about who you are, or where you’ve been, or what you’ve seen, or when your huge creative act is going to freak out the Earth. It’s that you’re still here—still stepping two tone with the air, keeping you alive vs the reamers who darken the pest of thought—fighting for …

Learning to Drive Leaving the warehouse and tattooing every viaduct from Broadway to Pulaski Jimmy learned to drive feeling his way with each corner of the 42’ straight body truck whose keys the boss finally handed over on a Saturday morning after a passive protest of hungover no-call no-shows from everybody else following Friday payday. …