Author Archives: istsfor manity

White Elephantitis So he goes on this monologue telling me why I want to avoid becoming the white elephant at the company. He said, “it was too revered to be a beast of burden: the white elephant earned a reputation … Continue reading →

The Dictator Says The dictator says: St. Ignatius used a cilice; hold your breath and expand, let go… and I do. She’s gesticulating wildly and walking toward me. She has violent intent, the dictator says. I let go of the … Continue reading →

Annihilation Haiku (7.16.20) The mushroom cloud grows Across the blind horizon A dead gray snow falls “There was just a continent without much on it under a sky that never cared less.” — William E. Stafford / “At the Bomb … Continue reading →

In This Hole I live in a parallel universe of my own devising. I live most of my days in a dank cell, in the bowels of a vast complex of cells. I am allowed to write for fifteen minutes … Continue reading →

The Derelict Web And he must hold on to the sink and stand firmly on his left leg because his right leg is useless. It doesn’t respond to his command all Henry can manage is to drag it along and … Continue reading →

The Dream: Bushwa Bill  The god of the godless oversees this place.  There is no lodestar here. All is coal, bituminous and gas fires. Everyone wears a sheen of black. Coal dust and gas floats through the atmosphere. The air … Continue reading →

bushwa bill’s haiku gas fires choke the night —  coal and bituminous blue —  breath of the godless “Basically, that’s why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.” — … Continue reading →

I Had Me A Wife, I Had Me Some Daughters Massive heat dome come Down on me — I’ve run myself Ragged — nobody knows What I’ve done to my family. As the Fata Morganas shimmered away —  I dug a hole … Continue reading →

Popcorn Double Feature Various ideas for your book: Include a scene at the rheumy palace —  Maybe a nonfiction setting on shipwrecked cay.  Maybe not. Use these words liberally: Ablation; asperity; cassocks; chasubles;  hooded cowls; astringent; incursive; afflux; minikin; Grand … Continue reading →

Softcover Words Read this “How to…” book and communicate in softcover words your hard cover deeds — herding sheep and goats, lying with packs of dogs, theorizing  yersinia pestis theorems, and puzzling though a sheaf of sanity assassins. Read about the … Continue reading →