* (Halloween countdown post #2)

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The Haunted Carwash (Anaheim)
‘Brace yourself for a Halloween scare like no other! Starting at $30 per car, Southern California residents can dare to enter the Haunted Carwash—a nightmarish journey that turns an ordinary car wash into a realm of terror. As you slowly drive through, sinister performers will leap from the shadows, and spine-tingling special effects will envelop you in an atmosphere of sheer horror. With bone-chilling surprises lurking around every corner, this is a Halloween experience designed to keep you on edge.’

 

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Backwoods Massacre (Simi Valley)
‘”Backwoods Massacre” is in a league of its own, foregoing the use of scare actors and instead relying on ambience and suspense as its main form of frightening storytelling. Its designer, Jesse Reed, converted his two car garage into a shack themed maze which funnels out through a side yard. With its flickering lights and environments accented by body parts and taxidermy, you feel like you are lost in a Louisiana swamp. You come upon a mysterious cabin, and every turn feels like you are about to encounter an armed hunter who is ready to kill and dismantle anyone who dares to trespass. This theme is very original and enhances the singular nature of this haunt. Backwood’s Massacre is always a wonderful way to feel like you are starring in your own horror film. Reed’s haunt is truly a standout experience which unquestionably scares everyone who visits. The reactions of everyone who we saw leaving the haunt were a testament to Reed’s success in playing by his own rules and creating his own signature experience in the haunt world.’

 

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Night of Terror: Freedom (Whittier)
‘Well we found it, the rarest haunt of them all: the hell house. We stumbled across it outside of Los Angeles in the small town of Whittier. For those who aren’t familiar with this phenomenon, hell houses are haunts hosted by fundamentalist christians where you travel through a maze of “real life” vignettes which typically portray dead children at raves, girls killing themselves over abortion guilt, and drunk teenagers dying in violent car accidents. These Reagan era ideas are a bit dated, but get strapped in because we are about to go on a wild ride.’

 

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DELUSION: THE RED CASTLE (Los Angeles)
‘Its past installments have found attendees stealthing their way through a Victorian home and embarking on a Blade Runner-esque bounty hunt. And now this celebrated immersive horror theater event will return for an event at a new location, a 133-year-old castle near USC.

‘Delusion, an interactive seasonal event that combines elements of immersive theater with a more story-based approach to a walk-through haunted house, will take over the Stimson House, a recognizable red brick mansion built in 1891 in University Park. “The Red Castle,” which opens on September 20 and runs just past Halloween to November 3, puts you in the role of a possibly-superpowered asylum patient under the care of a spiraling psychologist who’s attempting to resurrect his deceased wife.’

 

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LUNAR TERROR PRODUCTIONS: VERUM (Lancaster)
‘LUNAR TERROR PRODUCTIONS IS INDEPENDENTLY OWNED, GEN-Z OWNED AND IS PRIMARILY BASED IN LANCASTER, CALIFORNIA. IT IS AN ART PROJECT CREATED BY ME AND MY ONLINE FRIEND, CASSIUS AS AN EXPRESSION OF OUR VERY OWN PERSONAL NICHES AND AS PROTEST TO ARTLESSNESS THAT MANY ASSUME HAUNTED HOUSES TO POSESS. WE’VE BOTH SPENT OUR CHILDHOODS PLANNING HALLOWEEN AND OUR “HAUNTS” YEAR-ROUND AND OVER THE YEARS, DEVELOPED OUR OWN LANGUAGE OF THIS MEDIUM.

‘OUR HAUNTED HOUSE IS A HOME HAUNT, MEANING IT’S NON-PROFIT AND HELD ON OUR RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. IN OUR OPINION, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THE EXPERIENCE ISN’T WORTH VISITING IF YOU LIVE IN THE ANTELOPE VALLEY OR LOVE HOME HAUNTS.

‘LIKE THE BASEMENT HAUNTED HOUSES OF THE 20TH CENTURY, OURS IS SMALL – INSIDE THE 3-CAR GARAGE THAT’S BEEN CONVERTED INTO A HOLLYWOOD-LIKE SET. WE’VE FOUND WAYS TO MAXIMIZE THE SPACE AND LENGTH TO OUR HAUNT. THE EXPERIENCES WE’VE MADE IN OUR “SOUNDSTAGE” AVERAGE AT ABOUT 4-8 MINUTES, WHICH IS LONGER THAN A UNIVERSAL HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS HOUSE THAT PEOPLE WAIT HOURS FOR.’

 

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Nightmare from Main Street (Paso Robles)
‘Absolutely the most frightening and engaging haunt in California. While we go to LA a lot to see the wide variety of DIY haunts offered there, it is this amazing gem that excites us the most for Oct to roll around every year. Combining both an actual old house and additional maze structures, there is a playfulness between realism and artifice that makes one feel like you’re completely in another world here. Suspense is the key as well, building terror through patience and surprises in a manner most haunts are simply not sophisticated enough to pull off. This is worth the drive no matter how far you are coming from.’

 

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Fear Farm (Chino)
‘Fear Farm and Keys2Fear Productions are proud to announce they are joining forces to create the Inland Empire’s newest multi-attraction scream park, Fear Farm IE. Located at 8900 McCarty Road, Chino, CA 91710, at the famous SC Village Paintball and Airsoft Fields in Chino, California, this brand-new event will host five separate haunted attractions spread over 200 acres.’

 

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SLEEPWALKR 2.0 (Echo Park)
‘Our Tribeca Festival selected immersive show is BACK with an ALL-NEW 50-minute-long sci-fi/horror experience, SLEEPWALKR 2.0, coming to Echo Park this October! Enter 2044 Los Angeles, where underground entertainment troupes plunge audiences into the dreamscapes of others.’

 

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The Escondido Mad House (Escondido)
‘It’s time…. THE ESCONDIDO MADHOUSE IS BACK!!! As seen on KUSI, Frightmaps, and the Scare Factor!! Voted the best home haunt of the western USA!! Come if you dare, YOU WILL BE SCARED!’

 

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Blood Hill (Altadena)
‘When the Circus shut down everyone wondered where all the clowns had gone but, after 70 years, everyone moved on. They had forgotten about The Circus, and left it to rot. 70 years later and the surrounding neighborhood watched as the Circus came back to life! Surprise turned to horror as now they realized where the clowns had gone, they never left! Insane and demented, they have now re-opened The Circus, in their twisted vision!’

 

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Urban Death Tour of Terror! (Los Angeles)
‘Part twisting haunted house and part badass theatre attraction, URBAN DEATH TOUR OF TERROR will reach into the depths of the darkest corners of the human psyche. The monstrous freaks are here to terrify and shock you to your core! After facing the spine-chilling and risqué maze upon entrance, guests will be treated to a live show consisting of a series of shocking and bloody wordless vignettes and mind-blowing physical performances. Guests will then face frightening new creatures hiding within a reversed version of the scream-inducing TOUR OF TERROR maze on their way back into the real world.’

 

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Ghostwood Manor: The Wreck of the Crimson Dagger (Pasadena)
‘Two thousand feet below the moonlit tides of the Caribbean lies a spooky tale of greed and its consequences. Take a deep breath and explore… THE WRECK OF THE CRIMSON DAGGER!! Ghostwood Manor is a Home Haunt in Pasadena, CA.’

 

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Reichland Asylum (Riverside)
‘Reichland Asylum haunted attraction returns for our 15th year of fear! Featured on Season 2 of the Great Halloween Fright Fight, and one of the largest home haunts in Southern California with over 5,000 sq ft of walkthrough haunt and a display that engulfs the entire front of our home. haunted attraction returns for our 15th year of fear! Featured on Season 2 of the Great Halloween Fright Fight, and one of the largest home haunts in Southern California with over 5,000 sq ft of walkthrough haunt and a display that engulfs the entire front of our home.’

 

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Fairbrook Manor (Long Beach)
‘Explore the grounds where in the 1930s, oil heiress Victoria Fairbrook kidnapped local children and held them captive. Have the tortured souls of the ghostly children crossed over to the dark side, or do they simply want to…play…with you? You’ll find out…at Fairbrook Manor. Your soul is your entry, and we also collect canned goods & toiletries.’

 

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Rotten Apple 907: The Last Stop! (Burbank)
‘It was a long wait, but it was worth it. Don’t miss this one!’

 

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The Condemned Compound (Brentwood)
‘This haunted house started in Tracy. We grew such a fan base,we needed a new larger location. We moved the haunt to Brentwood ca. 2023 was our new haunt start and now on our 2nd year in Brentwood. Come scare yourself.’

 

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Realm of Shadow (Norwalk)
‘Welcome to the heart of the Lord of Shadow’s Puzzle Box – his Labyrinth of Lost Souls. Find the path out, but don’t awaken his guests. You have been warned!’

 

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Dread Town (Chino)
‘We are a small, family-run haunt, sometimes running off a skeleton crew, so we thank you for your patience. Plan accordingly as there are no restrooms on-site. Scheduled dates and hours are subject to change based on demand.’

 

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The Gershon Dungeon (North Tustin)
‘The Gershon Dungeon is one of the largest and longest-running home haunts in all of Orange County (32 years).’

 

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Burbank Clown House (Burbank)
‘We have ambivalent feelings about carnival-themed Halloween haunts: as a concept, we think clowns are overused, but in spite of our misgivings, Burbank Clown House is a great example. This home haunt uses tents, lights, posters, and rooftop decorations to obscure the house, creating the visual impression of a circus occupying the entire property – there is even what looks like a giant Ferris Wheel, which seems to be looming from behind the house.’

 

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Caitlin Manor Haunted House (San Bernardino)
‘Come visit the scariest place in San Bernardino … Caitlin Manor Haunted House! many themes and horrifying rooms of horror including the Clown Room, Zombie Room, Room Five nights at Caitlin, and the unimaginable Doll House. Tomb of darkness and Full of ghouls…you may want to write your will before entering.’

 

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Beware the Dark Realm – The Sanctuary (Santa Clarita)
‘The brainchild of Scott Sivley and family, whose haunt resume dates back to 1971 (predating the historic first year of Knott’s Scary Farm), Beware the Dark Realm is a medieval-themed maze that trades contemporary horror for ancient darkness. The enormous attraction feels unique in a landscape full of serial killers and zombies. Guests will encounter witches, crazed jesters, and perhaps even a mythical dragon. The Dark Realm manages to sidestep cliches while also offering an experience that is timeless and nostalgic.’

 

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The Chainsaw House (North Hills)
‘A walkthrough built to traumatize for years to come. Not recommended for small children. We pride ourself on unique props and nightmare fuel. The name says it all… welcome to The Chainsaw House.’

 

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Kamp Kaos Haunt (Jurupa Valley)
‘Great news!!!! We have acquired solid wooden walls for this year’s haunt! We just can’t wait to show you all the improvements we have in store for this year!!!!’

 

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The 17th Door (Buena Park)
‘The 17th Door has moved its over-the-top immersive experience to Buena Park, Orange County. As one of the scariest, most intense, and most interactive haunted houses in the country, they have continued their pursuit to innovate and push the boundaries within the haunt industry. With a new location, even bigger and better than before, comes exciting future opportunities and room to expand. The 17th Door is excited to present more unique experiences that have never been undertaken before in a haunt!’

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. The Halloween roll out continues today with my annual wrap up of this year’s most delicious looking Southern California haunted attractions. Assuming most of you don’t live around there, I suggest you peruse these wonderments like they’re art, which they are, if you ask me. Or wish me future luck when I’ll be there driving all over the place hitting as many of them as I can. Or, if you’ll be in the actual vicinity, join me! ** kier, Hey! Fuck, I hope fucking Cloudflare fixes that fucking bug soon. They’re being yelled at from every corner of the internet, so you would think they’d get a move on. But I’m glad incognito worked. ‘Resident Evil: Village’ was great! I sort of half-played, half-observed my roommate playing it when I was LA for the long haul waiting to shoot our film. I think he had it on Xbox? I haven’t played the Re4 remake, no, but that’s my favorite RE game, so obviously I want to. I’m relieved to hear your face is recovering its true self. God, what a hassle. My ear is near-normal again. A doctor cleaned it out of an astonishing amount of crap and gave me anti-biotic drops that I’m near the end of my regimen of taking. Hey, Ottar! My yesterday blew because we got some bad film-related news, and I’m kind of in despair about that, so I’d rather not talk about it. We’ll survive, but it sucks. Today should be better if only by default. The game we made: We only have a walkthrough demo at this point. We showed it at an event here. We’re going to finish the game, but the film mess has gotten in the way. We made it while we were planning the film, and it’s involves exploring a haunted, demonic house, basically. It’s kind fun, very deliberately old-school, early 90s style with out-of-date graphics and a super basic play through. I’ll show it to you one of these days. Keep upwardly swinging, my pal. Big love, me. ** jay, Hey, Wieners isn’t hugely well known, but he’s great and revered by those in the know. Yeah, the writing of ‘A Little Life’ was just unbearably shit (for me). Looking forward to ‘Starve Acre’, for sure. Let me know how the house party goes. It sounds like a good combo and nice and kind of fraught. ** Poecilia, Greetings, maestro! Wow, those artworks by you are amazing. And I’m super tickled and honored by the ones inspired by my things. Wow. I’ll show Zac. He’ll be blown away. Thank you ever so much! Let me try to share them. Everyone, Masterful artist Poecilia has shared some new works with us, and a few of them relate to either ‘Permanent Green Light’ or ‘I Wished.’ I’ll let Poecilia explain and point you to them, and I most highly recommend you visit the links because you’ll be very glad. Poecilia: ‘The last time you linked some art I did with your very kind encouragement, it was actually a piece that I didn’t like much at all (Cygnet version 1) but thanks to you I got the motivation to re-work it. Here’s Cygnet version 2. (Some parts of the first version I liked better, folds on the sleeves or that the cygnet bird stands out more, but overall the composition was closer to what I was trying for.) Now that I’m back in my art nouveau phase, here’s some Permanent Green Light fan art that I’m trying to continue in that style. I like swans. This next one is relatively the least flop of the handful of movie stills and character portraits I tried for: here. I love the use of light and shadow in that movie, but so I try to make studies of the stills and then I just don’t with the light and shadow that I set out to wrangle in the first place… but I hoped this all might somewhat cheer you up somehow for a moment. (I did get around to trying my hand at the backpack at the crater scene from ‘I Wished’.)’ Amazing! I hope you’re doing superbly! Are you? ** _Black_Acrylic, I think we’re supposed to get a teeny summer reminder later this week. Hopefully teeny. Yesterday got eaten alive by a mess, but PT is on my imaginary turntable and waiting for its needle. ** Bill, Wieners is a very favorite poet of mine, and an influence on my own poetry. Check him out. I don’t know what Gisele ended up calling the film. Yes, the actress did all the ventriloquism live. She was a ventriloquist by profession. The film is an edit from a test-run shoot we did for that ARTE TV series that never panned out. Gisele pulled out some highlights and made something new out of them. I’ll look for the photo you sent. Thank you! Sorry, I’m a little behind on everything. Very safe trip back across the world! ** Lucas, Hi. The poems I translated were by the Dutch author Gerard Reve. It was very tricky, and honestly, I didn’t do an amazing job, But I got really fascinated by Dutch sentence structure, which is very different from English and has a kind of puzzle quality, at least to me. So great to see your story in SCAB! It looks and, obviously, reads beautifully! No, not an IRL Halloween thing yet. I’ll be lucky to see a fake pumpkin in a shop window. Unless I go to Parc Asterix where they do it up with haunted houses and stuff. But I won’t be here this year for almost all of Halloween anyway. It’s kind of autumny here. Well, sort of. Like there are hints. xoxo. ** HaRpEr, Oh, a creative module, fantastic! So much better! Theoretically that parade of topics sounds pretty okay. Were the Genet and Mann books taken off for political reasons, or … ? ‘Nightwood’ is stellar, obviously. When will you hear about the potential room? Fingers stranglingly crossed. I’d say with Wieners maybe start with either this book or this book, which, as you’ll see, is free on Internet Archive if you’re a user of that site. ** G, Hi, G! Uh, I’ve been up and mostly down. What can one do? Amazing about your great start on the book. Productive and confidence maintaining vibes are being transmitted from me to you. Paris is into fall and very lovely. I am and have been very amidst never ending film-related hell and trying to find a way out of that. Yes, come visit! xoxo, me. ** Justin D, My pleasure, re: Wieners, of course. Well, there’s a very good reason why you didn’t know that Rolling Stones song, haha. A Kobe burger? What makes a burger Kobe-esque? I’m assuming Kobe is the Lakers Kobe. Carrot cake used to be the one thing I could make well. I was kind of famous for my carrot cake when I was in my early 20s. Maybe I should make some and see if I get famous again. My day sucked. But it’s over now. And today … you never know. How was your today? ** Right. I did my post intro up above, so now you can just revel in Southern California’s gift for making haunted houses until tomorrow when I will see you again.

Photo credit: Jerome Mallmann

 

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Intro
‘John Wieners was a key figure in the American poetic renaissance of the late 1950s and 1960s. In his work a new candour regarding sexual and drug-induced experience co-existed with both a jazz-related aesthetic of improvisation and a more traditional concern with lyric form. In 1958 his first book, The Hotel Wentley Poems, appeared. Taking its title from a bare-bulb flophouse in San Francisco’s Polk Gulch, this rhapsodically Bohemian début begins by quoting the title of an album by Bud Powell – “the scene changes”. In pieces such as “A Poem for Tea Heads” and “A Poem for Cocksuckers”, the poet presents a mental world at once kaleidoscopic and imprisoning.

‘An unexpurgated edition was not available until 1965, by which time Wieners had embarked on the most publicly successful phase of his career, becoming a teaching fellow at the State University of New York, Buffalo, an actor and stage manager at the Poet’s Theater in Cambridge, and the author of three plays performed in New York. However, he struggled with mental illness for much of his life, and was institutionalised several times. Although Asylum Poems (1969) makes reference to this burden, Wieners never exploited his condition, as had Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath in their more smoothly turned declarations of suffering.

‘Returning to Boston in 1970, Wieners became involved with publishing and education co-operatives, political action committees and the burgeoning movement for gay liberation. A fifth-floor, walk-up apartment in Joy Street, in the winding Beacon Hill area, would be home for the rest of his life. But settled quiet and conventional success were not on the agenda. Behind the State Capitol; or, Cincinnati Pike (1975) is one of the great books of the 20th century, a 200-page whirlwind of paranoid fury, hilarity, outrageous theatricality and ventriloquism.

‘His poetic career effectively finished at this point. It was not a case of unfulfilled promise but of a life’s work that developed rapidly and led with its own determined, internal logic to a natural conclusion. In the 1980s Wieners’s editor Raymond Foye embarked on a quest to gather unpublished poems. With the help of Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley, who remained unswerving in their support, the results were published as Selected Poems 1958-1984 (1985) and its successor Cultural Affairs in Boston (1988). In an interview with Foye, the poet had answered a query as to his theory of poetics in eminently practical terms: “I try to write the most embarrassing thing I can think of.”‘ — Geoff Ward, The Independent

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Resources
The John Wieners Page @ EPC
Archive of John Wieners mp3s @ Penn Sound
In Memorium John Wieners
Pamela Petro’s ‘The Hipster of Joy Street
CAConrad on John Wieners
Douglas Messerli remembers John Wieners
The John Wieners Facebook Page
‘The Blind See Only This World: Poems for John Wieners’
Watch four videos of John Wieners reading his poems
‘Kidnap Notes Next’
John Wieners’ books @ Black Sparrow Press

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News

‘After John’s passing, Jim Dunn and I went through the notebook (red leather with gold trim) which Bill Berkson had given John who was locked up in a Long Island asylum in 1969. (Wieners wrote his Asylum Poems from that unhappy place.) With the notebook in hand, Jim and I (with great help and encouragement from John Mitzel) sought to identify unpublished complete poems from that red book. We sent photocopies to Raymond Foye whose great care, love and attention produced the Black Sparrow editions of Selected Poems, 1956-1986 and Cultural Affairs in Boston: Poetry and Prose 1956-1985. Now Jim Dunn has transcribed and scanned Wieners remarkable notebook to bring us [a book of ] previously unpublished poems (A New Book from Rome), perhaps worked into something of a stained glass window version reminiscent of the chapel of St. Louis IX in Paris.’ — Charles Shively

ORAL HISTORY INITIATIVE: On John Wieners | Woodberry Poetry Room

 

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Media

John Wieners – April 2001 – Boston Improv

USA: Poetry Episode Robert Duncan and John Wieners

Basil King: A Story about John Wieners at Black Mountain College

John Wieners – Hyannisport, MA – 2.21.02 – Last Public Reading

 

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Interviewed
by Allen Ginsberg

Q: Have you ever had shock treatment?
A: The typewriter had it for me.
Q: How do you write your poems?
A: I have two teenage girls who help me, Norma and Edith. They do most of the writing. Then Martha Randolph congeals it in my head.
Q: Have you been pleased lately with the critical response to your work?
A: No, I hate being singled out.
Q: It seems like you’re blaming God in some of your poems.
A: Those are just secret roadmaps.
Q: (inaudible)
A: It comes from the fact that Swiss dressmakers are not allowed to speak English. It has something to do with the art of strapless gowns. (pause) A woman who carries the Index of Forbidden Books in her bodice must always be deferred to.
Q: A lot of your poems are in touch with the feminine instinct.
A: I’ve never been able to come to grips with male topics.
Q: What were your early influences?
A: The sidewalks of New York. East 11th Street, West 12th Street . . . so many side streets one doesn’t think of when not in town.
Q: When did you first come to New York?
A: I think on my way to Black Mountain. They had some townhouses in the Village, owned by some of the Board members of the college. Students and faculty could spend a few nights when in town.
Q: Why did you go to Black Mountain College?
A: To be avant-garde, and break the strictures of the Jesuit order.
Q: Did it have that effect?
A: No.
Q: Why?
A: I can’t paint.
Q: What do you think of the poetry of Charles Olson?
A: He kind of makes one lose one’s mind.
Q: (inaudible)
A: The works of Petrarch are patterns we can probably never translate.
Q: Do you believe in the existence of Hell?
A: I always have.
Q: And Heaven?
A: Less so.
Q: If you could be anywhere in the world right now, doing anything, what would it be?
A: I’d like to be in a railway station in Moscow as Sonja Henie.
Q: Did you ever spend much time in New York?
A: Yes, in the early sixties, I worked as a clerk in the Eighth Street Bookshop. I liked being around avant-garde material in the late afternoon. I like New York for its speed.
Q: Are you still writing?
A: Yes, but I didn’t bring along a pen.
Q: Why do you live in Boston?
A: I used to say Carol’s Cut-Rate. Now I’m looking forward to the new South Station opening.
Q: How do you spend your days?
A: I get up early to avoid custodianship.
Q: What contemporary poets do you like and why?
A: Creeley for his stewardship. Ed Dorn for his regional accents.
Q: Which women poets do you admire?
A: Barbara Guest: She’s the most important figure as a male spy that the N.Y. Public Library has ever produced. They trained her as a spy, like Mata Hari. I also admire Carol Berge. I met her first in 1944. I was ten and she was eleven. She asked me to put a dime into a pay phone for her . . .
A: Why do you put so much emphasis on style?
A: I don’t! I’m sworn off that subject! Now I use vowels. A, E, I, O, and U are the best ones. Alice, Evian, Ian, Olga, Uggams.
Q: What was your most recent poem?
A: A poem to Dolores. I’ll publish it when I’m seventy-three.
Q: Who is Dolores?
A: Dolores Moran, the step-daughter to Archibald MacLeish.
Q: Mr. Wieners, last week John Ashbery came and read his poems, and then aswered questions. He seems to be completely irrational in his poetry and completely rational in his life. You seem to be completely irrational in your life, and completely rational in your poetry.
A: It is never my intent to be irrational.

 

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The End
‘John attended a party with Charlie Shiveley Sunday around 7:30 PM. Charley drove from Cambridge and picked up John even though the party was just across Cambridge Street. Charley stopped at the drugstore first and bought John some medicine, a box of candy, and an inhaler. The host of the party had a cat and John was feeling slightly under weather because he was allergic to cats. Charley thinks John left the party around 9:30 or 10. He was found in a nearby parking garage by the parking attendant and was admitted to the ICU at Mass General at midnight that night. John tried feebly on Monday morning to breathe on his own, but to no avail. He was put on the respirator machine. An MRI was taken that showed little or no brain activity. Friday, the doctors took another MRI and it confirmed that he was brain dead. Also, as he was lying in the hospital, there was a social worker who doggedly pursued finding John’s identity. If it wasn’t for her and the nurses at MGH, he may have never been ID’d. John’s cousin (Walter Phinney’s mother) stopped by after she was contacted by the hospital Friday afternoon. John was pronounced dead at 5:11 on March 1st. I arrived at 5:30 and Charley arrived an hour later. John was still breathing on the machine and his heart was still beating. Charley and I spent some time with him and then summoned the on-call priest to administer last rites. The priest said an “Our Father”, and anointed John’s forehead and hands. Around 8:00, the technician arrived and removed the breathing tube and shut down the respirator. Charley and I stood by. I had my hand on John’s chest as his heart fluttered. We watched as his blood pressure dropped and his heart rate decreased from 111 down incrementally to 28 and then to X. His heart stopped beating at 8:16 PM. Immediately at that moment, the lights over the sink and the hospital supplies began flashing on and off in a strange rhythm. I pointed it out to Charley saying, “Look it’s John”. Charley responded, “He must have gotten into the electrical system” It was a strange, sad and beautiful moment. We said our final good-byes and left him looking peaceful, serene, and almost heroic – eyes closed , full beard, and worry-free.’ — Jim Dunn

 

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10 poems

TWO YEARS LATER

The hollow eyes of shock remain
Electric sockets burnt out in the
skull.

The beauty of men never disappears
But drives a blue car through the
stars

 

ACT #2

I took love home with me,
we fixed in the night and
sank into a stinging flash

1/4 grain of love
we had,
2 men on a cot, a silk
cover and a green cloth
over the lamp.
The music was just right.
I blew him like a symphony,
it floated and
he took me
down the street and
left me here.
3 AM. No sign.

only a moving van
up Van Ness Avenue.

Foster’s was never like this.

I’ll walk home, up the
same hills we
came down.
He’ll never come back,
there’ll be no horse
tomorrow nor pot
tonight to smoke till dawn.

He’s gone and taken
my morphine with him
Oh Johnny. Women in
the night moan yr. name.

 

DAVID ASPELIN

died at 16
put a rifle in his mouth, and laid across his bed at night.
After he held my hand on the way home and said
I will be dead tomorrow.

 

A POEM FOR VIPERS

I sit in Lees. At 11:40 PM with
Jimmy the pusher. He teaches me
Ju Ju. Hot on the table before us
shrimp foo yong, rice and mushroom
chow yuke. Up the street under the wheels
of a strange car is his stash–The ritual.
We make it. And have made it.
For months now together after midnight.
Soon I know the fuzz will
interrupt, will arrest Jimmy and
I shall be placed on probation. The poem
does not lie to us. We lie under
its law, alive in the glamour of this hour
able to enter into the sacred places
of his dark people, who carry secrets
glassed in their eyes and hide words
under the coats of their tongue.

 

COCAINE

For I have seen love
and his face is choice Heart of Hearts,
a flesh of pure fire, fusing from the center
where all Motion are one.

And I have known
despair that the Face has ceased to stare
at me with the Rose of the world
but lies furled

in an artificial paradise it is Hell to get into.
If I knew you were there
I would fall upon my knees and plead to God
to deliver you in my arms once again.

But it is senseless to try.
One can only take means to reduce misery,
confuse the sensations so that this Face,
what aches in the heart and makes each new

start less close to the source of desire,
fade from the flesh that fires the night,
with dreams and infinite longing.

 

TWO YEARS LATER

The hollow eyes of shock remain
Electric sockets burnt out in the
—–skull.

The beauty of men never disappears
But drives a blue car through the
—————-stars.

 

TO CHARLES ON HIS HOME

Death is an unforgiven
That’s what we have in common

language an act of sharing words.

Coming tears will do it

Where there’s smoke
THERe’s a suitcase

fairies never change

into fire

It’s so hard to get to the top.

Death is a failure

there are so many of them.

Dont trust her
I don’t care how old the races are.

And I never have.

for Cher.

 

A POEM FOR RECORD PLAYERS

The scene changes

Five hours later and
I come into a room
where a clock ticks.
I find a pillow to
muffle the sounds I make.
I am engaged in taking away
from God his sound.
The pigeons somewhere
above me, the cough
a man makes down the hall,
the flap of wings
below me, the squeak
of sparrows in the alley.
The scratches I itch
on my scalp, the landing
of birds under the bay
window out my window.
All dull details
I can only describe to you,
but which are here and
I hear and shall never
give up again, shall carry
with me over the streets
of this seacoast city,
forever; oh clack your
metal wings, god, you are
mine now in the morning.
I have you by the ears
in the exhaust pipes of
a thousand cars gunning
their motors turning over
all over town.

 

A POEM FOR TRAPPED THINGS

This morning with a blue flame burning
this thing wings its way in.
Wind shakes the edges of its yellow being.
Gasping for breath.
Living for the instant.
Climbing up the black border of the window.
Why do you want out.
I sit in pain.
A red robe amid debris.
You bend and climb, extending antennae.

I know the butterfly is my soul
grown weak from battle.

A Giant fan on the back of
——a beetle.
A caterpillar chrysalis that seeks
a new home apart from this room.

And will disappear from sight
at the pulling of invisible strings.
Yet so tenuous, so fine
this thing is, I am
sitting on the hard bed, we could
—vanish from sight like the puff
—–off an invisible cigarette.
Furred chest, ragged silk under
—wings beating against the glass

—no one will open.

The blue diamonds on your back
are too beautiful to do
—–away with.
I watch you
—all morning
—–long.
With my hand over my mouth.

 

THE ACTS OF YOUTH

And with great fear I inhabit the middle of the night
What wrecks of the mind await me, what drugs
to dull the senses, what little I have left,
what more can be taken away?

The fear of travelling, of the future without hope
or buoy. I must get away from this place and see
that there is no fear without me: that it is within
unless it be some sudden act or calamity

to land me in the hospital, a total wreck, without
memory again; or worse still, behind bars. If
I could just get out of the country. Some place
where one can eat the lotus in peace.

For in this country it is terror, poverty awaits; or
am I a marked man, my life to be a lesson
or experience to those young who would trod
the same path, without God

unless he be one of justice, to wreack vengance
on the acts committed while young under un-
due influence or circumstance. Oh I have
always seen my life as drama, patterned

after those who met with disaster or doom.
Is my mind being taken away me.
I have been over the abyss before. What
is that ringing in my ears that tells me

all is nigh, is naught but the roaring of the winter wind.
Woe to those homeless who are out on this night.
Woe to those crimes committed from which we
can walk away unharmed.

So I turn on the light
And smoke rings rise in the air.
Do not think of the future; there is none.
But the formula all great art is made of.

Pain and suffering. Give me the strength
to bear it, to enter those places where the
great animals are caged. And we can live
at peace by their side. A bride to the burden

that no god imposes but knows we have the means
to sustain its force unto the end of our days.
For that is what we are made for; for that
we are created. Until the dark hours are done.

And we rise again in the dawn.
Infinite particles of the divine sun, now
worshipped in the pitches of the night.
—-

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** jay, Hi. Desolation is such a charismatic quality. I read about 10 pages of ‘A Little Life’ and thought it was manipulative garbage and shit-canned it. My dad lived on a beach in Hawaii (Oahu), and same deal — for most of the year it was like he lived on a movie studio backlot. Quadruple! Wow, the lack of loneliness must be nice. Congrats on the good weekend, and it does sound good even from afar (here). Being able to cathart to the point of peace is as good as life gets maybe. I could use one of those. ‘Starve Acre’ I’ve heard of. Hard not to be drawn by that title. It’s also on my list now. Thanks. May your week not put a damper on that weekend. ** Arno, Good morning, Arno! Wait, you were or are in Paris! Nice weather we’re having, no? After8 is one of Paris’s godsends. Um, usually Paris is noticeably lively after the annual big lull that falls over these environs in August when everyone’s away at their summer homes or whoever, so, no, not normal. It’s kind of lively over where I am. Not that I’m recommending that you come over to rather boring here (the 8th). The movie itself is reaching its finishing point after immense struggle, or I think so, hope so. Everything around the movie (funding, producers) is hellish. But yeah. Really nice to see you. Have local fun if you’re still here. May I recommend Musee de chasse et la nature if you haven’t been? ** _Black_Acrylic, Yay! Everyone, The new episode of _Black_Acrylic’s show Play Therapy v2.0 is online here via Tak Tent Radio! ‘Ben ‘Jack Your Body’ Robinson presents one of the few times you actually have a kind of a love for humanity. You hear the best part of the soul of the common people, you know, it’s their way of expressing their connection to eternity or whatever you want to call it.’ If you haven’t yet become addicted to Ben’s wonder of a soundfest, start now. Can not wait, of course! ** Bill, Hey! Oh, you saw Gisele’s show! Nice, nice. I don’t know if you saw it, but I think there’s a little film screening in the exhibition that Zac and I wrote the script to. I do know and very much like Skylla. What a great show! Envy, obviously. James Batley: Do you know what he’s up to? He teased a new film going on years ago now, but then he exited Facebook and I haven’t heard a peep about him and his stuff since. Your Berlin stint sounds like a complete blast! ** Lucas, Hi. Impasse, gotcha, yeah, impasses are temporary by their very nature. My Dutch was pretty rudimentary, so I’ll say I tried to read Dutch literature in Dutch, but I never believed for a moment that I was fully getting it. I did translate some Dutch poems (badly, I’m sure) for some magazine while I was there. New SCAB! With you!!! Everyone, the new (15th) issue of Dominik’s amazing and crucial lit/art zine SCAB has just now entered the world! And among its contents is a superb story by our very own Lucas M! Dare I say you simply must click this link now or very soon and get to reading and looking. SCAB is the king! Big congrats to you and especially to SCAB! My weekend was spent trying to solve the usual huge problem, and maybe just maybe we made some progress. We’ll see. Love, me. ** Justin D, Howdy, Mr. D. One of the worst ever Rolling Stones songs is called ‘Dancing with Mr. D’, and I feel absolutely certain that they were not singing about you. I know, that commenter’s way with words was soulfully fragrant. I don’t think you’ll be sorry to have watched ‘Nocturama’ and especially ‘Close Up’. Boy, there kind of couldn’t be two more different-from-each-other films than those two. ‘Riddle of Fire’: I’ll check it out. Happy belated birthday to your ma. What did you eat? My weekend was mostly spent trying to get out of the film-related morass, and time will soon tell if the weekend did its duty or not. Otherwise, pretty low key. Not bad otherwise. Big week! ** HaRpEr, Cool, about the Kristof. You won’t be sorry, I swear. A week until school, wow, time really is hyper. Do you know what experimental literature you’ll be studying in that class? I hope it’s bonifiably experimental. Right? About ‘Close Up’. so amazing. ** Oscar 🌀, Unless my fingers did something amiss, I don’t think your link worked, but I feel very suitably greeting nonetheless. Wait, never mind, I scrolled down and found the entrance and now I feel infinitely more than suitably greeted! Have I already done this (sorry, if so?): This. That’s a sigil. Stare at it lengthily with great concentration without decoding it and all of your greatest wishes will come true. Or so the Chaos Magick believers say. LA summers tend to last until Halloween, so I won’t be surprised if it’s not so temperate there, and my LA apartment does not have AC, so all bets are off on the physical comfort issue. It will for sure be hugely cathartic to finally show the film to the cast crew, and, god, I hope they like it. Design stuff … speak more to that once that is clarified for you please. You sound jazzed! Very long and very pleasant are a difficult duo to reconcile, but if anyone can wed them, you can. I hope it was. And ecstatic Monday to you, differently big guy! ** Okay. Today you get a modest day about the immodestly great poet John Wieners. Give it as close to your all as you are ready and willing to do. And see you tomorrow.