Jared Demick
Song Mini-Movies
Roy Orbinson's "In Dreams" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33Q61brJ9mc&feature=related In a lonely truck-stop phone-booth, you're kept on hold with diabetic muzak strings, until his voice enters your ear. Its words tell you that all's OK, but it wavers. Then you know that they're dragging the lake for your darling's body and you have no alibi. Millions of Dead Cops' "John Wayne was a Nazi" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfQsXrhF2X4 He haunts your insomniac TV viewings like All in the Family reruns and ads for Japanese knife sets and phone sex. In the TV glare, he's always there. That hitleering, swasticky cowboy in his 10-gallon hat, ever-ready to up the vigil/ante justice. You want to drive him not out of town by sundown but to push him into the Pacific Ocean so he can playact Manifest Destiny with the fishes. Listening to the whiskey in your head, you wonder, "If I shoot the TV screen, will I make him bleed?" Sonic Youth's "Expressway to Yr Skull" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PU1pIJJGeM As the air raid siren announces another sunrise, you wake up in a careening, bulleting convertible driven by your blood-splattered best friend. In the backseat there are two mangled dead girls in bikinis, all buckled up. Noticing your gaze, your friend cocks a grin and says, "I thought we would want some souvenirs from our trip." At that moment, the car plunges off a cliff and into the sea. As water fills your lungs, you notice that the bodies float like forgotten marionettes, making gestures without purpose or intent. Jared Demick thinks he is human. Sometimes he is correct. He has irrational dreams about okra, pork belly, and fried plantains. He wishes his life was narrated by John Madden and the late Pat Summerall.
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