Victoria Williams: 0269

Today the ceiling finally collapsed. And as the dust was settling, Alan brushed the roof tiles from his shoulders and said, ‘I know how it feels.’ The piano was broken.
‘Why don’t we play anymore?’ I said sadly.
He said, ‘We are constrained by your age.’
‘Lately I feel as though I can see anything with fresh eyes. Perhaps I am finally being reborn?’
‘No, it is the fact that you are ageing terribly that makes you feel this way.’

Artistic ‘Freedom’ In The 80s And Now

Artistic ‘Freedom’ in the 80s and Now by Jane Duncan

And The Wind Cries Mary by Gary Cummiskey

Internet Sentences: 0041

Last all night, Tearoombooks..

cherry bomb: 0044

Victoria Williams: 0268

After getting my third single ticket,
Finally the usher says ‘Don’t you have any friends?’
And I say,
In 2005 something happened,
Not to all of them,
But to me individually,
And now I love people,
But I forget,
And only remember,
When threatened.

Nat Nakasa

The Unremarkable Nat Nakasa

H

I See You by Gary Cummiskey

Eva Jackson: 0083

Moving On

Some South Africans delight in Moving On
Most of them are young
But we’re in a party, you see, you’re not meant to say
Hey, what the fuck is that dungeon doing in the middle of the floor
Where history is pushing about, sometimes shaking the bars, most times just sitting there
You can choose to ignore it
Maybe abhor it as wrong
To pay it any attention.
History is bobbing about in the keychain hanging from your rear view mirror
As you skip lanes to get ahead
It’s patchworked on the roadside that your keychain distracts you from
It’s in the sound and fury and the absurd laughter
We suffer from

Still others can’t get away
And walk about with history
As a sandwich board enclosing their stomachs and legs
Advertising, but
Hindering movements

The other day a pigeon flew off with some in its beak
Made a reclusive nest
And buried history in there,
Woven in deep.

Voëlvry

Voëlvry: White Noise and Lost Irony

Victoria Williams: 0267

Notes for Alan’s new collection of essays:
Things that destroy lives, No.17: Mobile Phones
I become more and more distrustful of these devices the more I hear about them. They are a new generation of weaponry. Text messages have created monsters who cannot love face to face.
(After thought: It is for this reason I suspect that the missionary position is falling out of favour.)

S:3

Symposium On Contemporary South African Poetry At Wits, 13 September 2014

Internet Sentences: 0040

Are we should he reached into words.

Guns and Veal

Food in Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” by Vashna Jagarnath

Victoria Williams: 0266

I always bring them to station, to see them off,
And say Fuck You! from the steps,
Couldn’t you tell -
From my pallor and the fuck all about my person,
Except for ransom notes and maps?
My straggling heart,
My nautical eye and the scars,
And the way I held up my finger and cried,
‘My blood was diseased before I’d even begun!’
Then I go to the photo booths in the arcade,
And take another picture of myself,
For the album

P:5

Forthcoming From Dye Hard Press

Internet Sentences: 0039

While dylan is alone to stop.

Shifty Records

Shifty Records: History from Below

Victoria Williams: 0265

Vickie called me up and said: do you want to go get your ears pierced with me? I actually did pick her up to take her to get her ears pierced. She was so afraid she’d spent the day drinking and was swaying when I got there. I thought, a promise is a promise. We went to the tattoo parlour where she’d arranged to have it done but they were suspicious and thought that I had drugged her and brought her there in that condition for some nefarious purpose, so ultimately we drove around for a while and went home. I eventually found a thorn from a rosebush and did it that way. Afterwards she smiled a stupid smile at me, smearing the blood and mascara with the back of her hand. J is coming to pierce my ears, she told me. Well he’ll start with my ears.