We’re getting back into the weekly swing of things over on Monkey Vortex Radio Theater. This Monkey Vortex Monday, it’s Letters, an insta-parody produced by our rapid reponse team, and featuring Eileen Dahl, Bleu Smith, K. Smith, and yers truly.
Cecil Vortex
Frogs
I remember frogs -- feeding them, caring for them pressing that spot on the base of their spines...
Small frogs, caught by the creek cupped for a moment, captive, fluttering released open-hand.
Huge store-bought bullfrogs kept in shaded back-of-garage aquariums.
I don't remember naming them. But I do remember holding them close looking down
their slimy skin soaking up against my shirt
and it wasn't gross at all.
He was a fine mouse, and other laments
Put it in a box and bury it
by the side of the house
with a few friends, a eulogy.
Soft voices and a
turning embrace.
Gone, like our grandmothers
and grandfathers. And not
coming back.
No matter how young we are inside.
How frolicking. How ready
to go to the circus.
But it’s gone. Long gone.
Giddy-up gone.
And we never took
a still moment
to say
goodbye.
Mouth-feel
Saying the word “doodle” out loud —
“Doodle.”
“Doodle.” —
makes me feel
three months more young, light, and lean
three months less gassy and gray.
Noodle
Poodle.
Streudel.
“Doodle.”
The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 2
Welcome to the end of week 2! This is the place to comment on (roughly) pp 50-113 (p/v). That said, as last week rolled on, a lot of people dropped comments past the mark, to keep up with what they were reading that day. I thought that went great. So in the course of this week, feel free to comment on page 120, 130… Just use a little restraint on spoilers for later sections.
There was some confusion amongst prize-peoples regarding the first two weeks. In the spirit of loving-kindness that is the GRDM, we’re gonna count both of those two weeks as one, meaning if you commented Week 0, but not Week 1, you’re still a candidate for potential “Grand Poobah” status. Those who haven’t commented yet, don’t give up — highly regarded “Poobah” and “Big Poobah” status are still well within reach!
Hope everyone’s holding up OK. Me, it’s work, and I’m about 12 pages behind. But hell, that’s still about 94 pages farther than I’ve ever gotten before. Mainly I’ve been surprised how much fun there’s been along the way. More like a Hallucinatory Death Dance than a Deathmarch, methinks…
Next Tuesday: Let’s meet back up at page 167 ((195 in the Bantam edition) a week from today — it’s the section that ends: “Is God really Jewish?”
See you there, -CV
x-post: and the Bobba Bebba of the monkey
After nearly a month on hiatus, Monkey Vortex Radio Theater is back with Bobba Bebba, our most ambitious piece involving an alien watching earth TV from their spaceship yet! With script by yers truly…. Give it a listen and let us know whatcha think.
Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 1, thread 2
I’d like to try opening a new thread on Week 1 of GRDM — we have 26 comments on the first thread and it might help us to start fresh every 20 or so comments.
So if you’ve got a comment to add on the first batch (or so) of GR pages, please starting posting those comments on this entry.
And if you want to read what’s already been said in the last three days, you can find the first piece of this thread right here.
Thanks. Rainbow on, -CV
Old Dude Goes to a Show
Five minutes after the lights go down
I hear a familiar rustling two seats over.
Someone’s making things happen.
I’m a little stressed but not surprised
when a hand in the darkness offers
two white pills.
“No thanks,” I say, false cool, thinking:
“I am old dude.”
The hand withdraws.
A minute later, I ask:
“What was that? ‘E’? Ecstasy?”
“Altoids.”
And I nod a short,
tight nod,
as if that was my second guess.
Righteous, Stressed-Out Daddy-o
"Hey Potty-Mouth! Like, stop expanding my toddler's vocabulary."
shouts my inner, angry uptight beatnik to this guy sitting two rows back.
And I toss an espresso over one shoulder into the eyes of this small-smiling fuck.
I maim him with my poetry.
I thunder him with cartoon thoughts
in my inner, angry, uptight beatnik mind.
The Gravity’s Rainbow Deathmarch, Week 1, thread 1
Welcome to the end of week 1! Got any insights on the first 50 pages? Advice for the weary? Complaints about bunions? If you’re on the march, this is the spot to share, to care, and to shout out.
(I should also say, for them what’s interested in qualifying toward Poobah status and fabulous GRDM prizes, this also marks the first week that “counts,” stats-wise — the league has ruled last week as sort of a warm up.)
Next Tuesday: Let’s meet back up at page 113 (132 in the Bantam edition) a week from today — it’s the section that ends: “tarnished silver crown….”
If you missed last week’s thread, be sure to check it out — a number of entertaining comments were dropped off just yesterday, including an entirely unexpected bodyslam on Kurt Vonnegut, jr.
Thanks much for joining in and see you at the tarnished crown,
-CV