ODE TO THE GUNFIGHTER
This is a bitter satire I wrote after a professor praised the novel I wrote but condemned it for not
being a specific genre. "Fine!" I thought, "I'll write a Western!" I had always been bothered
by the hero worship aspect of gunslingers and this is what came out. In this poem, I wanted
to lay bare the true nature of hero worship. Everybody thinks they are getting away with
something but it doesn't matter how well you have other people convinced of your success,
you ultimately have to answer for yourself.
CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
People speak of wholesomeness - and what a good feeling it is. But wholesomeness is
destroyed by silence. We fly apart when we have to keep things inside. But the illusion
is this: A man blows up a building and we say, "Look at the evil in him he let out," but we
should say, "Look at the love he is keeping inside." We don't speak of love in a crisis
situation. We stay silent - and explode.
INSANE SANITY
Vincent's gift was to see truth clearly - how he dealt with it is another matter. This made
him an outcast. But society
now is no more sane than back then. Flip on a TV, look at a billboard, listen to conversations -
insanity is everywhere. Outrageous and outlandish remarks are a din to our ears. And the din
just keeps getting louder and louder to the point where we begin to accept it as "normal". In other
words, if everyone is so goddam right, why do we hear so much unhappiness?
EMPTY HOUSE
Vincent once wrote to his brother he would rather lie to himself than feel alone. This poem
describes what happens when the lie is ripped away. It is a harrowing look at the true state
of his life. But it was Vincent always returning home that made him a great artist. It
was the emptiness he found there that killed him.
RAIN DROP
God does not create evil. We are not born evil, destined to be evil or doomed in any way.
We like to become faithless (conservative) and speak self-serving lies that say our nature is
evil. This is wearisome to God and sows the seeds of our own destruction.
DECAY
What's religion got to do with God?
THE PRECARIOUS POSITION OF DIRTY HAMBONE McGEE
Hambone speaks to the love each of us does not share (sensing a theme here?). This
character does it to such a degree that it is obvious to everyone, therefore making him
a target. Yet he clings to the truth of love though he has not faced the truth he
must share it. An untenable position indeed.
THE FRAUD IS DEAD
It's such a drag living a lie. Thank God when it's over.
THE DAILY REGRET
Vincent really did make the paper when he cut off his ear. This was an obvious cry
for help. So I framed his craziness with all the other craziness in the world to put it
in perspective. The story about the killer comes from a nineteenth century man who
killed his family and himself. Before he died he wrote, "Criminals are made, not born".
The President Igor story is from the perspective of my novel.
THE DITCH
People talk of a "Blame the victim" mentality but few realize what it means. We like to
bless ourselves and say that for the most part we are a good and decent people. But
this is a dog-eat-dog every-man-for-himself society. We want to make caring impractical
so we'll have a built in excuse. Many put out sick propaganda that says the needy are
the enemy of our society's survivial - but those who say that speak only of themselves.
THE ROAD WORRIERS
This was a dream I had. People are dying to express their true feelings, but
instead it comes out (as all things must come out somehow) in the form of terrorism. It's not all in exploding
buildings or hijackings - it's in everyday life, people being attacked for being honest. I've
done it myself. Someone lets his guard down and I pop him one. It's everywhere.
VINCENT'S MESSAGES OF MISOGYNY
Vincent's failures on a personal level were not because of his genius or because he was
an instinctive threat to the worlds of liars. He failed for the same reasons any of us fail. As a
child, John Lennon felt himself a freak. He would lash out at cripples or anyone else who
was vulnerable. But he decided to deal with this through love instead of "insanity and V.D.
like Van Gogh or Gauguin." Vincent was a dear soul, but he had let himself down.
He's not the only one.