I'm the John the Baptist of your heart
Someday someone's gonna come along
And make all my words even more true
Make them all mean something real

Picture - N
Words - S

Wouldn't it be great if there were tools to fix our heads and hearts as easily as we fix cars and dryers?

Then again, my dryer broke hours after they fixed it.

My brain would always be at the garage.

Maybe we should just be happy with the stock parts we got, flawed as they are.

Picture - N
Words - S

Making things happen since 1980

"I was productive, even at birth," she said. "I rolled out of the womb saying 'Let's make some shit happen. Don't slap me. There's no need for violence. Be cool, doctor.' I got shit to solve. I've been waiting 9 months to make it all happen. So let's take a deep breath, give me a bottle, take a nap and let's get to working on fixing some stuff."

Photo - N
Words - N (as transcribed by S)

Out in her garden, which I've never seen other than a picture in my mind, sits Mary of the Folk Art Colors. She watches over and says, "I proclaim, make great things happen. Keep it light, keep it fun, remember your color wheel, kids." Hail, Mary.

Photo - N
Words - S

Please help me with my dream

I want to make a soundtrack with the songs of every fake band from every 80s movie.

Do you know when they go to a party and some "punk" band is playing and everyone sings along even though the song has never been released? Or the band someone jumps up on stage to play with?

I'm not talking in major Hollywood movies. I'm talking Hot Dog the Movie. Joysticks. Hard Bodies.

Those bands.

I want all their songs.

I will play them and imagine my own montage, where I solve all our problems. And then, that French foreign exchange student will fix our car and we'll play saxophone and race down the K2.

Photo - N
Words - S

Is there anything better than a pita with some hummus?

I didn't discover hummus until I was nearly 22. All those years, wasted, no hummus.

Now, I eat it every day.

I make my own sometimes too.

I have had hummus from a can. Hummus from the deli. Hummus from the restaurant. Hummus in an airport.

At the risk of sounding Green Eggs and Ham, I have had every kind of hummus there is.

It makes me feel like all my problems can be soothed away into paste and gobbled up with flat bread torn into little pieces.

Photo - N
Words - S

Woke up from a good dream and there was a cat lying next to me.
He was wide awake, round head happy, eyes open.
"Go back to sleep," he said.
"You have a whole bunch of time to sleep. Not as much as me."
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes, I sleep 18 hours a day on a good day. But I don't have an office. Or have to worry about how people feel. It's a pretty good fucking life I got going here, pal. All I do is show up, you hug me, love me, feed me, take care of my poop, give me some water. In exchange, I show up, I purr, I kill a mouse every few years, I eat." The cat said, matter of fact, as cats do.
"That's probably the most normal relationship in the world," I replied.
"Yeah, you humans are a messed up bunch of people. I love you and all, but man. You should sleep more. And you should definately try sitting in front of a window. Then again, if you could lick your own asses, you probably wouldn't be so stressed all the time." He laughed at that last line, rolled over, and his eyes slowed closed as he went back to kitty dreamland.

Photo - N
Words - S

I had a shop teacher once that called all of us "gentlemen" when he spoke.
He told us how hard the world was.
And would berate us at any occasion to tell us that we'd all fail.
As you learned how to use tools, you would also be regaled.
Stories of fingers lost and lives rent asunder.
Bad usage of tools and a lack of respect, gentlemen.

I was so afraid of him at first.
He spoke and I would shudder.
And every single time I picked up a tool there was this worry.
As I drilled or hammered or sawed.
Stories of fingers lost and lives rent asunder.
Bad feelings that I would join their number.

I grew up and the shop teacher retired.
He lives in a small house in a small town.
And I have been all over the world.
As you get older, you think of funny things from your youth.
Stories of fingers lost and lives rent asunder.
Bad times, yet you still grew up just fine, all ten fingers still attached.

Photo - N
Words - S

Will Popeye die?

I saw Robert Altman's Popeye when I was a kid at the old Gee Bee Theater. The theater is still there, its a Wal-Mart now and no one remembers Gee Bee or its strange hippie faced woman logo. I was so worried about Popeye when his movie came out. For once, I felt like since Popeye was human, he was finally mortal. I remember looking into the hall mirror at my parent's house and looking at myself and realizing that I would die someday. And now, Popeye was going to die. I kept hinting and asking my father, "Would Popeye die?" And in the movie, well, Popeye wouldn't eat spinach. He hated it. I was sure that Popeye was going to be killed at any minute, so I watched through hands over my face, tentative, always sure that at any minute, the Sea Hag would kill Popeye. And then me. I've never watched this movie ever again.

Picture - N
Words - S

How many people are going to walk past this work and never notice it. And me, I've never seen anything like it. It's beautiful, yet a little off and not in a bad way. No, in a very good way. It has character. Weirdness. Something...I can't put my finger on it. And here it is, in the middle of some out of the way place, where everyone can just walk past and that's what they do. But sometimes, someone stops, looks and just looks again. Art is where you find it.

Picture - N
Words - S

My campaign promises

Four hour lunches.
Dollar stores everywhere.
Miniature golf all night.
Every meal has hummus.
Your desk is out in a grass strewn field from here on out.
No coming in to work before 11.
You better be finished by 2.
All issues will be solved with a drunken shopping cart race.
And when you're at that Super K-Mart at 2:19 AM, please check your heart rate.
Pass Go and still collect $200.
Everything is a triple word score.
All the boats better be solar powered.
Someone will handle all your bills and appointments for you.
You'll all get your very own Dyson. I don't want to push material goods, but everyone needs a clean carpet.
I recommend everyone gets an orange cat.
No being defeatist.
Everyone skate backwards.

Photo - N
Words - S

Shake hard shake fast shake so crazy you make the camera sick
Dance turn spin and dance some more
The music is in your head
Your feet don't know the same beat
That your heart sure does
The song in your head is three at once
But they're all lining up to make your own special song
and only you can dance along

Photo - N
Words - S

I wish

I was lying in bed on a lazy drunken Saturday in the middle of the night.

A whole bunch of albums all stacked up, ready to play one side after the other, all crackly and fuzzy and ready to drop.

Music full of songs about rain and cowboys singing about lost love.

I'd kick my feet out and knock a bottle of whiskey across the floor, hands struggling to find one last cigarette.

Picture - N
Words - S

Sitting in the tall glades

I pull apart every flower and leaf. I devote extra special time to each seed and dandelion, slowly shredding it with my fingers. Small bits of each tear fly in the wind, pollinating other fields and yards. My destruction will bring a new dawning of yellow flowers littering someone's perfect green grass. This pleases me.

Picture - N
Words - S

They gave up the forests for the city.
All the other mice said, "We will miss you. But we will try and call. That is, if as mice, we ever invent a telephone system. It may be a few billion years of evolution, but our hearts are in the right place."

Picture - N
Words - S

I am fascinated by the ground

For one day it will hold me forever.
When I was young, I came up with a theory.
There is no heaven or hell.
Only life.
Life is one big movie that we are making for ourselves.
And when we die, we will watch it again and again.
So you better make your life interesting.
And exciting.
And if it's a little sad at times, well, it's a dramatic movie.
But sometimes it will be happy.
A lot of times it will be weird.
No matter what, you will have to watch it again and again.
It will be painful. Yet you will laugh at all the right moments.
I wonder if I will like the movie I made when its all said and done?

Picture - N
Words - S

Lined Up

We all gathered the wagons and steered onto the offramp and waited.
We didn't want to go where we had to go.
We just wanted to turn around.
We just wanted to go back home.
We will sit in chairs all day.
We will type until our fingers hurt.
We will then sit in our cars.
We will wait all over again.
We will do it again tomorrow.

Picture - S
Words - S

Bright air

The sky was dark and the air was bright and the noise was pop pop bang bang.

And all I could look at were closed eyes.

Shiny sparkle. It's hard to be serious with a face of glitter. And that's the way it should be.

My suspicions are you've worn lip liner flavored like soda pop before.

Photo - S
Words - S

Our weekend was better than yours

Tell us what you did this weekend.

I bet we can top it.

You flew to New York City and went and saw the hottest show in town?

Please.

You rode a train through wine country?

Boring.

See, this weekend, we went to a party. And as much warning as S to did to N about what would probably happen at the party, he couldn't even prepare himself for what they saw.

This is the evidence.

Someone did this to an innocent apple pie.

Now.

Imagine the sickest thing that could happen to said pie.

And make it worse, much worse.

We were sitting next to each other, unable to stop looking or laughing and yet unable to breathe.

It was a bonding moment. Or scarring. Maybe a little of both.

A lot of times here, we try and write what we know. And take pictures of what we know.

For the life of us, how do you even put this into words?

It does need...remembered? Maybe. I don't think we'll ever forget.

Photo - S
Words - S (with inspiration from N)

I saw this billboard on the way in.

It makes no sense to me.

Every day is a gift. That makes sense.

But this looks like an May December romance to me and he's trying so hard to keep up with all she needs from him.

She needs his love. Devotion. Work. Sex. And now, a really expensive piece of jewelry.

It's not going to end up good.

Photo - S
Words - S

Smeared broken smashed thrown away in an empty room that no one visits and I never even knew was there.

Please don't ever let life get this far. Please don't let my world become this room.

Christmas trees and spent boxes stacked. No order. Just thrown away things.

Photo - S
Words - S

Tea candles in the dark. Glistening. That's all we have to look at. They shut down the power. They took away our interweb. So we just sit in the dark, wordless, and watch the candles burn out. Sizzle candles. Sizzle sizzle. Pop crackle flash. Soon it will be dark. And we'll just have our collective breathing and the honks of horns on the highways to keep us company. Come the light, we'll wake up worlds away and forget the silent hours we spent watching the flames lick the air, dancing to some unheard march that only the burning can understand.

Photo - N
Words - S

Flea Market Cakes

You ain't ever gonna serve these, the man yelled, tossing the cones into the trash. Rain pelted them. The cones were made for ice cream and now, would be denied. They tried to look tough, but the precipitation made them slowly fall down and pool into small, ruddy puddles of what was once crunchiness. Bastards, that was the cones last collective word.

Photo - S
Words - S

If you park next to a hydrant, they will smash your windows to get the hose through. Firefighters are awesome. I mean, how rock star is that? We decided instead of going over your car, we'd just go through the windows. I mean, it almost makes all the smoke inhalation worth it.

Photo - N
Words - S

I never light candles.

I light incense.

Candles seem so transitory.

Not that incense isn't.

I hate seeing candles fade and melt.

There used to be a store at the mall called Wicks 'N Sticks.

I used to stare at the beauty of the candles and wonder who could ever melt them.

And now that I'm a grown up, I know that people melt beautiful things without a second thought.

Maybe I should stick to incense.

Photo - N
Words - S

What's Still Here

Some people would walk past the glass in the dirt. And others would see it.

Some people would forget the past. And others want to know about it.

The world ain't gonna last forever. Someone has to remember it when it's gone.

Photo - N
Words - S

What are the words trying to tell us?

All I know is words on a screen.

And then I read them and still don't always get them.

But I stare and stare.

Re-read.

And I try not to forget the words.

Even if I don't always understand them.

Photo - N
Words - S

Painful childhood confession

I can't look at money when I eat.

The roots of this are in a dinner party my family had.

There were no glasses left. I had to drink out of the Planet of the Apes mug that held change.

Sure, they washed it out first.

But the copper taste remained.

Whenever I see change when I eat, I panic and throw up.

Please don't use this knowledge for evil.

Picture - N
Words - S

It's Important to Somebody

I think all girls are sailors. They lash themselves to the helm and protect themselves from the rocks and rapids and the silly stings of stupid boys. And we throw them in the water again and again until they get cold and hard, like the very rocks they try to keep themselves from splintering their vessel into. Sometimes, I want to slow down the waves for you so that you can see that dry land isn't so far away.

But I know. You know how to sail. It doesn't always help, but you got a strong foundation. Me, I only know from bumper boats.

Photo - N
Words - S

Can I capture you?

Can we own your picture? Can we take that moment we saw you and our hearts lept with joy at seeing you and how unique you are and celebrate your magic and you being alive and flash our lights and say, you, you, you?

Because we want your picture so very much.

We want to take that briefest of seconds in your life and make it last forever.

And someday you won't be here.

But we'll always have a picture of you.

Photo - N
Words - S

No more answering the phone

I eat lunches of junk food and dinners of processed beef sticks.
Breakfasts of a small fruit and then, maybe, another before bed.
I drink a lot of water.
And my belly hurts all the time.

I wish I could live in the wild.
And eat raw fruits and berries and repair myself.
Take my body back to how it should always have been.
But sometimes, it's too far.

The woods seem like they've grown backwards and away from me.
They used to encroach and now they just retreat.

Where would I find Slim Jims in the forest?
How would I check my email?
And how would anyone know where to find me?

You can run away, but your hunger for snacks and comfort will always keep you home.

Photo - N
Words - S

Too many sausages. Too much meat. Too much food. That’s how the day began. You need to walk off all the food. You need to amble all over with no plan and just walk walk walk until the food stops your belly from hurting. So that’s what we did. We walked the North Side streets until the red velvet cupcakes and kielbasa stopped slamming our internal organs.

And then we saw you, sir.

Collar up, jive walkin’, comin’ down the street like you never died on a toilet bowl reading an astrology book while Ginger Alden slept in the next room. Yes, we’re sure it was you. Who else could it have been?

“Should I go ask that guy if I can get his picture? I need his picture!”

No, I don’t think so. Shyness.

A block later, they looked at one another and ran to find the man. Gas stations, grocery stores, the general radius. He was not to be found. Their window to capture his soul had been taken away.

The two kids stared up in frustration, bemoaning their loss. And then they saw the street sign. Pressely Street. No shit. No lie.

It was all a little too perfect.

Picture – N
Words – S, but really, it was all true

I'll have to get back to you on that one

I’ve been asked a lot of deep questions. However, until I saw the writing on the wall, I was never asked “Do I look like Captain Save a Ho?”

Picture – N
Words - S

NOTICE

I can’t hide my disappointment any more. We took these pictures as a form of protest. The photo booth at the Warhol has been broken for over a month now. They need to fix that shit. We’re giving them one more month and then we’re going to go sneak in again. We’ve done it before. We’re serving you notice, Upper St. Clair kids who sit and read books and judge every entrant to the gallery. We know the secret passage and we have no problem going to your museum for free. However, we will end up feeling bad and then go and buy way too much at the gift shop.

Pictures – N
Words - S

Ring ring

I hate the waiting for a phone call to connect. The long ring, the not picking up. It makes me wonder if I should have even made the call in the first place. I feel like I should never pick up the phone and then I dial the numbers and it’s too late. It’s ringing. Hopefully they won’t pick up. Because it’s too late, I never know what to say. I prefer my fingers doing the talking because then I can pull back and edit myself. The phone is too personal, too real, too honest.

Picture – N
Words - S

I'm of two minds about the whole thing, really

For as many times as I say I hate this city, I love this city. Where else can you see trees grow inside the dust and dirt? Where else can death and life be inside the same concrete? This city drags me down and gives me hope. Anything that brings that much emotion to me can’t be all good or bad.

Picture – N
Words - S

We shall not fear the walking dead

When we walk past cemetaries, we will not be afraid.
When we hear the creak and groans of the recently deceased, we will not run.
When they come up to us, we will stare them in the face.
We have never been afraid of the end of the world.

Every day seems like a war.
And every step feels like rigor mortis has already set in.
Some days.

But we will not hide in basements.
Nor will we escape in helicopters or boats.
We're in this one for the long haul.
And we always aim right for the fucking head.

Photo - N
Words - S

Downtown

Tap tap tap tap on the window.
Warm air turns cold from water drops.
I look out the window and realize that I never knew this city was alive.
When you walk through it, you get the feeling that everyone
has given up the ghost.

I'm gonna leave this city.
And someday you will too.
But the city is alive for me now.
Someone made sure it's heart was
in the right place thump thump thump.

Photo - N
Words - S

Under the clock

Eyes make contact through traffic and crowded people making crowded walking sounds. I know your mind but not your voice and I only know still images. I've never seen you move in reality. I have no concept what the 3D version of you is. And then it jumps high in the air, wraps itself around me and my mind cannot do the math.

Photo - N
Words - S

The words aren't sung the right way

Work birthday cake tastes like your sister's french kisses.

The idea was there but the execution was creepy and oh so wrong.

Photo - N
Words - S

How did this all happen?

How did I accumulate the milage to get where I am and how come we met on the road? If you had taken that right turn back in 1997, we never would have passed by one another. If I sit here an extra 10 seconds, is there someone else that I will meet or not meet? Can our selves from another reality send down messages to let us know that everything makes sense when it shouldn't make sense? I think that's how pieorgies were made. Who decided that frying potatoes and cheese inside pasta would make sense? Throwing in some butter and onions would only make it better. Someone on some other earth was just sitting there and sent some harmonic message to some cook and voila - we had us some pierogies. It still doesn't explain SUVs or platypuses. Those really don't have a reason to exist. And they both kind of freak me out. Real bad.

Photo - N
Words - S

The bird left right after this got taken

The bee doesn't have your problems. He or she really doesn't have any problems, other than the fact that honey needs made and if they need to use their greatest weapon, they are going to die. Which is kind of sad, because it's such an awesome stinger. But the bee isn't sad. I don't even know if the bee has a concept of life or death. Or sadness. Does the bee feel good when it makes honey? I hope so. I'd like to think that the bee leads a life of frolic and complete happiness. Utter joy. Pure bee love.

Photo - N
Words - S

clean up

My uncle used to work refigeration. All day long, 365 days a year he was working. I was overjoyed as a kid to help him work or hang out with him. I remember he always was greasy and dirty from crawling under people's freezers. He had a certain smell from work, not bad, just his smell. Actually, a good smell. When I work hard I smell like it, but the only hard work I do these days is come up with ideas for people who don't have any good ideas. My hands are rough any more. Some nights, when it feels like I don't know why I keep working, I have a dream about my uncle and it's simple. He's not telling me any messages. He's just there. We're eating fried chicken and watching some dumb movie and it's all OK again. I haven't had fried chicken in a long time.

P-N
W-S

I realize we used this picture before, but it's late, I'm drinking and have something to say.

the guitar strings

Every note is still in me and I hear it reverb through headphones and car stereos and ringtones. It's an overwhelming acknowledgment that its OK to be sad, its OK to give up your control and its OK to just give up. And I can't, I won't, as I stare into the sky. Hank Williams died in a limo before he was old and wrote sad songs, songs so sad that sad girls had to go and make them sadder. As I stare out across the south end of my city, I wonder about the people. I can only see their windows or shapes of houses. I hope some of them out there are debating whether or not to kick the chair over. I hope that some of them are OK. I'd like to think that the sunset is a blanket of "it'll be all alright tomorrow" that we can all lay down underneathe and cuddle.

P-N
W-S

Action figure Hollywood

I had a spaceman when I was a child that looked like John Belushi.

Why a 5 year old knows John Belushi is a matter of some concern.

He used to be my favorite soldier.

I don't even know where he is now.

But it's weird that I can forget people and still remember a blue John Belushi toy.

Photo - N
Words - S

Christmas mouse is ready

8 months to go. But Christmas Mouse is ready.

Some people have asked him to change his name to Holiday Mouse.

But he's a stuck in his ways mouse. He doesn't mean to offend.

He just has been slacking since December and really needs the work.

Photo - N
Words - S

City by the divide

Our bridge and tunnel prison seems like miles when it might be blocks. I can't even see where you are from here. All I can see are wooden floors and beams, all I hear are loud cars. Did you know that every day, a car crashes into my building? Every day.

Photo - N
Words - S

Looking back at you now

Why did I ever get off of you? Why did I ever unwrap myself from your loving grasp? Your warmth, your comfort, the way you know exactly what I needed? Softness and the ability to know exactly when I want solitude.

I really should have never woken up, bed.

Photo - N
Words - S

Late hour weirdness

I'm not afraid of the dark anymore. But sometimes, in the middle of the night, I feel like some shadow is around every corner. That unseen eyes watch my every move and unless I close my eyes, I will come face to face with a ghost. Every creak in the house makes my heart go thump thump, and not in a good way. That would be thump thump thump. Two thumps? Always bad.

Photo - N
Words - S