l'amour, part 4

by gabrielle-jeanette perfidy

illustrated by rhoda penmarq

part four of seventy-eight

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to begin at the beginning, click here




part 5

Observable Phenomena

Jesse S. Mitchell

The alterations of faith, murmuring their parts,
Locked quarantine inside each vacant chest,
Loudest when boastful but when humble they
Beat best.
They beat best.

‘Science is what makes this earth my playground, my friend.
Iodine, quinine as toxic as strychnine’
‘But not half as much fun…’
‘So thin, my God you have become so damned thin.’
‘Mars is in retrograde, guess you know what that means?’
‘Venus in the ascent?’
‘I’ll have to draw out your chart.’

I have hyenas and hyphens, old hymns hidden under my skin
Masquerading as bones, tendons and bones,
Laughing laughing bones…
Lithium in my veins, pale.

This jaguar walks down the streets of London,
Cheek full of betel nut and coca leaf.
By Darwinian increments becoming more and more human
(don’t you know me by my spots?)
I come from far away, far away from far flung flaming sun planet earth,
Planet earth,
But this is where I shall pursue thee through these alien fields of happiness.

The alterations of faith, murmuring their parts,
Locked quarantine inside each vacant chest,
Loudest when boastful but when humble they
Beat best.
It beats best.

l'amour, part 3

by gabrielle-jeanette perfidy

illustrated by rhoda penmarq

part three of seventy-eight

for previous chapter, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here




part 4

variations on a theme

by horace p sternwall

illustrations by roy dismas

the first stanza is from an ozark folk song, "the hound dog song".

it was used as the campaign song of vice-presidential candidate champ clark in 1912.

for one set of complete lyrics, see here

every time i go to town the boys keep kicking my dog around even though he's just a hound they got to stop kicking my dog around every time i go to school the teacher beats me with her rule even though i'm just a fool she's got to stop beating me with her rule every time i go to sadie's i get disrespected by the ladies even though i may have rabies i shouldn't get dumped on by those ladies when i go down to the general store pappy greets me with a snore even though i'm just a bore he ought to be too polite to snore every time my birthday comes i get myself a big steel drum even though i'm just a bum they got to listen when i beat my drum every time i fall down drunk i hit the sidewalk with a clunk even though i'm not a monk it feels much better when i'm drunk

l'amour, part 2

by gabrielle-jeanette perfidy

illustrated by rhoda penmarq

part two of seventy-eight

to begin at the beginning, click here




part 3

tales of the hotel st crispian, chapter 41: "room 603"

by Horace P. Sternwall

edited by Dan Leo*

illustrated by konrad kraus

artistic supervisor: rhoda penmarq

*Ass’t Professor of Classics and Television Studies, Olney Community College; editor of Hail the Conquering Loser: Previously Uncollected Stories of Horace P. Sternwall, Vol.3 (1946-1950); Olney Community College Press, “The Sternwall Project”.



for complete episode, click here