essay: #09 CUPID'S ARROW

Cupid's arrow.
Has struck a cruel and savage blow.
dammit!
Frederic Beigbeder.
And his novel.
Windows On The World.
Went and broke my fucking heart.
Clean in two.
Snapped it.
Like a twig!

Strange times.
These.

Iceberg's crashing.
Raising sea-levels.
Churning embryonic tsunamis into tomorrow's tragedy.
While Tower of Babel's destruction replays
Over and over
On 'mind-loop' Greatest Hits channel.

Sometimes it's easier not to care.
To turn your back on the horizon.
To the plotline where fiction collides with reality.
Infinite.
Unwritten.
But always sensationalist.

Democracy.
A stormy ocean.
Crashing against our shores.
Abuse.
More.
Military always in the frontline.
Afghanistan says, "Please explain?"

Sign O The Times.
Each day.
With its multiple sound-byte-orgasms.
damn.
Always makes us feel better though.

A friend, serving in the US Military.
In Iraq.
Dodging rockets and mortars.
Miltary Doc gives him a shot.
Ease the pain.
Fuck.
Makes him numb.
Soldier blues catch up with him occasionally.
He says: "Someone's gotta do this, why not me?"

"Stay safe, soldier," I say.

Beigbeder.
Snuggles in closer.
Some say he's "vain and shallow."
Others, a genius.
A Frenchman with an eye for tragedy.
Sculpting a vision so terrifying.
Yet so necessary.

Sweet dreams, world.
Safe from glass towers spurting fire and brimstone high into the heavens.
And burning bodies slowdiving into the history books.

We're Generation 'sidewalk-gazer'.
Too afraid to look up.
Too afraid to look down.
Event Horizon.
Buy your ticket!
Jump aboard, you won't be disappointed..."

essay: #08 A DANCING MATRIX

Damn picture.
Gives me the chills.
Fucking 21st Century Plague Armies.

Disposal of human-matter.
Reads like a horror story.
Armageddon, if you must.
Eco-bioterrorism mutated with rage.

Bacteria and super-viruses.
'Superspreaders.'
Layman's lingo:
People infected with disease who pass onto inordinate number of others.
Sweet Jesus.

SARS.
MARBURG.
EBOLA.
AVIAN FLU.

ON THE MOVE...

Strap on the face-mask.
Nothing personal intended, you understand.
Sidestep Quarantine Station #200
Halting the Spread of the Inevitable.

damn.
Exotic pathogens hi-jacking our immune systems.
Clocking the Frequent-Flyer-points.
Extreme makeover-artists infiltrating
The flesh and blood of our pestilent ways.

1918 Spanish Flu kills 2 million.
1957 Asian Flu, estimated 2 million +
1968 Hong Kong Flu, 34,000.
2005 AIDS, 15 million and rising.
2005 Marburg, 200 and rising.

"Menacing as bioterrorism is, the danger from naturally evolving diseases are far greater. While we watch out our front door for terrorist germs, killer microbes such as the SARS virus are sneaking through our backdoor. The sheer number of pathogens is rising, and their diversity, reproductive vigor, and ability to mutate are daunting." New Killer Diseases.

A friend says:
"Hey, it's okay!
It's all part of the pattern."

Population Control.
Global warming.
Humanity.
A DANCING MATRIX.
In the Garden of millennial-eden.

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