Full Blue Moon Dementia

The Korean missionaries storm the Hollywood Blvd. sidewalk, parting the tourists and street urchins like the Red Sea. Their leader, a short slender woman dressed in black, screams into a megaphone. “Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming today!” While the rest of them wave placards stating “Jesus is thy Lord.” A gutter-punk,...

Vermin on the Mountain Reading SeriesJanuary 9th 2011 Host: Jim RulandWriters: Anotina Crane, Chiwan Choi, Jeanne Darst, Danielle Dutton, Patrick O’Neil Camera: Stephan Salit VOTM: What’s the most unusual experience you’ve ever had at a reading? Patrick O’Neil: “At my earlier readings I was nervous about being in front of people and reading my work....

The old man is six feet away, but I can still smell him. It’s a permeating stench. A mixture of piss, dirty socks, unwashed body, and a bunch of other rancid smells I don’t want to indentify let alone drift up my nostrils. He’s digging in a trashcan with a folded coat hanger. Snagging aluminum...

The street kid on a BMX bicycle nearly runs me down. His face contorted with what looks like either anger or fear. He’s hauling ass away from the Egyptian Theater’s backdoor. Two cops stand there staring after him. A trail of unwashed stench hangs in the air as he passes. I step over the slimy...

There was a phantom on the highway. Just east of San Bernardino, a ghost shadow strolling across four lanes of I-10 at two in the morning. I saw his brief outline in my headlights. He wore a tattered blanket over his head like a shawl. He looked dirty, and was dragging a trash bag. The...

The convertible top is down, and it’s still hot as hell. There’s no wind and the sun is whacking me like a sledgehammer. When I press the pedal to floor there’s a flow of air as the car picks up speed. It’s still hot air, but at least it’s moving. I pass a Hassidic Jew...

There’s a bird in the bush outside my apartment chirping his fucking ass off. As soon as the sun pops up he does his little bird thing, all cheerful and happy sounding. Tweet, tweet, tweet, and I want to kill him. He’s been doing this for the last few weeks. Every morning I wake up...

Possibly the third worst reading I’ve ever done. I just couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t see because of the stage lighting. The promoter had some issue with me. Two days before the reading he emailed me saying: “a lot of your writing has to do with shooting up, could you read something about bank...

– to Pam who said, “write this.” I wake up to the sounds of my neighbors fucking. They’re a young couple, they just moved in. The building’s walls are thin. She’s a screamer. I saw them in the courtyard yesterday. I said hi. They ignored me and scurried into their apartment. Their bed is banging...

Cop car, siren on, lights flashing, speeds through the intersection. Twilight sky, quarter moon, palm trees, and a warm breeze. A cliché – but still it’s what’s happening. Man walks out of drugstore carrying a twelve pack. Pan right. Wino lies on sidewalk laughing. Children run through parking lot. Background: traffic noise. Time: 9:47 pm....