Overheard in a Bus Station

“How about I give you 5 bucks for some glue?”

“I want my face in your crotch.”

“Fatherless girls are my bread and butter.”

“I just need to know where the ghosts go at night. Can you tell me that?”

“Those guys got gummied.”

Notes on a Surveillance

“Isn’t Baldwin a well-known pervert?”
— J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director, 1964

Between 1958 and 1974, the writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin was surveilled by the FBI because he was considered a threat to national security.

Baldwin’s FBI files “included details of  Baldwin’s education, military status, residences past and present, criminal record, publication history, bank records, and every other detail of his behaviour and opinions that could be unearthed.”

In 1966, Baldwin was placed on the Security Index, alongside other “dangerous individuals” who “posed a threat to national interest and security,” and, in the words of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, doubled as a “thought-control relay station.”

Baldwin was believed to be an “Independent Black Nationalist Extremist” with a “propensity for violence” and “could be detained during a national emergency.”

Here are some other “notes” from the James Baldwin FBI files:

“Information has been developed by the Bureau that Baldwin is a homosexual, and on a recent occasion made derogatory remarks in reference to the Bureau.”
— Unnamed FBI supervisor, 1963

“Baldwin rented an apartment in the Babek Section of Istanbul. She found out later that Baldwin was evicted by the landlord for having homosexual parties.”
— Unnamed FBI informant, 1966

“It is believed that the subject, due to his position as an author, is likely to furnish aid or other assistance to revolutionary elements because of his sympathy and/or ideology”
— FBI memorandum, 1972

“The theme of homosexuality has figured prominently in two of his three published novels. Baldwin has stated that it is also ‘implicit’ in his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. In the past, he has not disputed the description of ‘autobiographical’ being attached to the first book. Baldwin has expressed a sympathetic viewpoint about homosexuality on several occasions, and a very definite hostility toward the revulsion of the American public regarding it.”
— M. A. Jones, FBI Crime Records Section officer, 1964

An Accepted Universal Truth

Piano teachers the world over are terrifying.

Equinox

The autumnal equinox is here. The minor blues are just ahead.

The leaves will fall from the trees like the days themselves, slowly moving into a new night.

So turn down the lights and let the moon savor the harvest.

Afraid of The Finns

The Finns are starting to freak us out.

They say they’re not afraid of the Russians; that they’d fight the Russian army with their standing army; that they’d challenge Putin to a street fight; that the Finns are a proud people, not afraid of anyone, anywhere.

The Finns tell us they’re ex-military.

And so then a round is bought, and a joint is shared. Things get fuzzy. They say they don’t want to visit America, and we say we can’t blame them.

We tell the Finns we gotta go, but they say, “No, you must stay for another round,” and we look at each other, thinking the same thing.

So of course we stick around because who wants to piss off the ex-military Finnish guys?

Ministry of Peace

“This meeting today is proof that with determined leadership, nothing is impossible. When I took office, the war in Gaza was raging — the war in Gaza is over.”

Donald J. Trump
Chairman of the Board of Peace
February 19, 2026

The View From 14th and 9th on September 11, 2001

“Turn on the TV.”

“It’s on, but it’s in French. Are you guys ok?”

“We’re ok. Your mom is taking pictures.”

“Pictures?”

“We can see the towers out your window.”

“You can see them?”

“Yeah.”

“Jesus.”

No Kind of World

In Gaza
Families sleep together
In the same room
So if bombs drop
During the night
No one survives

The simple fact
In Gaza
That families would rather
Die together
Than survive alone

What kind of world is this?

Death Trap Inevitability

I’ll never ride a Ferris wheel, a funicular, or any of those little suspended air cars that carry you over a body of water. I also won’t get on a ski lift, the London Eye, the Duquesne Incline, or any similar attractions because they all seem like guaranteed death traps just waiting to happen.

If I’m being honest, I’d say cable cars, cableways, aerial tramways, aerial lifts, gondola lifts, ropeways, sky trams, telphers, danglebahns, téléphériques, seilbahns, or any kind of suspended monorail are all suspect because of the traditional lack of inspection, upkeep, and general misuse.

I mean, “aerial transport systems,” anyone?

I guess the same goes for roller coasters or pretty much any kind of thrill ride or amusement park ride because, honestly, have you ever seen those things in action?

I’ll even go as far as to say I try to stay away from most, if not all, streetcars, trams, and trolleys, just to be safe.

Oh, and zip lines?

Fuck zip lines.

The Voices

The voices are back.

But not the ones from the elevator. They’re now coming from under the stairwell.

It’s a small crawl space. I used to put my shoes under there.

Not anymore.

The voices could get angry, and I don’t want that.

The voices.

They’re back.