enjoy this Brian Looney writing
in the Scars Publications free 2011 PDF file chapbook: Punk Show
(click on the front cover image or the
title text to download the free PDF file)
In Here I Am Healthy
Brian Looney
I absorb the sounds like a thirsty plant, enlivening slowly. My limbs grow greener, my leaves perk up. My stem straightens and strengthens. I stretch upward, leaning toward the stage, all appendages extended.
My roots twine through the soil and then bust out of the planter, unconfined. Little bumpy, brown, dirt-encrusted tendrils flop into the world. People are careful not to step on them. A person’s roots are respected here. Mine are twisted like curly fries.
In here I am healthy. The punk-sun nourishes my leaves, injects my veins with life. I become self-sustaining. Little black flowers blossom in the beat. Their petals quiver in the wind of sound, the product of dark noise, an anti-decoration. They exude pungent intoxicants into the atmosphere.
I wonder if I’ll wilt again when I leave. I wonder if the flowers will dehydrate and then snap off with a dry crackle. I wonder if they’ll fall to the ground and be trampled to pieces by black and polished shoes. I wonder if their resin will smatter the pavement like sickly balls of gum.
