SONG OF THE DAY: Wintertime In Cali

Never listened to XL Middleton before this album came across my digital radar for some reason earlier this year. The only Daft Punk songs I ever liked were the ones that sounded like you were driving a late model van with a bubble window to the roller skating rink somewhere in the greater Los Angeles area around 1985. So the fact there's a dude whose entire musical sound is basically that fine-tuned "songs by Daft Punk Raven actually likes" Venn diagram has been a godsend. So fire up that '83 sparkle purple Dodge Ram van with the diamond shaped black mirror on the back end, push the youtube link cassette into the player, and drive slowly towards Paradise City.

1 M4K3 MY P1LGR1M4G3S...

I make my pilgrimages 
to industry’s rusting mosques, 
and scribble my small prayers 

SONG OF THE DAY: Strange (screwed and chopped)

Explaining the mundane background soundtrack
which makes life less wack – this real life lacking
in actions which maximize feeling mack,
and mostly saturated with slacking
while appearing to be doing. Unreal…
and I didn’t feel like finishing, so that’s it.

L1F3 G4V3 M3 4 H4RD SCR4BBL3...

life gave me a hard scrabble 
philosophy; dad always 
said, “boy, we are survivors” 

1 C4N'T C0NTR0L H0W 0TH3RS...

I can’t control how others 
regard me - their own filters 
distort in good or bad light 

34CH D4Y C4N B3 4 BL3SS1NG...

each day can be a blessing 
or a curse, depending on 
where focus gets directed 

H0P3 T0 B3 S1TT1NG 1N TH3...

hope to be sitting in the 
yard, watching world slowly spin 
round, once I’m too old to “work” 

0VR M4NM4D3 CR34T10NS SH0VLD...

our manmade creations should 
reflect nature, not oppose; 
our souls ain’t industrious 

SONG OF THE DAY: Oregano Flow (chopped and screwed)

I begun a project called Screw Scholarship at my patreon the past couple days, where I'm gonna go through like the first 250 chapters of released DJ Screw tapes. Why? Because fuck it. Why not here instead? Because I don't know, the internet is weird now. I mean, you can get access to my patreon for as low as $1 a month, and I've been posting there nearly daily for the past few months. At higher levels you get other benefits too, and it seems to me my ridiculous world-building shit is worth support. It's really hard to explain exactly what I do as an artist, much less how I use patreon for those purposes. But what I do is unique, and soulful, and worth getting fucking supported. Anyways, this is a random mention of my patreon on my public blog, although mostly that means my sister will read it, and then feel like she has to join my patreon. MICHELLE! YOU DON'T HAVE TO JOIN MY PATREON!

WH4T W3 LVST F0R T0D4Y 3NDS...

what we lust for today ends 
up abandoned in pile a 
couple tomorrows from now 

SONG OF THE DAY: Turn Down Yo Lights

Raven, an Aquarius. I love long drives at the margins of the declining American Empire, and wearing purple surgical masks when buying fried chicken in gas stations in parts of the country I'm not from. My turn ons are walking through train yards and marking things therein, and my turnoffs are people who think they know, and also cops, who are like the ultimate people who think they know. An ideal supper would be an 8-piece dark meat special, spread out over the course of the night, and probably some ginger brews or maybe orange Perriers or I don't know. I don't drink anymore so liquids aren't nearly as important in distracting me from what's going on as they used to be. Do you have a purple porch light? Holler at me.

F4TT3N3D W1TH M4T3R14L...

fattened with material 
burdens, we appear to be 
ghosts, even while still breathing 

CH4NN3L3D 1NT0 C0NSVMPT10N...

channeled into consumption - 
nothing but stoplights on the 
path of self-realization 

ST1LL TRY T0 PR4CT1C3 F1ND1NG...

still try to practice finding 
spirit while cultivating 
joy while surviving each day 

1 ST1LL 0NLY CL1MB L4DD3RS...

I only still climb ladders 
if they promise a brief taste 
of heaven, to fuel spirit 

M0NVM3NTS T0 SVRV1V4L...

monuments to survival 
far more rare than monuments 
for standing on top others 

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Eleven: HOSHORYU (8-3)

Shodai the second 
ozeki unseen behind 
Terunofuji 

third-highest ranked rikishi, 
going against Hoshoryu 

another Mongol, 
plus second generation 
sumo combatant 

his uncle was first Mongol 
to attain yokozuna 

Asashoryu's a 
legend second only to 
the great Hakuho 

Hoshoryu's uncle once 
won a year's worth of bashos 

but sumo hated 
a Mongol yokozuna... 
besmirching honor 

a decade later, sumo 
still doesn't love a Mongol 

but Mongolian 
sumo wrestlers dominate 
the sport's top level 

Hoshoryu began training 
as pre-teen, half his life back 

his uncle was still 
a yokozuna, active; 
Hoshoryu learned quick 

this basho completed his 
first year at makuuchi 

to be so young, yet 
show no fear against men like 
ozeki Shodai 

Shodai bullies, Horshoryu 
remained resolute, balanced 

Shodai helped himself 
to handful of mawashi, 
readying for toss 

Hoshoryu calmly returned 
favor with countering grasp 

Shodai's hip toss was 
met with resistance, so he 
stepped to his own right 

Hoshoryu smartly followed, 
but moved his right leg quickly 

one step ahead of 
Shodai, despite following 
the ozeki's lead 

Shodai tumbled to the sand... 
Hoshoryu's biggest win yet 

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Ten: KIRIBAYAMA (7-3)

Kiribayama's 
a young Mongol with a year 
at makuuchi 

a mawashi gripping man 
who prefers getting in close 

won Fighting Spirit 
award his first basho as 
at the top level 

these past six tournaments, he's 
struggled to maintain strong form 

day ten, Nagoya 
basho, he got handful of 
purple mawashi 

Kotoeko fended off 
defeat briefly, but not long 

Kiribayama 
got that uwatenage 
flipping victory 

young Mongol's star continues 
to ascend, as he seasons 

M0ST 0F WH4T W3 G3T T4NGL3D...

most of what we get tangled 
up in’s our own creation - 
self-manufactured drama 

TH3 3X1ST3NT14L CR1S1S...

the existential crisis 
of a human being’s to 
balance ego with spirit 

M4NM4D3 CR34T10N'S B33N M34NT...

manmade creation’s been meant 
to rust back to brown Earth, so  
as to not stifle green’s growth 

SONG OF THE DAY: Stoned, Slow, and Rugged

Still sober, but life tests me. On a daily basis sometimes. It's the good days that are hardest, strangely enough, when nothing is horribly bad, and you just feel extra chill, and every cellular memory in your body is like, "wow, what a perfect day to go get fucked up by the river." Oh well. In terms of this song title, I'm still hella slow though, probably slower than ever.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Nine: URA (5-4)

unpredictable 
Ura's a crowd favorite, 
being native-born 

four years ago, he had reached 
his highest ranking ever 

shooting through lower 
ranks, making makuuchi, 
and performing well 

got his first kinboshi star 
at Nagoya four years back 

day nine and ten proved 
to be defining moments 
for Ura's career 

beating Harumafuji - 
a yokozuna - day nine 

earning that first gold 
star honor for win over 
a yokozuna 

it seemed Ura has arrived, 
ready for big-time sumo 

day ten (still four years 
ago), Takayasu was 
his planned opponent 

near the lead, looking to be 
challenger for the title 

that day ten bout though 
changed trajectory, tearing 
his knee ligaments 

multiple surgeries and 
extended lay-offs for years 

multiple downward 
demotions, dropping levels 

each basho he missed

he dropped back down the sumo 
pyramid, near the bottom 

finally returned 
nine touraments ago, and 
has dominated 

won jonidan, sandanme, 
and then juryo this past May 

this basho has been 
Ura's triumphant return 
to the top level 

both knees heavily bandaged, 
showing the scars of his path 

fifteen bouts means that 
winning or losing records 
will always happen 

there is no status quo to 
hide behind within sumo 

kachikoshi hopes 
of winning record carry 
Ura on wrapped knees 

Takarafuji has him 
pushed back, about to go down 

Ura's record would 
tip to the negative with 
a day nine defeat 

even on worse-for-wear knees, 
Ura spin steps left, smoothly 

Takarafuji's 
momentum loses balance, 
falling out face first 

Ura bounces on those knees, 
absorbing more and more shock 

it's doubtful Ura 
will ever win a basho, 
or be ozeki 

but his fighting spirit should 
never be questioned; it's strong 

his fighting spirit's 
obvious any time he 
climbs into dohyo 

those heavily bandaged knees 
are sacrifice to sumo 

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Eight: ISHIURA (5-3)

lil Ishiura, 
the green Lamborghini mack, 
relies on his speed 

often counting on first side 
step to tumble opponents 

when henka doesn't 
give him the quick victory, 
it becomes harder 

Ishiura is tiny 
next to most sumo wrestlers 

but he's been on hot 
streak at Nagoya basho, 
here facing Ura 

Ura was once promising 
star, who suffered injuries 

Ishiura and 
Ura struggle for hand grips, 
feeling each other 

Ishirua slaps Ura 
and then powers him out ring 

lil Ishiura, 
whose chankonabe bowl needs 
refilling (no diss) 

he still possesses power 
that would topple you or I 

he's a favorite, 
so seeing him do well this 
basho makes me glad 

makuuchi without this 
scrappy dude just ain't the same 

[the full match]

TH3 K3Y T0 B31NG MY FVLL...

the key to being my full 
fool card self took shitload of 
steps, many of them unplanned 

SONG OF THE DAY: Walking The Track

Obscure soul songs about walking the railroad tracks? Always gonna be something I wanna play. Where's the fried fish at? Y'all play horseshoes, right? Cornhole? Pssh, get the fuck outta here with that toddler from Ohio shit.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Seven: TOBIZARU (3-4)

Tobizaru, one 
of the smallest rikishi 
in both height and weight 

a year in makuuchi, 
depending on them henkas 

his first time facing 
greatest ever - Hakuho... 
and what a strange bout 

multiple matta as the 
smaller man starts out anxious 

once they engage, to 
his credit, Tobizaru 
keeps himself upright 

then a stand-off - Hakuho 
the cat stalking this small mouse 

Tobizaru stands, 
hands prepared for more grabbing, 
teasing an attack 

but nothing... bizarre moment 
of both rikishi standing 

staring each other 
down - Hakuho picking his 
moment to attack 

Tobizaru just trying 
to survive versus master 

to beat a current 
yokozuna means bonus - 
gold star kinboshi 

comes with financial reward 
as well for lower-ranked man 

was Tobizaru 
dreaming of stealing a win 
from all-time greatest? 

a second time they stand off, 
staring, waiting, sizing up 

let's be honest here - 
Tobizaru is doomed, so 
to confound was win 

for him to cause Hakuho 
this much effort was success 

but finally, the 
all-time greatest hip tosses 
the small rikishi 

Tobizaru loses, in 
his first bout with Hakuho 

but make no mistake, 
Tobizaru impressed with 
his lack of seen fear 

he stood in there with greatest, 
and wiled his way to long bout 

only a single 
year at the top-level, he 
still finding his way 

may never be a star, but 
wile and confidence goes far 

Tobizaru stood 
in there with a true legend 
whose shadow dwarfed him 

and yet Tobizaru gave 
Hakuho far more than most 

[the full match]

FR3SH-BL0SS0M3D S0VTH3RN G0TH1CC...

fresh-blossomed southern gothicc 
futurist - love where I’ll die, 
but I’ve got many years left 

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Six: KOTONOWAKA (5-1)

been makuuchi 
(or top level) sumo for 
just over a year 

this is his seventh basho 
at makuuchi level 

he's only had a 
winning record twice in those 
previous six times 

but he's begun this basho 
with a pretty strong showing 

Tokoshoryu seems 
to have this one won with an 
initial advance 

Kotonowaka is backed 
to roped edge of dohyo's ring 

ahh yes... casual 
ballet-like tiptoes by these 
sumo behemoths 

Kotonowaka side steps 
and Tokoshoryu tumbles 

a bout seemingly 
lost from jump, with victory 
salvaged at the end 

finding balance in moments 
where none would be encouraged 

sometimes that seems to 
me the biggest lesson of 
sumo indulgence 

in this heavy assed world which 
crushes spirit, find balance 

the earth is not flat, 
but that edge to fall over 
shows itself daily 

trying to find balance, as 
unseen shit pushes on you 

SONG OF THE DAY: Pick Up Your Feelings

 

Jazmine Sullivan not only has the exact energy I’d expect from a person with a name based on “jasmine”, but she also perfectly personifies having that “z” tucked in there. She might be the most Jazmine to ever Jazmine thus far in the history of Earth. I imagine she’s the type to sit on your face during sex and not get up even though you’re choking, but still getting up before you die, and being apologetic enough about having gotten caught up in the moment that you forget all about it, and it happens again eventually, like maybe even later that night if you’re lucky.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Five: TAKAYASU (2-1-2)

chasing ozeki 
rank, injured Takayasu 
missed the first two days 

needing thirteen wins to get 
that promotion, he came back 

days three and four, we 
saw flash of Takayasu's 
full strength dominance 

at his best, he's one of the 
best in all sumo wrestling 

Takayasu's face 
always perfectly stoic, 
before and after 

Takayasu's chest hair sends 
strong masculine energy 

a multitude of 
injuries has held the big 
man back recently 

day five, facing Meisei, he 
needed yet another win 

dreams of ozeki 
return, fighting through the pain, 
chasing sumo dreams 

Meisei's able to resist 
that first Takayasu surge 

initial impacts 
in Takayasu bouts are 
a thing of beauty 

shoulder thrusts jostling his foes 
into off-balance footings 

Takayasu tries 
to gain advantage, grabbing, 
and misses with hand 

body shifting downward just 
so, Meisei seizes his chance 

quick encouragement 
down, and Takayasu falls - 
first official loss 

no ozeki promotion, 
but you can't deny his strength 

if Takayasu 
stays healthy, he'll be a great 
litmus for the stars 

this basho remains about 
the two men at top of scroll 

Terunofuji 
and Hakuho facing a 
strong Takayasu? 

these would be good tests for both; 
hope for Takayasu's health 

[THE FULL MATCH]

4 R34L L1F3 S0VTH3RN G0TH1CC...

a real life southern gothicc 
futurist - love where I was 
grown, but the soil’s been poisoned 

W4ND3R1NG TH3 N3GL3CT3D...

wandering the neglected 
edges of America 
helps hone bezels of wisdom 

PVLL1NG BR1GHTN3SS 0VT TH3 D4RK...

pulling brightness out the dark 
requires vigilance, and yet 
also deep humility 

4LW4YS PR4CT1C3D B3D4ZZL1NG...

always practiced bedazzling 
the rusted belt existence 
I was blessed to be born with 

SONG OF THE DAY: Every Saturday Night

It's been four years since I made this post about the KKK rally in Charlottesville in July of 2017. Today, they took down the confederate monuments in Charlottesville, including the one where this rally happened, and the other one where what came to turn Charlottesville into a hashtag happened a couple blocks away. As someone who was raised in the rural south, loves the American south, grew up around confederate flags and even used to wear clothes with them when I was younger, about these confederate monuments getting taken down in Charlottesville, let me just say...
good. The monuments were racist in intent and meant to intimidate. People holding onto the philosophies behind those monuments' intent has held back the progress of a truly beautiful, diverse, and culturally unique geographical part of America. and I'm very thankful for the leadership of Black women in making today happen. We are very blessed in the American south with a lot of strong, intelligent, but also very real and practical people like the ones who were instrumental in making today happen. And to be honest, that's the south I've always loved, even when I didn't know any better.
We don't have many public spaces in American culture, despite that being the precedent in most all indigenous cultures on this continent, in Africa, even in Europe to be honest. Public commons were considered expected, not something that had to be created. So for the few public spaces we have in our culture to be marked by monuments which say "not for y'all" is even more fucked up. I hope DJs set up on the abandoned concrete plinths and we have Saturday evening cookouts all summer long forever moving forward. Plenty of room for horseshoe pits at the former Lee Park too, in my opinion. Fuck the confederacy, but long thrive the south.

N0T10NS B1G B4NG B0RN 1NS1D3...

notions big bang born inside 
small mind connected unseen 
with the entire universe 

SONG OF THE DAY: La Pelusa (rebajada)

My state has "DMV Select" locations, in like grocery stores and shit like that. Because of covid, the actual DMV only makes online appointments, months out, and I just got an old ass truck so needed to get tags and title, so took my chances at the DMV Select over by where I used to live, at the old school grocery store with the best fried chicken anywhere. They got a system where you can't park in front of the store, go in and get a number from the checkout lady - handwritten numbers up to 80, I got there ten minutes after the DMV opened and got 25. Went back to my car, and sat, talking shit with the dude next to me who got a bike and was getting tags for that. They had a whiteboard out front they wrote the next number on and the kid who bagged groceries would yell a few out. Me and dude next to me laughed it up about how stupid cops were, how you shouldn't ever snitch, just because weed's legal doesn't mean you can smoke it in the car and cops still gonna be fucking people up left and right because the police are the police. "Always acting like they your friend," he says. "I know, if they're my friend, why the fuck we in that room talking?" I go. "I KNOW!" he exclaims.
Anyways, he got his shit done, and then I went up and the sign said 24 so I sat in the chair that was there, and some maskless truck driver white dude comes up (other guy was black from before), and I realized I forgot my mask, but didn't want to go back to the car, I'm vaccinated, fuck it. People are walking in the store with masks and ol' discbeard with his ear piece cell phone goes, "I hate seeing all these dumbasses with their masks, like robots. If I fart, do you smell it? It's airborne, dumbasses." I just sat there thinking about going back to get my purple one out the car and put it on, but then the kid came out and yelled 25 so I went in, got my tags, title, and some chicken thighs too. Can't resist them E.W. Thomas chicken thighs.
The whole scene, other than trucker dude, tripped me out. One low rider Acura Integra with BLACK BETTY vinyl cursive letters on front windshield, Latino working dude in giant truck who showed up almost two hours after me but still just got 37, folks yelling at each other because they knew each other. Shit, I knew one of the women behind the deli counter because she's giant and used to work at the country store by my old house, and also was a nurse when I got hospitalized with a surgical infection one time a few years back. Small but diverse and hardscrabble but stylish country life along the edges of America's old highways. How come I don't see this shit in popular media? Because it's fuckin' beautiful, so long as you can avoid the dumbass racists.

W3 C4N'T 3V3R 3SC4P3 34RTH...

we can't ever escape Earth 
in our physical forms, thus 
I practice metaphysics 

SONG OF THE DAY: Trains

Boogie Brown put together this Appalachian Sci-fi project a while back, and it remains one of my favorite things to have come out this year. He says on the bandcamp page that he loves and respects Americana type shit, but that’s not what Appalachia sounds like to him no more. Americana music has gotten weird, to where it’s clever quirky folks who have questionable at best connection to that true country life, who play old-timey music on old-timey instruments but with expensive tattoos and ironic mustaches and shit. I don’t know, I will never trust a dude with a cop mustache, ever, even if ironic. There’s nothing ironic about the police state, especially in places like Appalachia. That’s why I don’t like Sturgill Simpson, because he’s the son of an Appalachian narcotics officer, and has grown into an old-timey musician with a cop mustache. How’m I’m supposed to trust that shit? Fuck that, it’s music for hipster breakfast spots, not country folk.
Anyways, I digress, because the point is this whole Appalachian Sci-fi project is dope as fuck, and Boogie Brown is one of my oldest and dearest creative co-conspirators, but I also think he’s a musical genius. I don’t even think I can begin to understand how he processes the world creatively, so I’m thankful for these little pieces I do get to enjoy.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Four: TAMAWASHI (4-0)

day four bout between 
two undefeated upstarts, 
hoping to keep pace 

remaining undefeated 
helps maintain one's relevance 

Terunofuji 
and Hakuho dominate 
the sumo discourse 

sumo fandom is hoping 
for those two's epic showdown 

but other's will stay 
in the mix, on day-to-day 

basis, winning bouts 

Tamawashi is wily 
vet, with decade under belt 

Kotonowaka 
looked to have the advantage, 
pushing his foe back 

Tamawashi regained his 
footing, started to push back 

as he momentum 
was gained, Kotonowaka 
resisted with weight 

Tamawashi stepped right, and 
helped guide his foe to defeat 

thus, after four days, 
three men were undefeated 
at top of the board 

two sumo superstars, and 
scrappy assed Tamawashi 

W3 4R3 4LL JVST PR1S0N3RS...

“we are all just prisoners 
here, of our own device”, scratched 
without copyright clearance 

SONG OF THE DAY: Gone Away Again

The other day I was so mad and frustrated with this idiotic world, I was driving full speed across the salt flats at the edge of the flat Earth, hell bent on just shooting over the edge and plummeting to my death. But then this song came on the randomizer stereo, and it was like a soothing salve for my soul. I hit the brakes hard, fishtailing to within 69 inches of my own doom, cranked it up with all the windows open, and sat at the edge of the Earth with my feet dangling over the side into space, just kicking them back and forth like a happy ass naïve and oblivious child. Life was good again, and worth continuing to trudge along with lightness in my step, until somebody tricks me into pushing stones uphill again, like always. Fucking world.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Three: MITAKEUMI (2-1)

Mitakeumi 
had high expectations when 
he entered sumo 

collegiate champion, 
fast-tracked his way to juryo 

five tournaments in 
to professional career, 
he made the big stage 

this is his tenth tournament 
at sekiwake ranking 

each time before, an 
injury halted further 
growth up pyramid 

this fifth sekiwake stint 
begins with high hopes (again) 

hoping to traverse 
to next level finally, 
become ozeki 

it won't happen this month; it 
takes multiple tournaments 

day three, he battled 
Hokutofuji, who was 
unbeaten thus far 

Hokutofuji had our 
hero at brink of defeat 

Mitakeumi 
powered back, pushing his foe 
across whole dohyo 

Hokutofuji did not 
relent, third tussle ensued 

again at dohyo's 
edge, Hokutofuji's feet 
fighting for balance 

Mitakeumi gives one 
final thrust forwards - both fall 

Hokutofuji's 
heel hitting outside the ring 
before both men crash 

our young hero showing his 
potential fighting spirit 

even as larger 
personas dominate main 
events, tales unfold 

Mitakeumi's chase for 
beyond sekiwake rank 

fifteen times his name's 
been written on banzuke 
scroll, in that third tier 

never has he transcended 
one row up to ozeki 

the scroll weighs heavy 
the larger your name's written, 
the further up top 

good luck Mitakeumi... 
may your potential be reached 

[the full match]

TH3 1NDVSTR14L M1ND ST4T3...

the industrial mind state 
we’ve created in ourselves 
doesn’t benefit any thing 

SONG OF THE DAY: Rattling Along the Freight Train (To The Spirit Land)

Whenever I practice vandalism, I always keep my trusty camera in my pocket, so that if anybody of an authoritative bent ever shows up, I just whip out the camera and look, I’m just an obsessed middle-aged white man that loves train culture. The youth around me often times are militant (as youth tend towards at times) and believe things should be a certain way of fairness and just. But the world is a giant piece of shit, because men did too much shit on the surface of it all this time. So you have to adapt and learn to blend and mix and camouflage your true intent as much as possible, especially when you’re a natural born piece of shit up to grey area legalities just by being alive.

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day Two: CHIYOSHOMA (2-0)

meta kinetics 
of enormous men well-trained 
in balanced technique 

centers of gravity so 
low the earth sags beneath them 

such tussles as this, 
seen in slow motion climax 
where human girth flows 

Chiyoshoma tosses our 
hapless Bulgarian friend 

Mongolian son 
of that nation's wrestling rank 
like yokozuna 

Chiyoshoma's father took 
him to wrestling and judo 

after meeting a 
yokozuna on tour, 
he moved to Japan 

studied sumo for single year 
in high school, then joined stable 

bouncing between the 
top two ranks, Chiyoshoma 
has not settled in 

but other than injury, 
kachi-koshi for twelve months 

he'll likely never 
be yokozuna, but still 
seeks highest ranking 

five spots away, and starting 
strong in this current basho 

Nagoya Basho 2021 Honour Tanka Day One: HOKUTOFUJI (1-0)

sumo's been lacking 
multiple yokozuna, 
healthy and fighting 

Kakuryu's retirement 
this past spring left only one 

just a few years back, 
we had four yokozuna 
on top banzuke 

now just Hakuho remains - 
the greatest sumo ever 

fourth basho of year 
sees larger crowds, and a chase 
for yokozuna 

Terunofuji - with strong 
showing - may gain promotion 

however, on this 
first day, sumo career is 
shown through metaphor 

Hokutofuji opens 
with Wakatakakage 

Hokutofuji - 
lower ranked - is gripped by his 
throat, and tossed about 

never on the offensive, 
he struggles to stay upright 

similarly, in 
recent years as bigger names 
retire, new stars rise 

maintaining position on 
the banzuke scroll, upright 

as other names get 
crossed off, stubborn sumos 
move higher up list 

the best offense at times is 
to simply remain standing 

after many near 
oustings, Hokutofuji 
finds himself a chance 

Wakatakakage's off 
balance at the edge of ring 

Hokutofuji 
gently encourages the 
big foe's body down 

despite being manhandled, 
Hokutofuji still wins 

simple survival 
as offensive method for 
sumo advancement 

keeping your name written, and 
moving up as others fall 

[THE FULL FIGHT]

R34D 4N 4RT1CL3 0N H0W...

read an article on how 
cave paintings were three-dimensional 
when seen by the light of fire 

SONG OF THE DAY: Long Haired Country Boy (chopped, split, stacked)

I got purple on my purple, burning purple confederate flags with purple stars on purple bars, 69 stars on the new ol’ glory, lime green and purple stripes, as the fuchsia stars swipes do glare. Wearing my crown made eternal redbud blossoms, I drive a pink primered low rider Chevy pick-up truck along the edge of the flat Earth, no guardrails anymore, because the world ended 100 miles back. “A rich man goes to college, a poor man goes to work…” I bridged the difference and done did both, first generation arts bachelor, thousandth generation sad sack with dirt on my god. But I’m filling the yard with metallic flowers and capturing poem spirits in bottles I found in the woods along the river that the kayak-havers know about on the weekends, but not on a Monday evening when it’s too hot to do shit but sit in the shade and hope the wind blows hard enough to make the metallic flowers spin in the yard. “If you don’t like the way I’m living, you just leave this long beard country boi alone…”

"M0R3 T1M3 TH4N M0N3Y" L1F3STYL3...

“more time than money” lifestyle, 
realizing material 
distractions don’t satisfy 

MY F1RST T1M3 M4CH1N3 W4S 4N...

my first time machine was an 
old Chevelle Supersport left 
to rust in Meherrin woods 

3X1ST3NC3 0NLY F4D3D...

existence only faded 
when tethered to time machines 
I’m not allowed to control 

C0VNT1NG TH3 M4RKS 0N3 M4K3S 1S...

counting the marks one makes is 
an impossible task if 
one makes marks everywhere 

TH3 D00M3D L34RN T0 M4K3 TH31R M4RKS...

the doomed learn to make their marks 
wherever security 
state hasn’t even bothered