nuclear winter

hello again

and

goodbye


over just as it starts


strolling through the department store

together

not exactly glamorous

but times like this we are

us


they keep the thing hidden somewhere beyond the night

pictures can't do it justice


we look

we smile

we grab

we laugh

we bite

we plunder


the very stench of death kills a little bit with each toke

perhaps unconsciously


and when the bomb hits close enough you'll totally soil yourself


hell of a price to pay for sex education


we came in here for a bathroom mat

for her new apartment and end up roaming all around

funny how we can make a day of this

all the while she silently wants to move in with me


sometimes what occurs in your undergarments

can seem pretty irrelevant


make that

usually

unconsciously


alone at night you push back the thoughts

for years even

then one day you give in to it

because

you're already screwed









K A B O E W W W W M









devil's in the details

doubleyou

tee

eff

???


just like they say

all dust and wind

plenty of charcoal

but don't touch it


if you can still smell anything at all

you'll give your arms not to


just try to imagine going anywhere near the store now


heh

they talk about how a dirty bomb hath no fanfare

but the fallout creeps up on ya like the shits

same difference


steadily succumbing with each panged and acrid breath

at least radiation sickness has a tangible cause


every ache and twinge in your corpse

formerly taken for granted

suddenly humanity's most dread disease

your sole destiny

till the next thought comes along


should you ever again see her face

it will be through your heat-warped lens


oh and did you catch the scar on her forehead?

wow and flutter

oxidized polymer ribbon betwixt 2 spools and I had dozens of them before my first real job

my allowance, with rare exception, sooner or later lent itself to a small, thin acrylic box containing sound

once I picked up sticks an entire afternoon to procure a Journey release that really wasn't

we made dubbing into an art form in and of itself, spending hours nailing down an all-time Philosophy of Setting The Level

they fit perfectly in a denim jacket's inner pocket for swapping at school, where the right connections make great collections

my brother gave me my first *real* tape, a cloudy-cased Memorex C-90 with Frontiers and Eliminator back to back from LPs, two albums that need no introduction for 80s rockers

you never forget the aroma of a freshly unwrapped Maxell...

UR series are only decent the first time, and then the more overdubs they get that much muddier, but that's OK for radio stuff since it doesn't count anyway

XLs smell like chrome, and I bought a box of these in 8th grade, eventually having to splice a break in one of them

once you can afford an MX you'll immediately note they are physically heavier from the pure metal film and professional-grade components

a buddy of mine could faithfully reproduce the KISS logo on the label for you with an ordinary ball-point pen

the quality of store-bought tapes depended on the label

some dubs had a way of transcending the original

sometime in 1985 and probably starting with Motley Crue, the Warner Bros labels issued the clear cases and housings that had yet another distinctive smell to offer, like some sweet scented candle you'd find at Spencer's Gifts in the mall

I was a would-be go-to repair guy for cartridges after I'd collected some spare parts in a little box and fixed a couple for my mom I believe

low-peak was safe, and high-peak would distort, so we finally settled on the importance of letting the peaks barely kiss +6dB

once in another town I found a strange brand that had a clear case and little metal reels inside, not bad

discovering the tiny azimuth screw in our tape decks was our Tree of Knowledge, because once you got the best highs there was no settling for muddiness

midway thru my freshman year was when Atlantic and Atco's spine labels went from periwinkle to red

people talking about a party brag about what tapes they're gonna bring, hopefully something cool and hopefully not too. well, different

don't buy TDK, just, don't, even their t-shirts are all nylon

chewed tape can heal over time, but a squeal will only get worse, so dub it and pitch it while the clock still ticks

some dudes would steal them from discount stores or brag that they had, leaving one to wonder which made for a more complete idiot

always, always borrow the original if you can since other people's dubbing jobs are a federal disaster

in the car you had to adjust the deck's azimuth to work with those from your dubber deck, then use a paper shim if it was off

Memorex are typically fluttery but have been known to surprise on occasion

raked leaves for like 3 weeks that one fall and made enough to get a Sanyo knockoff walkman and also an LP, which, yeah, was on tape 40 minutes after I got it home

one dude told me his rap stuff sounded good enough on TDK so there ya go

anything on Capitol or the associated EMI family had a special Dolby noise at the beginning and end that we called a "dweedle"

expensive head cleaner tapes eventually gave way to isopropyl and Q-tips from the bathroom, but keep the ol' demag handy

dang, even my girlfriend picked up on how much difference that shim made in the car's deck

not sure when Fuji came on the scene with those reverse-feed thin cases that made me wanna feed every case that way, but their hi-bias series were sure worth it

once I dreamt there was a player mechanism - mainly visualizing the head and capstan and roller - built in to the chrome plate that surrounds the drain lever in our bathtub, complete with a wall-mounted speaker beneath the shower head and yes it rocked

petrichor

driving westward through kansas
with the sun as it kisses identical fields
greeted by myriads of frilly gold-rimmed faces
along this endless asphalt conveyor
power lines converge into a single point

ahead

pretty soon you know what happens
horizon modulates from blue to charcoal
something about the sweetness of the air
blowing into the car playing a new tune
must be really letting loose

ahead

storms on the plains
change a life in the blink of an eye
they don't ask permission
static on the radio
still i must find out what's there

ahead

these times are for reflection
on the whys and whos that matter most
funny how risk scratches an itch
and that fragrance beckons a grin
i roll up the windows and venture on

ahead

(note that, as of now, I've never been west of Topeka in my entire life...)

after

evening gets chilly
was it already that?
the moment she left
it all falls flat
air is heavier now
i don't want to admit
there's something about her
we're just some kids here
playing outdoor games
but after she leaves us
it's not quite the same
she's annoying at times
her jokes make no sense
and i don't wanna deal
with those subtle hints
still its such a downer
just down to us three
there's two younger boys
and then poor old me
how barely i notice
her blond locks dance about
what her presence adds
is what it's about