What of it?
What of this chamber you've developed in which you are burned at the stake and do not die?
I died every time. Did you not notice?
The Televised Execution:
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Tired . . .
CP Galom got tired all the time. Do you understand tired? Or, what part of tired don't you understand?
Saturday, April 17, 2004
One time . . .
One time, CP Galom fell into a tiger trap. There, he sat out a season. An experiment of time travel, he figured. He documented the entire procedure on his left forearm. It looked something like a pumpkin sitting atop a crumpled dress. Go figure.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Old time religion . . .
In the army, CP Galom had been told about Jesus. But what about Him? Now that he had time to think about it, he did. What did it mean to be a carpenter in Jesus's day? A table? A scaffolding? CP Galom wasn't sure. Did He belong to a trade union? Was He, capital H, a "Carpenter" with a capital C? Did plots against him include the ruin of his career? Would he never work in this town again? Again, he wasn't sure. But it was all planned since the beginning of the Universe, they said, so the answers must be written in its fabric. Maybe he would find them as he journeyed.
Friday, March 26, 2004
Embarking . . .
He received a map from the local registry. He grabbed a sterile vessel and poured water into it. He imagined what it would be like if everyone didn’t already know his name.
For example . . .
CP Galom was a rare sort of honest. Most thoughts he had to say aloud to truly understand. Before embarking on his journey, he donated his papers to his local library and spoke his words in an oral history collection. He said things like, “After all, the animals in the zoo are in fact wild,” and “I myself often go home to my insatiable sexual appetite.” And in closing he proclaimed, “Waterbirds are the best birds – transforming from bird to boat as they do. We neglect their prowess because they’re common, but what if there was only one duck left in the world?” All agreed, it would be a tragedy.
Gathering . . .
It wasn’t as though he wasn’t accomplished. No. Despite his early end, CP Galom had seen empires rise and fall. Imagining what it must be like to live in a time and know that the world would one day find you antiquated, he’d be the first to remind you of who the Romans really were; they poured concrete, they were developers. “Still,” he said, “we aren’t just gathered from the horde these days.”
Monday, March 15, 2004
Who are you?
If you were to say that those early years were both difficult and formative, my friend, you would be known as both a possessor and master of the gift of understatement. How many times did the young Galom wish not to have been born at all? Or, more often, to have been born tied to a different tree? Perhaps one that did not bear fruit. One that did not get so much attention from the outside world. Indeed, as he saw it, the tree had dictated much of his early experience. Though he now had strayed far from the tree, and had been taken by blindfold away from it, he now set his mind to destroying it. He had thought he heard a river flowing behind him as he was escorted away. He bought a canoe. He took the little bit of rope he had saved between his teeth. He set out for two days of initial reconnaissance.
Tuesday, March 09, 2004
CP Galom was born . . .
CP Galom was born tied to a tree already, ok, if you must know. He was tied there tightly with a rope made of some material, a material he has since not seen the like of. Shortly after birth, CP Galom was drafted into the service of a small and seldom heard of army. The army dissolved only five days later - three days before CP Galom would have been released with full benefits. (This prompted CP Galom to change what had by then become his longstanding policy of planning three days in advance. He would now plan two days in advance instead.) CP Galom was, for the first time, alone in the word and unfettered. His restriction and his conscription had ended. He had two days to fill.
A Children's Book on the Subject of CP Galom.
Executed so far:
Arch Rivals
Matthew ShindellPrevious Posts
- What of it?
- Tired . . .
- One time . . .
- Old time religion . . .
- Embarking . . .
- For example . . .
- Gathering . . .
- Who are you?
- CP Galom was born . . .
- They . . .
Archives
- 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004
- 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004
- 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
- 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
- 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
