["Black and White Bird" by me. Digital drawing created with MS Paint.]
Wednesday. I did some ART hustling this morning---working the Twitterz and trying to smear my name across the digital landscape. I started by sharing some of my recent purchases on Hic et Nunc, which is an art marketplace on the Tezos blockchain.
[That bottom bit, a blow-up of the top left image, is a panel from a Justice League of America comic that I read last night, recolored and recaptioned by me. My apologies to Mike Sekowsky and Gardner Fox! I don't know why I do stuff like this...but I do do it...]
After sharing my recent acquisitions with my dozens of followers, I went into SALES MODE... (Part mind manipulation, part carnival barkerism, part crass materialist...) (I feel dirty afterwards, every time, but it is sometimes fun trying to insinuate my nonsense into people's heads. Dirty fun.)
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Here is a drawing that I sent to my good friend, Mr. O, a few days ago. I sent this with the title, "not sure..."
With the image, I also wrote: "Victim of a heavily chlorinated pool?"
Mr. O wrote back:
It is much more serious. I think you're dealing with the alpha version of Frankenstein's monster, made from congealed pond algae and shards of stained glass from the old church. This prototype was abandoned when Frankenstein discovered that the monster had a proclivity for extreme violence, arson, and cookies with $%#@ raisins in them - it was the latter that Dr. Frankenstein could not abide.
I love it! (My reaction, which I am sharing with you folks. I didn't send this note to Mr. O, but I now wonder if, perhaps, I should have...)
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Here is another cross contamination....I mean collaboration between myself and Mr. O! I sent him this piece:
Here is his response:
“Blyxyl: A Utopian Tale”
Possum Grape, Arkansas, population: 7,474.
A real place, google it, that’s what Google’s for.
Blyxyl is a resident, but gaining acceptance was a trick,
so he voted Republican and pretended Trump wasn’t a dick.
Blyxyl actually fit in with rural Americans, in a specific way:
He was 400 pounds of not-muscle, and his jowls did verily sway.
The residents coveted Fiddle-Faddle and pork rinds, which they devoured,
and, of course, “Jimmy Bob’s French-fries-stuffed donuts: Now open 25 hours!”
But Blyxyl was unhappy and adopted the Keto diet,
all meat, no carbs, but he was willing to try it.
First, Jimmy Bob went missing… come on, what did you expect?
Blyxyl would never eat a cow or a pig, animals that actually had his respect.
And so went the days, and the townsfolk up and vanished.
Another MAGA hat-wearer gone when Blyxyl was famished.
As Blyxyl lost weight, the last townspeople did fret,
yet they still thought Hillary Clinton to be our greatest national threat.
Blyxyl was now sleek, toned, and quite lithe,
But he had to place an ad when there was no longer game for his scythe:
“All QAnons welcome to Arkansas for freedom and fun!
And make sure to visit Possum Grape - population: 1.”
I responded: "Evil! (Fantastic!!!)"
[Incidentally, the NFT for the image that inspired this poem---I called it "My Friend Alvin"---sold today! Neat! Thank you, @juliakponsford!]
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That's it for today! I'm off to try and sling some more art! (Mariah and I are planning a trip to San Francisco in late July, and the money that I'll have to spend at City Lights bookstore and Amoeba Records is going to depend on how much art I can sell before we hop in the car and hit the I-5 freeway!) Later!!!
---Richard F. Yates (Holy Fool) (with extreme thanks to Mr. O!!!)