meager violence

“I’ve seen that things find their void when they...

Sat, 11 May 2013 07:37:01 -0600

“I’ve seen that things find their void when they search for direction.” - Federico Garcia Lorca

photos by Jay Halsey

“I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the...

Tue, 07 May 2013 05:55:00 -0600

“I was born to hustle roses down the avenues of the dead.” - Charles Bukowski

photos by Jay Halsey

“We live in a world where there is more and more information,...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:59:00 -0600

“We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.”
― Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

photos by Jay Halsey

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:36:00 -0600

“I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

photos by Jay Halsey

mosaic skull by Matthew Alexander

“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:57:01 -0600

“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.” - Johnny Cash

photos by Jay Halsey

…with a voice such as autumn leaves scratching across...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 06:40:06 -0600

…with a voice such as autumn leaves scratching across blacktop. The sun dull and gray, but showing all the same. Puddles shrank, leaving black scree at their edges.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

“The people wait. Sweltering in the glare, roasting in their...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 14:00:00 -0600

“The people wait. Sweltering in the glare, roasting in their cars bright as beetles under the soft roar of the sun.” – Edward Abbey, The Monkey Wrench Gang

photos by Jay Halsey

Raging water, raging waterWon’t you wash my soul in...

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 06:20:00 -0600

Raging water, raging water
Won’t you wash my soul in Jesus
Won’t you take away the demons that have gathered round my bed
Burning fire, burning fire
All I feel as they approach me
Oh the gates of hell have opened I am now among the dead

We are those bottom feeders
Full of lies and a race of cheaters
Oh, we’re men
We are men
Sweet Mother, we’re men

Black suit stocking on my headboard and I see my demon rising
We are grinding bone upon the bone and up around my head
It walks in my true redeemer and she stares at me so coldly
Yeah so the gates of hell have opened I am now among the dead

Up in heaven learned my lesson you must work to find salvation
But old Mother Mary smiles and she looks to me and says
You may know him, you may love him, you may want to be among him
But I tell you I’m no virgin there’s room within my bed

“This country will kill you in a heartbeat and still people love...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:46:44 -0600

“This country will kill you in a heartbeat and still people love it.” - Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

photos by Jay Halsey

“On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and...

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 11:02:07 -0600

“On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

photos by Jay Halsey

i woke up today. the Earth was dry windblown and brittle. cars...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:24:59 -0600

i woke up today. the Earth was dry windblown and brittle. cars in parking lots reduced to dust-covered, monochromatic shapes.

glaciers did not melt.

evaporation was the new trend.

creeks became thirsty.

rivers no longer flowed.

the great basins and reservoirs formed enormous scabs:

land bridges for emaciated minds; congregations of narrow-eyed mosquitoes lapped at delicate coffees.

robots of convention declared absolutely, “300 days of sunshine a year!” amidst a record-breaking drought.

all vermin thrived with no place left to drown. and everything was the same as yesterday.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

“It’s not money, it’s feeling—you don’t feel...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 06:29:00 -0600

“It’s not money, it’s feeling—you don’t feel anything, and we feel too violently.” - Ponyboy Curtis

photos by Jay Halsey

needle eyes in the strange cracks of a slow yellow morning. i’m...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:05:25 -0600

needle eyes in the

strange cracks of a slow

yellow morning.

i’m off to destroy

everything tasteful and sane.

last night delivered more flashes of

easy bombs that never happened

and never will.

I think of you,

the man of men and mothers,

resting still and quiet

in the seams of worms and fossils

for a month now,

knowing so much more

than I do

and even more than

you did before.

curb litter fades

beneath a carbon sun,

and the slow drip

of the bathroom sink

keeps time.

the cottonwoods weep

the creeks weep

the stray cats weep,

as do the crows

and mountains,

and finally everything

weeps.

I don’t.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:10:00 -0700

“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn’t wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? …we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.”— Franz Kafka

photos by Jay Halsey

My wife just made a joke about having a hot date at work after I...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:13:00 -0700

My wife just made a joke about having a hot date at work after I complimented her looks when she arrived home.

Me: Does he have enough money to pay our bills?
Her: No. He lost his savings of 100 dollars at the horse tracks.

Turns out she’s got a student whose dad is a rancher, and let him bet his 100 bucks on the track. Kid lost it all. Lessons are learned in all ways.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

off moments settle like feathers in the pale dusk. the...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 06:33:00 -0700

off moments settle

like feathers in the pale dusk.

the quiet, forsaken ones whisper

secrets of lingering discontent.

too often taken for granted,

these shallow pauses are more immense

than the mightiest coyote’s thirst.

she stops to revel

at a shrinking rain puddle

in a deserted west Texas parking lot.

a loitering mosquito swells,

and the house wins again.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

sitting here, meek, without expectation, or scorn. or...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:05:36 -0700

sitting here, meek, without expectation, or scorn. or anything.

just sitting here, tuning into distant thunder rolling across the distant mountains, as dead leaves like callus on gauze scratch across the open blacktop. as cockroaches float down the tire-splashed gutters carrying forever.

i am reminded of nothing, and am moved by nothing,

but feel as though i should be.

sitting here, and for one sharp breath, like a flash of lightning in the black root of things,

the untiring traffic breaks just long enough to realize that malice also needs pause,

to allow for a swift clutch at the beauty all around us,

all of the time.

and now i feel much better, and,

much worse.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

everyone I know is in the streets. languishing in the cold,...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:39:00 -0700

everyone I know is in the streets.

languishing in the cold, dark cracks. like the flu. like a storm slung low with lethargy. the collective exhale of raw breath from cracked lips hangs like fog bank in the hard dawn.

all the dogs deviate the alleys, warring over rusty nails. the cigarette butts are wet and ruined. unusable.

a man aches in more places than what he thought existed.

strange clouds give a certain depth to the dirty glow of morning. they float above a town that shows nothing new, and doesn’t care to hide its age and sorrows.

an orange sun shines. even in the grayest shadows.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

in a world that creates madmen and madwomen, it is important to...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:54:00 -0700

in a world that creates madmen and madwomen, it is important to create things that represent light and easiness; to soften the blows of hard days; to keep rooms and cells empty in the institutions, hospitals, and jails everywhere.

words and photos by Jay Halsey

i’ve drifted barren, windblown paths that drag the heart and...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:45:00 -0700

i’ve drifted barren, windblown paths

that drag the heart and wither ghosts.

wandered on plains where

winds rip souls to cow bone dust.

drank ash-gray silt from the cracked river beds

of seedless grounds:

beneath vultures, war

and pale blue Hell.

then i ate my own pack horse

and split the sun in two.

i don’t know how i got there, or where it was.

but, man, first chance i get

i’m going right back.

words and photos by Jay Halsey