Author: iguanamind

  • the clown mayor

    For the short story, click this link: The Clown Mayor Last year, I entered the nycmidnight.com Short Story Challenge. The way it works is that you pay your entry fee, and then on the appointed day, the contestants receive an email with instructions: 2500 words, genre, a conceptual prompt that must be included in the […]

  • The Clown Mayor

    A clown runs for mayor as a joke and wins. Reluctant to serve in the role, the Clown Mayor plans his escape from office.

  • 1987

    Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain Howard Jones – No One is to Blame I started working on a classical guitar piece back in 1987 when I was seventeen years old. I started a couple of bands. It seemed like the only people I knew were musicians, artists, and sober […]

  • no way

    This blog has been fantastic. I have been posting here since 2008. I’ve owned the website since 1999. Originally, it was twistedpop.com. I developed a message board encouraging discussions about art, music, writing, and philosophy. At one point in 2001, I had over one thousand members and hundreds of posts a day. I had the […]

  • how long is a piece of string

    I wrote this string quartet posted above for you. It still needs work, but you should hit the play button. Imagine I wrote this for you because I did. I write something like it every day and post it for my Patreon subscribers. You should subscribe. I had this whole idea about starting this blog […]

  • the human in the arena

    The door opened on a man that looked to be in his eighties and another man in his fifties. “May I help you?” the older man asked. “Pat Lines?” “Yes. That’s me.” “It’s your son. Larry Lines.” “Goddammit. I don’t recognize my own son. Come on in.”

  • uncertainty and the long hello

    “You can do a lot in a lifetimeif you don’t burn out too fast” Rush, Marathon “Your CEA is a little high. Not too high, but in October and November it was hovering around 5 and 7, then in January it went to around 15 and stayed there, relatively stable, but this last one…” I […]

  • a long enough timeline

    “And all the while the distance grows between you and me. I do not understand.” In the Blood of Eden, Peter Gabriel The universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate. As we are looking at the stars in the sky, they are growing more distant from us. The universe is not growing into some […]

  • playing in the bayou

    Photos in Houston along Buffalo Bayou Park including the Tolerance sculptures by Jaume Plensa, downtown impressions, Rosemont Bridge, and the Gus S. Wortham Memorial Fountain. We walk along this path every night. I kept seeing things I wanted to shoot. Finally got out to do it.

  • This Cancerous Election Fundraiser

    I have been feeling dizzy off and on for the last month or so. It is probably related to my nose bleeding for such a long time plus some seasonal allergies, but it was worth reporting to my oncology team. (As a side note, everything is worth reporting to your oncology team once you have […]

  • Out Into the World

    I spent five months in drug rehab in 1987. I was seventeen years old. The youngest person in the adult unit, I was a little too mature for the adolescent unit. The idea of being locked up had never occurred to me as a thing that would actually happen. Looking back on it, I consider […]

  • Unrecognizable

    When I first met Justine in 1999, neither of us had a television. In fact, I spent most of my 20’s without a television. There were just so many other things to do with my time. One night, Justine and I were on Harwin near Hilcroft, and we stopped into one of the Indian food […]

  • Living With Cancer

    One year ago in July, I was in New Jersey visiting family and friends, some of which I hadn’t seen in thirty years. In June of last year, I visited friends, a high school reunion of sorts, that I had also not seen in thirty years. For a long time, I had imagined these family […]

  • the end of something

    I’m so alone and I feel just like somebody elseMan I ain’t changed, but I know I ain’t the same One Headlight, The Wallflowers One weekend in late October, my sister, Kelli, stayed with me during a chemotherapy weekend. The treatments were fairly routine by this time. As routine as a chemotherapy treatment can be […]

  • death, dying, politics and fuck you

    Your ship may be coming in.You’re weak, but not giving in.And you’ll fight it, you’ll go out fighting all of them. Rilo Kiley, A Better Son/Daughter At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I was driving ride share – killing time and making some extra money while waiting for my friend/colleague Ramon […]

  • it is without end

    I have always preferred harder surfaces for sleeping, so I have a tatami bed. I would just sleep on the floor as it’s cheaper, but people have a pretty strong reaction to adults sleeping on the floor. Also, sleeping on the floor is not exactly conducive to a harmonious relationship if you happen to be […]

  • what is left of us

    And your wise men don’t know how it feelsTo be thick as a brick Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick I have always been restless. I could always feel something coming. Something outside the door. Something in the hallway. Something breathing life into another dark path only illuminated by the next step. I’ve always wanted […]

  • six time six

    How exactly does one prepare for major surgery? What is major surgery? I think liver surgery counts. I think it can at least be counted as a big deal. It’s a big deal to me. It’s tomorrow. I’m nervous.

  • plus one or something like it

    Chloe: Well, I’m still here, but I don’t know for how long. That’s as much certainty as anyone can give me. But I’ve got some good news: I no longer have any fear of death. But I am in a pretty lonely place. No one will have sex with me. I’m so close to the […]

  • the lost voice

    A detail (among many) that has been lost in the telling of this story is my voice. When I had surgery in August, one of the many symptoms I had afterward was an irritated vocal cord. I only noticed the irritation when I raised my voice and while singing. I did little of either of […]