“You Walk Yr New Boots Home From Payless” & “M E S S A G E F R O M A C A R G O S H I P” by stevie redwood


a 3d golden chain-link fence sits atop a blue/green gradient background with a 3d golden chain in the foreground.

“… with each reform, revolution became more remote […] But if one were forced for the sake of clarity to
define [fascism] in a word simple enough for all to understand, that word would be ‘reform.’”

George Jackson

You Walk Yr New Boots Home From Payless

thru a fenced-off plot of mud     things are suspicious
when they’ve never been dirtied    like how
fileting strawberries on yr favorite cutting board
corrupts each slice with garlic    but you do it   anyway
you’ve learned you can’t control most things
but at least some you can predict    in this way
you learn to like yr berries better    progressively
perverted   not because they’ve become good
for you but bc you know    what to expect & in what way
is this not like liberalism? most things are predictable
if you listen long enough    you can hear the earth
rolling over    thru a rolled-up twenty    cupped against yr ear
each dollar a prophet    w/ different fortunes    for you   & me
& the CEO    diamond-studded whiskey glittering
down her chin    as we bathe our cheeks in what’s left of the sun
block & walk    outside for ten minutes btwn work
& work to take our paychecks to the bank    & listen
to the birds laughing from their richly papered trees    cheep
   cheep    find it sweet instead of gruesome    listen    we learn
to love    what we’ve been given & how
is this not like exploitation? i want to be careful
not to blame the terribly fucked over & also     be careful
what you learn    to live with   pain    rent checks    presidents
a collection of single socks    broken teeth    no heat
mold on the ceiling    the myth of crime    more violent
than punishment   “countries”    the electoral college
forty hours a week    & cops    & war    & war
&   war &    war    (did you expect that prophet
wd have this many echoes?)   buying water     the unhoused woman
cleansing herself with a bottle next to the gutter    the man looking down
from his dirtless $3-million 3-bathroom loft   before calling her in
for an evening    in handcuffs    having nowhere
   to wipe off her dirt

M E S S A G E F R O M A C A R G O S H I P

naked casing of human, deserted
& rucked along wet pacific shore
spotted by two waxen torsos with
legs to stroll through fog & eyes to
eagle emptied skin :: they toed
jumble of body like dead thing
it was :: pitiful :: featureless ::
pockets for eyes & no mouth to speak
of :: mined for its sinews :: no matter ::
no mind :: fleshsuit leathered by weather
or water :: fingers weathered by water
or work :: girdled with seaweed ::
engraved with the teethmarks
of beasts :: sucking life
from the overboard :: arms :: ribs ::
breast :: salt :: meat :: torsos
with legs kicked yellow thigh of
hollow human-shaped bag
until shin folded over mouth &
foot hid forehead :: torsos with
eyes shrugged shoulders & legged
down cold coast shore

Tags: ,


stevie redwood is a disabled sino-jewish neuroinsurgent aquarius homotrash bitch from frisco. they like shittalk, porchsitting, leaflitter, & riffraff. find them trolling yimbys on twitter @trash_whisperer.

Alex Luciano is an illustrator, printmaker and art educator located in Richmond, VA. When she’s not teaching classes or geeking out over Riso, you can find her wrangling her hound pup, Cowboy. Come hang out on the internet with her — ig: @g_a_l_e_x.