break room
oh you’re going to berlin next, nice
you must ride the subway as you listen to the passenger, you haven’t been to berlin until you do that,
and: push your head against the window!
can’t imagine the thrum of glass under your temple when he sings
I see the stars come out of the sky
little point to body crash if you can’t have some fun within the body
well the job is the point, but: no one said it had to be doom 24/7
you get to moonwalk!, jump off the rails!, slice a throat front to back!
so many ways to kill yourself on the job
so many ways to crash the body in question
christie graves, years active: 1979 – 1983
christie graves, got a nice groove to it
christie graves: stunt woman, occasional actress, good at falling good at jumping catching blades getting impaled
looks young, says twenty-six
has what we call the curse of no fear
miss graves the bullet is real blows a hole in her stomach, neat, fire
crew of ten stares at her on the ground
i’ll be fine, come onnn
getting up in three two
smoke rising from her flesh i said i’m alright
not pictured: the cigarette burn from last night
gets paid in cash only please thank you, steals props pawns them off
black and yellow bracelet sliding off her wrist, careful, this is old, bakelite
skin so white you see the blue running and you have to wonder how is she alive presently
christie graves moves around, drops the subject, picks it up
hits the carnival circuit, no guarantees she’ll listen but if you wanna get a hold of her, try this number, it’s a warehouse in ocean city – a phone cord tangled around two fingers, male, a class ring –
smash cut to:
the swamp, dilapidated farm, miss graves hopping off a tow truck, wearing white as a weapon
what’s it gonna be this time she asks
scarecrows
oh cool i’ve been wondering about that
if you can’t trust a killer scarecrow, is there anything left
(sample credits, a testament to her prowess and to film work as a reliable sign of the riptide:
dead girl island aka island of the dead dolls
live bait aka prime cuts aka the dweller
night car aka el coche diabolico
hot rust street – the fever dream of a florida insurance salesman, staying power unlocked forty-odd years after the fact)
some guy takes a minor shine to her
who is he?, does it matter?,
he chops lines he chews on pebbles he handles snakes as a preamble
dumbest motherfucker who ever lived, source: dude trust me
come to bracciano, he says, and she’s like yeah, maybe
she has no passport, no valid piece of ID
she’ll be fine if you arrange a private plane
miss graves enjoys a life of discipline
down a flight of stairs she goes, shoulder bones pop out, she shoves them back into place with a dull click
no accommodation needed
she’d rather crash in a car if you let her, grab some sleep during makeup
she’ll take her chances at the wheel
you don’t want to fall in the wrong hands when you can’t be killed
paranoid coast wrap party
christie lies in the sand her hair matted wet
what we’re gonna be dealing with here is –
reaches up, loves the feel of her small back arching off the ground
miss graves is not much of a talker
(not anymore she’s not!)
her measure of solace is the reality of the body elastic, hands in the water, keys to be lost
you don’t get old, do you
oh, i do, it’s the little things
once a year a woman goes to the movies to watch herself live and die in color
she takes the day off, scrounges gum from the bathroom tiles, moves
past the beaded curtain face first into the back room where nostalgia items are stored and screened to a semi-captive audience of five to twenty
she sits close to the damp wall
no one spots her but if they do, she smiles
who’s gonna believe you
and besides
who are you going to tell
you’re in love with electra
first forget about changing or reforming her, john
she will never see the error of the murder dance
best you can shoot for is her not having a bark reaction to simonetti’s tenebrae
she will, once a month, tell you the same story
(an old friend had this nonsense bit going on with his boys, any time he wanted to break the tension, all he had to say was “the little boy from phenomena” – they would lose it)
she will stare into the void if she’s caught in a hot loop of blood past
or maybe it’s just a flash from the ruins of cinema pasquirolo
who made who
indeed you should watch the theatrical trailer for maximum overdrive: it’s bound to come up
and now that you mention it
did i tell you about the time i escaped from the living room of a man who was keeping me in chains
houdini is art