A turntable
fabricates hope during the apocalypse in 3 parts
Dennis Bagwell
I
In
the waning days
of the apocalypse, a lone zombie shambles, (as we know they do), down deserted
alleys, through broken glass, past buildings pock-marked with the terrors of war.
Hoping
for an
opportunistic meal of blood and viscera to keep him going one more day.
II
Off
in the
distance, a scratchy punk record revolves on a still-living turntable.
Its
raw sounds
gliding on the fall breeze, sparking a few lone neurons in the zombie’s
decaying brain. Reminding it, if only faintly and briefly, of a life it once
knew.
It
recognizes the
song. The pounding drums, the buzz of guitar, the snotty singers raw, angry
rant about something political.
It
shambles
towards its melodious savior, past shattered windows, under streetlights no
longer working.
Its
once bright
green mohawk faded and matted to the side of its maggot-encrusted head. An
Exploited T-shirt rotten and falling apart.
III
It
shambles closer
to the music, as it rounds a corner. There on the 4th floor. A light
still burns. The record still turns.
A
head emerges in
the window. It yells something it can no longer comprehend. A loud blast.
The
left side of
the zombie’s head explodes in blood and decaying brain matter all over the wall
behind it.
As
it slumps
against the wall, the last few seconds of its life ebbing away quickly, it can
hear the punk rock song lull it off to black eternity...
“I
use the enemy,
I use anarchy” …
Manifesto manəˈfestō, noun. a public declaration of policy and
aims
Dennis is a politically incorrect, mad at the world, X Generation, heathen,
musician, and writer from Orange County California. Dennis moved to North
Georgia in 2007 and is quietly preparing for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
He has been writing in one form or another since high school. His warped
rantings and observations about the cesspool of a world we are surviving in
keeps his spiraling descent into madness at bay.
Dennis has had his poetry published by the League of American Poets, the
American Poets Society, The Horrorzine, 63Channels, Black Petals, Death Head
Grin, Word Salad Poetry Magazine and Tree Killer Ink, Yellow Mama, blah, blah,
blah! He has released two spoken-word CD's, A Random Litter of Thought (2006)
and Paid in Full (2007) on
Batteryface Records. A short film of Dennis’ poem Hollywood was made
available to coincide with the release of Paid in Full.
