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Beth Lisick Sign: Sagittarius Hometown: San Jose, CA First Concert: Thompson Twins, Flock of Seagulls & The Police Road Snack: Ritz + apples = mock apple pie Favorite Vice: Complimentary Gin

from Box

I cannot get out of bed. It has been five days now.

Loverboy, mad as a hornet, said, You made your bed. You will lie in it. You have lied in
it to me before and you have lied in it to me for the last time.

With on long, hard stare and hospital corners as tight as the ______of a ______,
he nailed me flat and left me for dead.

If only I could reach the box. The box under the bed.

I recall the afternoon in Chinatown, our 11 day anniversary, when everything we saw
appeared to us a sex toy.

Not just the ginseng, toy handcuffs, cheap video equipment and 9 inch statuette of Mao.
But the his and her chopsticks. One pair marked soba and one pair marked sushi.

Rice paper that turned into goo when it touched anything wet.
The role of the flat plastic shoes looked like they were made for a swat on the ass

The switchblade that popped out and was really a comb.
The switchblade that popped out and was really a switchblade.

Our teeth were rotting. Our hair hung limply from our skulls.

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Shar Rednour Sign: Libra Hometown: The Midwestern Field Where My Spaceship Crashed First Concert: Boy George Road Snack: Chocolate Bar & Orange Crush Favorite Vice: Pink

from Tina and Gin . . . For Those Who Got Out

She shrugged. "I'm bored." She blew smoke out the window then after a few minutes
said, "You keep me awake and I tell you things. Doesn't that make you happy?"
I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. I liked it better when she was
charming me, but what did I expect? At least she was honest. Fuck, who knew bored better
than me? I reached into the ashtray and lit up a joint. "Are you going to tell me to do more
things?"
"Maybe." She looked at me. It wasn't a question but I suspected she was feeling
me out a little too. Probably not cause she cared but just cause she wanted to see what she
could get away with.
"There's a lot you got to learn about the country, ya know. You say you're not
gonna be here long but hey, you are here. The cities might be tough but you gotta be tough
here too. You'd be surprised what I can do, what I'm not scared to do. We won't get too
bored. Besides," I looked over at her, "I'll give you another story to tell."

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Stanya Khan Sign: Virgo Hometown: San Francisco, Ca. First Concert: "Day on the Green #1" at the Oakland Coliseum when I was 11yrs old ('79), big outdoor all day show complete with kegger tailgates in the parking lot: Black Sabbath, Journey, Cheap Trick and Molly Hatchet all played. Road Snack: Waffles w/ a side of cole slaw; cheese puffs, Rolos, Jack Daniel's, Budweiser. Favorite Vice: enjoying my vices. plus: cars, sex in cars, being late.

from Chum Chum the Action Man

(text from Delirium)

My memory your memory
lives across the bay
16, 17 east my way,
every time we have a fight this is what they say:
your personal memory is public history,
privacy sells well
and it's getting hard to tell if that shit in the toilet is really even yours.
Did I lay that righteous loaf of love?
Or did the lead singer of that sitcom, newsreel, volume three, auteur de force?

Make sure you're breathing when you fuck,
they might make concert T-shirts out of your bodily fluids.
Say honey, your orgasm just broke the billboard charts -
how does it feel to be a superstar?
I don't know,
I got distracted by that vicious wave of body memory
and all I could do was cry and apologize in confusion
about the abuser who,
excuse me I have to go kill now.
But what were we talking about? Power and responsibility?
- the ability of the body to respond.
The power of the body to create.
The importance of burning memory
on a sacrificial altar
in the ritual invocation of your body now.

Breathe, shit,
make a naked dance.
Mix yer metaphors,
syntax is synthetic,
wear your polemic polyester with pride,
just disco down like there's no tomorrow
and don't forget to star in your own movie everyday,
(cuz it's not WHAT you say it's HOW you say it)

oh . . . the power of flamboyance, entertainment and good sex
on a day when you didn't get around to smashing the state.

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1. Miranda Mellis Sign: Capricorn Hometown: San Francisco First Concert: Aretha Franklin & Ray Charles Road Snack: Hard Boiled Eggs Favorite Vice: Breathing

I never realized emptiness could be so chaotic, an abandoned yet loud place, the sideways
bits and pieces that don't touch. The soul is there, but in the foreshortened image it's as
tiny as a glass eye in a prairie. Hard to hear it over the sound of all that landscape moaning.
Like the guy who keeps going to his job long after the place got shut down, out of the
addiction to the choreography of his (anachronistic) role, the running body of the headless
chicken. I hope that action is more than just reaction against a pervasive sense of futility.
And more than just an aesthetic gesture in a sea of non dualistic flux. But even if that's all it
was, it would serve a purpose, anti-entropy. What if creation is the force of resistance that
keeps the world from finally tipping over, into a complete drowning slide.

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2. Alessandra Ogden Sign: Capricorn Hometown: Bloomington, IN First Concert: Midnight Oil Road Snack: Popcorn Favorite Vice: Saying Yes

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