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or ANOTHER UPHILL BICYCLE RACE or FORGET BAUDRILLARD 1. THE DISCOVERY It is the hour of the wolf, just before dawn. Out of their houses Hopes and nightmares Rise; They drift From dream to Dream; The city hears a Sigh It hears A scream Dark channels Run in Half lit streets: An early walker Turns a Well known Corner, and Confronts the Scene: A wing, A golden Carcass- Entrails that Spell 'Heaven' ? Carnage In a phosphorescent Pool 2. THE SCENE Daytime bustle. Bells, Cordons Clipboards, Cameras Keep Those Children Back ! Now I am standing At Two doctors, Overcome With fumes The corner Of Thick hieroglyphs Confess The deed - And Doer, could We Read them - 24th and 3rd, The scene this Morning of Zipped plastic The most brutal Stringers At their Handsets Downtown Slaying 3. THE BRIEFING Smoke filled precinct room. The chief is showing the detectives on the case slides of the murder scene. Grown downwards Fed by Coils that Rise An arm moves Outwards Light That burns a Horn of Smoke The scene. Next Here you see The lesions Clearly Drift, particulate; A verse of Poison spells The killer Took his Or her Time. I thought, such cuts Take care. Six men blew Dust A vortex. I inflate The sponge of Blood my Heart Takes air from I create Myself from that Their Lungs Rejects 4. THE AUTOPSY Autopsy room. Remains on metal table. Running water. Surgeon dictates into tape recorder as she works. A pearl Kissed by the Palest Rose: Caucasian Water swirls Clear from The age Unknown. Steel section Hose And drifts Around The parts drill Cortex Picks Up colour, drains. Exposed - a Section Threads of Pink - A dawn drawn To a Black hole Vortex Twelve, Let's Wrap'. 5. THE REPORT Police station. Rex gets the coroner's report. Have you seen I took it in my Hands Rough type a Carbon Foolscap double Space with Errors exxed The chief As well, a fan Of prints a Clipped manila Jacket. Jane or John Doe - a Number NO DETECTIVE ON THIS CASE Department Red Stroke, Stamp: State Coroner SHOULD READ THIS BRIEFING Something wrong ? BEFORE RECEIVING CLEARANCE FROM It's Just a feeling. - hands like Parchment, too Much coffee - sure: You saw the State that Thing Was in ? I turned The page. 6. THE CONFESSION Across town In a room The walls a Gallery of Cut parts, Hieroglyphs, Twelve stations Of the cross, A man sits by A box and Makes Confession; Magazines and books Speak, Television; Mind the Cloister, tape The priest Between them Sole A mesh meniscus Wire and cable snake Across the table Air vibrates, it Makes a Wave which Fluctuates, a Force that moves A coil which Turns a sound Into A field and Prints 7. THE PACKET Rex picks up the cassette So fates are Sealed In Soft Enclosures Sent Without excuses Just A faint Impression fixed In Rust For you. Rex - picked it up Revolved it; no Return Address no Autograph Cut parts from Papers Mismatched Letters Rex - takes A blade with Care Reveals the Foil pack Folded, rolled Back Blows.. Dust first - Carefully - No prints Unfold the Foil - now Set aside A pencil lifts The flat Cassette No prints Flip up the Case-lid slip he tape in Press the Flap back Then depress The raised Slat 'PLAY' and move back. 8. THE VISIT A psychic reports a dream to the police MYSTIC IN SLAYING CASE AIDS COPS I need A dream Something That's just The Killer Touched. Not evidence, not BY OUR CRIME CO- Near enough To go -RESP- on. -ON- Hell, -DENT He Just walked in, He Had a picture that He Said he saw Last night reflected In a pool Of gore He Said He Saw this in A dream And then He Drew it. 9. THE FIRST CLUE The psychic describes his dream. Which is a picture Dawn, Carmine lake in Febrile hand Drawn in, Half-fringed with Pines. Broad-stem canal Its base - a Mirror, Looks like, with A face Reflected in It; half way Round A golden strand - This, Red Death Loreli Would see, or Venus embloodied And then The lips moved And I wrote 10. THE DISAPPEARANCE A bulb Light streams Connects, reflects As if they'd never Been Gloss shined Ceramic Holds no trace Hosed white No fingerprint No grease Stain Gone Impossible The corpse, its Parts, canopic Jars, slides, X-rays, samples, Notes, Reports, all Gone - Culled - The World Re-set The door Unbarred, the Guard Still set, the Lift Unused and Disconnected Yet... 11. THE DREAM Rex now has a dream. He tells it as if dreaming The rock rolled free Round five A wolf Howled out; In fogbound Streets No footfall Fell; Miasmus, doldrum Track: one (soundtrack) Tone, a- Tone, one Clue: a Window blazed, Armed seraphim Surround it and Within Unseen, a Lone Observer backs Away Telephone rings faintly Is that? Awake ! Is that? Rex here. All hell broke Loose Spelt scarlet Trails, a Signed Confession Yes Get over Here Too late- His dream Dissolves, Unsolves His case; Sleep's truth I am Lost and too Soon Forgotten On my Way. 12. THE ERKLARUNG It walked ? I know -it Rests Beyond belief. I think it Brings Our troubles to Three ends: The first What, not Who, the second How, not Why The third, Who gains ? Each answer Speaks A single Name, the Same Who died - We Thought - You Mean ? - Pinned to the Great West Gate Too many lies Confused Us Fate Though made No Rest and So By death - a victim Of Excess Of Guile - our Spook's Escaped Spook ? Yes I don't' What's left ? Ten minutes Wait, six Pages; Time And place To Recapitulate 13. THE RECAPITULATION A green cross Marks The spot. The scene-of- Crime Team carried off The corpse, swept Up the Dust, collected Every Scrap; they lifted Prints, took Casts and Made Impressions; Last We had Four hundred Photographs and Three whole Days of Tape - The whole Damned Trinity - The stuff, the Copies and The tapes Escaped OK' The killer Too Well.. Wait... Then... No, the Point is, Absence Also leaves It's Trace'. You mean' I mean There are Remains but Not Remains; it Is a Case, but Not for Long - We have to Move - Come On 14. THE RETURN (same as the beginning) The scene, the Same Except a Car, no Dream, Slips through... a watered Wound, dawn reinvents The Rose; a Slight rain Springs ... drear lanes Unseen To turn again The turn Our tale Began upon A circuit closed 15. THE DENOUEMENT On the cathedral steps Two cops touched With Gold stand Breathless by A Battered Olds, They see: They see the chalk outline of the corpse The white Escape Outlined Across
FIN Notes for the text: Written over the space of about seven months, mostly in cafes, while working with Stevan Tickmayer and Josef Nadj on Josef's dance piece L'Automne du Fauve. A German translation was made into a Radio piece with Lutz Glandien and broadcast a number of times before being remixed as a demostration piece in Dolby 5.1. An Italian translation was also made into a radio piece for Rai Tre in Italy by Tiziano Popoli and an number of prisoners. A French translation was produced as a theatre piece with director Philippe Thomin, Stevan Tickmayer and I wrote the music and Marie Goyette, Eric Houzelot and Christian Germain were the cast. This is a current projet, so exited programmers can email me. Programme note:This is a simple story, made unnecessarily complicated by confusing it with two other stories and then trying to tell them all at once. On the other hand, I am hoping that the whole turns out to be greater than the sum of its parts. Despite the text, there is no closure. It's a puzzle, as all detective stories must be - otherwise there'd be nothing hidden that remained be recovered; and no work to do. I express my good faith in the fact that, however it seems, nothing here is arbitrary or pointless and, although there are many possible solutions, they should all elide. It isn't Heidegger; it sure 'aint rocket science - and of course, it settles nothing. Nevertheless.. |
| other writing: | Scale | Plunderphonia | Looking Back |
| Science | The Sign of Three | . |
text and images chris cutler;
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