Brendan presents ... The Daphne and Brendan Post

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Daphne Gottlieb and I met on July 6, 2004 - one day before my 28th birthday. Craigslist, of course. She challenged me to broaden my horizons, regarding what I was looking for. I took her up on the offer. Seeing as it was basically my birthday, she took me out for a drink. She had long black dredlocks then. We talked about metafiction and she turned me on to Robert Coover.

Turns out, she's an amazing poet, having published seven books of poetry and short fiction. Craigslist is wonderful.

We spent a lot of time together that summer. I read her books. She looked at my art. We hung out in bars. Then I went to grad school. But we've always been in touch and scheming on a collaboration. Now her hair is short and blonde.

Earlier this year, she sent me a poem. I was blown away and inspired to make a bunch of images. The following is that poem and those images.

because you are a libra there is the cherub at the gates with a flaming sword and susan sontag writing about nazi fetishism and the point is just I love you

or

a brief history with vast liberties and distortions made of unnatural phenomena as parsed additionally through wikipedia, the marquis de sade, research on oxytocin and unidentified text messages

Formulation of the inquiry: open-ended. My heart was allegedly ashes but my stockinged legs remained.

As we got in the garden I was walking in circles. As we got in the garden, It was me. I was lighting up the driveway every couple of steps.
via text message: 3:11 P Tuesday August 07 I could kiss you for days and nights… How are you, beautiful?

It was me. I was lighting up the driveway every couple of steps.

I started screaming and my brother came to the door and started screaming and shouting as if driven by orgasm as if spoken by beauty, he was shouting 'Have you never heard of spontaneous human combustion?'

It was me. I was spontaneous human combustion.





There are many historical accounts
-------------------------------------------that burning of a person’s body may occur that

the

more

sex a

couple

has, the

more

shimmering flame-like effects,
--------------------------------------the deeper their bond becomes,
---------------------------------------------------------------------producing bright flashes capable of illuminating dark surroundings.
--------------------------------------Depending on circumstances,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------an email,
a cigarette,
---------------an orgasm is released in both sexes

via text message: 11:57 A Monday July 30 Miss every inch of your body. You make me so incredibly happy – I’m grinning like a fool.





As we got into the garden I thought it was funny. I was walking around in circles saying: 'look at this, mum, look!'
----------------------like a burning
----------------------------------------like an observation: Miss every inch of your body –
and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------like many historical accounts of mysterious combustion of humans.

Sometime between 1515 and 1557, the Countess Cornelia di Bandi of Cesena, Italy, found on the floor of her bedroom

-------------sending a text

-------------sending a smoke signal

-------------sending the questions to do most of the talking. The inquiry should be

via text: 11:57 A Monday July 30-----------my angel, my lolly, my little bow-wow.

Formulation of the inquiry: open-ended. Her body was allegedly ashes but her stockinged legs remained.

There are many historical accounts
-------------------------------------------of a theater of punishment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------of mysterious combustion of humans

(my mother was screaming and my brother came to the door)

via the Marquis de Sade: my angel, my lolly, my little bow-wow, dear turtle-dove, my little motherfucker, heavenly cat, violet of the garden of eden and fresh pork of my thoughts

via text: 10:09 A Thursday July 26 Thank you for taking the time and caring enough to teach me an important lesson – you are a kind daddy.

It was me. I was lighting up the driveway every couple of steps.

Hypothesis: Serotonin levels of new lovers are equivalent to the low serotonin levels of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder patients.

Evidence

via text: 8:36P Tuesday August 21 I am self-medicating with tv now.

Sade had to make up his theater of punishment

and delight----------------------

from scratch----------------

to be consumed by you,

to bleed for you,
---------------------a 19-year-old secretary, dancing with her boyfriend,
------------------------------------as though driven by an obsessive storm via text:
----------------to make you cry, to press my fist inside you, to piss on you, to give you marks for days... it was me. De Sade. I am lighting up the driveway. Now the garden is in flames.

via text: the only way to a woman's heart is along the path of torment





via text: It was a blue light, you know, what they call electric blue. I thought it was fun, I was laughing

I was dead before people on the dance floor could beat out the fire.

--------via text: It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.

------------My boyfriend testified at the inquest: “To be your perfect boy. To serve you. To make me safe in your care.”

--------------------My boyfriend testified "I saw no one smoking on the dance floor”

My boyfriend testified via text: 8:18P I’m a smart boy, Daddy

I left my ashtray in the garden.

Hypothesis:--The brain is "lighting up."

Hypothesis:--To burn and not consume.

Hypothesis:--To consume and not extinguish.

There were no candles on every inch of your body and no one has ever seen me---so incredibly happy-----seen my-----dress catch fire-----from anything.”





via text: I used to get shocks from touching fridges, things like that.

The kitchen floor is a dance floor now. I do the electric slide to the soft coolant hum. I open the door to let in the cool. The fridge light goes on and I flicker down.

Hypothesis: Some humans are systematically combusting.

Hypothesis: Science has always occurred.

and if I touched any metal thing it used to hurt me but now--

via text August 7 3:11 pm I could kiss you for days and nights. How are you, beautiful?

-- but now I dance in the kitchen by my own light --

Hypothesis: The strength of romantic love lies mainly in the psychological terror it causes

-------I used to crackle with static when taking off my clothes

---------------------------and the threat that the torture will get increasingly worse, conforming to a model where

---------------------------these days I love the sparks and it sort of whooshes all over me

--------------conforming to a model where the pain starts off easy

like yellow and blue flames all over me. I was not burned at all. Not even my hair was burned,

--------------from arousal to the rewards of sex, love and attachment

-----------------------------to be on fire but not be consumed

and then progressively

a special sort of chemistry, it sort of whooshed all over me. I was not burned at all. Not even my hair was burned. It was a blue light you know, what they call electric blue.





It was me. In the garden.

so incredibly happy –

grinning like a fool

one hand on the fridge

one hand on yours

in the kitchen

and you say

Evidence

you: in the flesh: say: to serve you--if and when you want me there, i will follow without a struggle, but instead with a big, ecstatic grin.

Evidence: The land is like the garden before us

Evidence: a desolate wilderness behind us,

Evidence: nothing at all escapes us

One is never so dangerous when one has no shame, when one is

in Eden, we did not need eden, we have never been in Eden, we have never left. the garden, the cherub, the flaming sword; Every precious flame is our covering: As if by ruby, topaz and diamond; as if beryl, onyx and jasper; lapis lazuli, turquoise and emerald; And gold, the workmanship of our settings and sockets, Was in us, flame, to be consumed by and not extinguished. On the day that we were created, we were prepared.

Formulation of the inquiry: open-ended. My body blazed like diamonds and my stockinged legs remained.
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*

p.s. Hey. Today the noted artist and d.l. Brendan (Lott) and his noted writer comrade Daphne (Gottlieb) have a collaborative concoction for you, and I'll leave you to find its many wonderments on your own. Enjoy your look and read, speak back to Brendan in a manner of your own choosing, and thank you all, and a big thanks with bells on to you, B. It's the usual Wednesday Recollets cleaning/exile day on my end, so I'll likely be speeding a little in hopes of beating the knock on my door. ** Misanthrope, Yeah, I'm totally against dying. I can't see a single argument for it. I'm going to hate and resent every second of it, that's for sure. No, I've scattered the odd emoticon here, but only in emergencies, and never without an imaginary second emoticon signaling embarrassment and some degree of irony. ** Allesfliesst, Hey. I'm going to see if there's some way to do a Day about Schlingensief. I don't mind it being mostly in German as long as I can figure out what's what on my end without speaking German somehow. The comedy in the new novel is less upfront and untampered with than in 'UM', more in service to other things, but there's more of it than uzual, I think. Strange novel, at least strange to try to write. Yeah, it's still called 'The Marbled Swarm'. It probably will be unless I get talked out of it. Some people have tried to talk me out of it, but not convincingly yet. ** Pilgarlic, Yeah, the rumors around Alice Cooper in the early days were pretty wild. His shows were actually much more insinuating and difficult than all that. Eventually, he embraced then started illustrating the rumors with lots of props and things, and that was fun, but I think he was more challenging when the confrontation was mostly atmospheric. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. I'm the opposite: I liked AC's music's theatrics more than the stage theatrics. Nice about the great interview with the 'Howl' duo. Heck, I'd love to meet them if they end up here with enough free time for a visit. Thanks for suggesting that idea, Mr. E. ** Plexus, Hey, Gabe. Yeah, I think Siouxie did wear a shirt like that, now that you mention it. Good call. Love that balls, dog shit, garbage thing. Beautiful. Did you make it to the library? With Sade, I say dive right in and start with '120 Days', and if parts bore you, skim them. I mostly skimmed it for the intense parts the first 6 or 7 times I read it. Whew, I'm glad you spit the nail polish out. I spit my bitten fingernails out too, although I wish I didn't have to. Yeah, so how's Wednesday so far? ** Edward Cole, Hi, Edward! Nice to see you. Oh, you started with 'Flush the Fashion'. AC's lyrics were actually very smart and clever in the early days, but then he also didn't write a lot of them back then. The band's unsung genius Michael Bruce, who wrote or co-wrote most of the songs, did. But, yeah, solo AC could still pull out the good melody on occasion, and I think he's one of the greatest ever rock singers. Incredible voice. ** Will Decker, Thanks for reposting my little explanation thing and for the kind words. ** Tosh, Hey! I'm a huge admirer of the early Alice Cooper band work. If you want to attempt getting into the greatness of what they/he did, there's a quick-ish way, which is to concentrate on the albums 'Love it to Death' and 'Killer', which are, I think, the peak, or, more valuably if you're more interested, add to those two the stranger, more psychedelic first two albums 'Pretties for You' and 'Easy Action'. If you start there, it's easier to see where the work came from originally, and the unique structures and shapes of the great AC songs becomes clearer. The two albums after 'Killer' -- 'School's Out' and 'Billion Dollar Babies' -- are really wonderful, but there's some gentrification by then. For me, after 'Billion Dollar Babies', it's pretty much over except for the occasional song. The last ACB album 'Muscle of Love' is very weak, and then the band broke up, and that was pretty much that since the band had written or co-written the songs. The other thing is he's an incredible rock singer, one of the most distinct and best ever, I think. ** Alan, Hey. Yeah, that Gluck quote is good. Have you read 'JtM'? What he's saying is a little clearer when you've read his work. Yeah, creating a specific relationship with the reader is key for me. How do you think about characters' appearance in your work? What do you consider and/or employ when you construct that aspect? ** Emily, Hey, Emily! Lovely to see you, pal. Sorting out a house, ugh, stressful even to imagine. AC still puts on a good show, so that should be really nice. And his voice is still in very, very good shape kind of strangely. ** Michael_karo, Hey. Oh, wow, right. I forgot they were in 'DoaMH' I'd love to watch that movie again. Snodgrass is awesome. And I even really like Richard Benjamin in that and in most things he was in. A Snodgrass Day, hm, not a bad idea. Let me see what I can do. Thanks, Michael. ** Chilly Jay Chill, Hey, Jeff. Oh, no, I didn't think you were implying that at all. I think I understood the issues and questions. I'm going to try to see 'WG'. Maybe it's on DVD here. Surely. My favorite Marie Redonnet? Well, it's kind of an obvious choice, but I do think that if you're kind of asking which one to read first -- and maybe you weren't -- 'Hotel Splendide'. Quite probably her best, I think. ** Killer Luka, Well, yeah. Can't you see the resemblance? ** Tonyoneill, Hey, Tony! Thanks a lot, man. 'Love it to Death' is crazily great. I'm totally interested to read that 'Joey Ramone' book. I didn't know about it. Cool. Yeah, I'm a big Ramones fan. I think a very persuasive case could be made that the first Ramones album is the greatest ever rock record, or in the all-time top five at the very least. Stuff good with you? Things going well with the book, I imagine, I hope? You working on the new novel? ** Steevee, Oh, I'm not huge on disco with the obvious exceptions -- Chic, Moroder, etc. -- but I do like Walter Gibbons' work. I was just thinking about him because I just read a good piece on him, I think maybe in The Wire. Yeah, I may need to get that comp, I think. ** JW Veldhoen, I tried and tried to drink a beer when I was walking around last night, and I was foiled at every turn. Strange. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey, Ben. Two weeks off, great! It sounds like the doctor isn't concerned, so hopefully the r&r will get rid of the last effects. Let me know how you're doing as you can and as internet access allows, and, yeah, enjoy the freedom. ** Armando, Hey, man! Excellent to see you. I missed you too. No, I didn't remember that it was River Phoenix's b'day. Forty, wow. That's intense. I guess I don't know of 'Who Killed Nancy'. Either I don't know it or I saw it, and I forgot its name. Sid Vicious, yeah, likable for sure, I think. I like that he just kind of stumbled into being a star, although I guess the stardom kind of did him in too. ** Steven Trull, You were doing pretty good there for a young guy until the Police showed up. What are you listening to now? ** Creative Massacre, Hi, pal. Good, I'm glad school has ended up being a good organizer, and, of course, your bad health being history now is awesome news. I saw some clips from the Cooper/ Zombie tour when I was building that post. It looked like a blast. As long as Zombie did 'Superbeast', I'd be happy. ** Inthemostpeculiarway, Hey! Missed you, man. Welcome back to the fold or whatever this place is. 'Piranha 3D' opens here on September 1st, and I'm so there. You reviewed it? Fantastic! No, I didn't know there's a porn star named Laura Palmer. There was a porn star named Dale Cooper, and he was MacLachlan-like, especially his hair, but I think he only did one scene in something. Did I ever mention here that I saw Kyle MacLachlan's penis? I was peeing in an airport in Dallas, and someone was peeing next to me, and I looked over, and it was him, and I looked down, and there was his penis. It looked normal. Your new friend sounds a bit trickier than your other friends. But tricky often means interesting. Yeah, I felt sad about that Anne Frank tree too. I saw it a bunch of times 'cos I lived in Amsterdam. Big tree. Too bad. Uh, since my friend Joel is here, I've actually been doing a lot of things, too many things over the last days to report or even remember very well. I saw 'The Expendables'. I thought it was very charming and fun. I saw 'Troll 2', which was funny, but I definitely didn't think it was the 'best worst movie ever' like people seem to think it is. I think I'll just tell you about yesterday and quickly 'cos of, yes, the evil cleaners. Let's see ... It was Yury's day off, and Joel wanted to buy his mom perfume, and Yury knows about stuff like that, so he lead Joel, Oscar, Kiddiepunk, and I to the perfume museum/ store Fragonard, where Joel bought something. Then Yury went off to do some errands, and the three of us had pastries at Faucon on Place Madeline then walked to Concorde, dipped into the bookstore at the Jeu de Paume, walked around in the Tuilleries, walked up the Champs Elysee to show Joel the Grand Palais and Petit Palais and the gilded bridge by there. Then we came back to the Recollets. I worked a bit. They did whatever they did. In the evening, I took Joel to the Palais de Tokyo, and then we walked to Trocadero and looked at it and at its world famous view of the Eiffel Tower, and then we walked down the big staircase there to ET itself, checked it out, and walked back up the Seine for a fairly long time just digging on the beauty of Paris at night until we got tired enough to call it a day, and we took the metro to our respective 'homes'. Then I slept. Kind of a rushed report, sorry, but I'll be more colorful tomorrow, I hope. What was Wednesday like for you? ** Eli Jurgen, Wow, we have the same favorite SY song and album. That's interesting. You probably I wrote the liner notes for 'Sister', or for the American/ Geffen Records version at least. That's not showing off, dude, that's ... creating excitement. That's what that is. (I just 'showed off' too, so my opinion may be for the birds.) I think I will go to the car show. It's all new cars, though. The new models and the futuristic prototypes and stuff. But that's cool enough, right? And I bet they'll have some special guest cars, like, I don't know, The Monkee-Mobile or the Isadora Duncan Death Car or something. You actually are making a pink painting for me?! You're the best! Gosh, I'm pink with gratitude over here. ** That's it? Okay, then, turn your considerable attention to Brendan and Daphne's considerable post and get all acquainted and everything please. See you tomorrow.