TUCK AND SCREAM FOR PEACE INTERVIEW

Monday I took Tuck magazine, via Skype, with me to San Francisco’s Radio Valencia for an interview on the Scream For Peace radio show.

While there, DJ Aslan and I discussed poetry, writers’ block, Jack Kerouac, creativity and the challenges facing indie writers in the age of technology and soundbites. It was the culmination of nearly two years of hard work for all of us at Tuck to be given such a wonderful opportunity to share with a wider audience, the art that graces the pages of this magazine.  To do a peacock dance and show off the work of the generous artists we publish, is incredibly fulfilling for me as an editor and humbling to me as a writer. 

In addition to our remarkable chat, Aslan aka deadbeat poet, shared his own art by reading a story/poem he wrote called ‘The Boy who didn’t Blink and the Girl who couldn’t Distinguish’  which is also posted below. You can listen to our interview here at Scream For Peace and you if you like Aslan/deadbeat poet’s words, you will find his fantastic volume of poetry ‘Aethersphere’ here at smashwords just name your price and feed your mind.

THE BOY WHO DIDN’T BLINK AND THE GIRL WHO COULDN’T DISTINGUISH

By

Deadbeat Poet aka DJ Aslan

They were born on the same March day on opposite sides of the San Francisco Bay
on the way to their tenth birthday party their cars drove side by side down the road
something strange happened from the back seat as their eyes met on this fateful birthday
although they had never seen each other they knew what they didn’t need to be told
their eyes locked and so forever did their spheres and they evolved on the conscious highway

When the cars parted paths the link like a chain was severely severed and something was lost
although they had only a few moments with their eyes linked it was if it had been almost forever
after unblinking gazes it was if a cloud have enveloped them and they needed to sleep at any cost
they left their own party early and yearned only to dream about their future shock love endeavor
by the time they got home their parents thought he was in shock and she was cerebral crisscrossed

When he awoke the very next day he couldn’t open his eyes not even to blink
the only thing he could clearly visualize was the girl in the car and her gaze
the doctors had absolutely no explanations and no idea whatsoever to think
some thought he was faking it and others thought it was a prepubescent phase
he began to visualize the shadows of those around him and sense when they sync.

After that day in the car she woke up to a world where everybody looked the same
the girl grew up an iconoclast with ink and piercings to signify her difference
her perception was considered a disorder but was really a gift she could claim
she could see their faces in photographs and feel from their gaze of indifference
she believed she could maybe fall in love with someone but only for their brain.

Most people assumed he was blind because he always had on the mirrored shades
his eyes would only open in a completely dark room and that was his favorite vice
he often danced alone in the middle of the room where only darkness pervades
he had known a few nice ladies and even tried to fall in love once or twice
he knew deep down that the key to unlocking his eyes was the love that always evades

When she met someone new she asked them for their id or used her phone to take a pic
after seeing their pic they still looked the same though she could now sense them apart
taking every one’s photo so she could see who they were became part of her shtick
she drifted through life clicking for something never knowing quite where to start
she thought that she could not properly see because of some bad god cosmic trick.

He rarely speaks to strangers about town unless they nicely speak to him first
his eyes worked fine in the dark though everyone assumed they were forever broken
he believed it would be love from the last girl he saw that could lift the curse
though her lazer-beam gaze was etched into his mind her name had never been spoken
what he would say if he saw her again in his mind a thousand times he did rehearse.

He couldn’t open his tightly shut eyes and he refused to let them suggest a clone
a secret he had was that his eyes would open in a dark room in a state of undress
though she couldn’t distinguish people by by their looks she could by pheromone
the urge came upon them both to go dancing at Death Guild and enjoy the darkness
ten years later they both felt the urge to spend their 20th birthday dancing alone.

He could feel every soul on the dance floor and sensed where the bodies swayed & danced
neither of them saw each other as they were drawn to the center of the dance floor
a vivid image of their shadows so clear were the differences of boys & girls enhanced
they bumped and knocked his glasses off as they both emerged from behind the black door
they turned to each other and like magic his eyes opened and they were both entranced.

It wasn’t love that they felt because that was something they could both somehow explain
when they locked eyes it was as if they were experiencing reality for the very first time
they both became transfixed and realized instantly that the last ten years was worth the pain
until this very moment they had both felt that they had been forsaken for some past life crime
although they have two bodies they have become one and now somehow share the same brain