I was born in 1962 in Stuyvesant Town, a middle-class housing development located on the East Side of Manhattan. When I was young, I used to see an older kid who rode his ten-speed bicycle through the neighborhood. He always wore a Superman costume, and he steered the bicycle with his feet, with his hands always high over his head and his red Superman cape flapping in the wind behind him . . .
An explosion of splinters stabs up his spine. Carrick’s eyes shutter open. Where the fuck am I? . . .
I woke up feeling cold this morning and the clouds were fighting their way in between the bedroom blinds that were left open in the middle of the night. I found my body naked and bent and I thought about Nicole duFresne and her star quality blonde hair and blue eyes and perfect teeth and I wondered how her hair and face and body fell onto the concrete ground on Rivington Street after she was shot in the chest by that nineteen-year-old boy . . .
They were lying about the weight. Flip worked at the New York Racing Association, and he heard: Fredo here, Maximiliano there, five pounds here, even ten there. They were heavier than their declared weights. And if you knew the real numbers the jockeys were weighing in at, you knew the lighter. The honest jockey had a better chance at winning. Better than better. Flip had been watching all summer from opening day up to the Travers, and he’d been right on the money every time . . .
I live in a place where the Erie Canal sliced like a razor blade through the middle of our town. From that time on we were the extra bits of fat that are cut away to let the meat breathe . . .
Catch David Yow, David Wm. Sims, and Mac McNeilly as they tour with The Jesus Lizard Book!
Read about City Critters, Inc., a volunteer organization in New York that works to find foster and permanent homes for stray and rescued cats, kittens, and dogs!
To celebrate the release of Simon’s Cat vs. the World, Akashic is featuring some of our favorite bookstore and library cats. Today, meet Andy, a frequent visitor of the Schoharie Free Library in Schoharie, New York, and a furry friend to all!