20140222

Richard J. Fleming



BURN AFTER READING


1
A berserk laptop, abandoned on a park bench, opens a window to the hereafter. Government agents, wearing rat pack hats, arrive in sinister sedans with tinted windows. Their task is to defend the realm from occult threats. But, an angry God in the shape of a burning bush incinerates the evidence. During the death throes of satellites, the shivering trees whisper random secrets to anyone who dares to listen.

2
There are a number of utensils I have been eager to utilize: augers, bolt cutters, plumb-bobs, scalpels. Duct tape will repair almost anything, even black holes. You can also make a nifty hat out of previously used aluminum foil. It is very difficult for microrobotic surveillance drones to read your mind when you are wearing this. Make sure the safety is on, if you shove a gun into the waistband of your pants.

3
I asked the magic eight ball who would win the election. Some candidates had criminal backgrounds. Others contributed to Charity, but refused to reveal their tax returns. The King was afraid there would be an uprising. They would chop off his head; post it on YouTube. Couldn't blame the Judge, even if, under his robes, he played with himself while sentencing defendants. The Tower inmates often made license plates encrypted with messages to the outside world.



SEND IN THE CLONES

Scientists have learned how to clone human beings. I just met myself at a gala dinner. He was wearing a cerise party hat, and waving a tin noisemaker. It was very festive; like a Cabaret in Berlin on the Night of the Long Knives. Dessert soon arrived, a Baked Alaska pierced with a tiny American flag left by a lost explorer looking for the North Pole. We chatted over a brandy. I discovered that he was fiercely patriotic, and had a nostalgia for Historic events that had never happened. A breeze from the patio blew away our aimless words as we lit up black cheroots like Lords of Dogville.




Richard J. Fleming is a reformed street poet from Chicago. He is a graduate of Loyola University's Mundelein College, and has a degree in Fine Art, and also in English Literature. He has had poetry published in Right Hand Pointing, The Rusty Nail, Inkwell Mag, Curio, & Danse Macabre, & forthcoming in Scarlet Literary Magazine. Right Hand Pointing has published his first Chap book, Aperture.
 
 
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