Bob Heman
from INFORMATION
INFORMATION
THE NUMBER 5 IS ALWAYS SUSPECT, a chapbook of 24 of Bob Heman’s collaborations with Cindy Hochman, will be published soon by Presa Press.
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from INFORMATION
INFORMATION
Becomes very good at something that cannot be described or measured. The labels on the can show the picture of a broken camel, the picture of some water that is incomplete, the picture of a machine that was repeated before they found it. They think they must give names to these things even though they cannot always be differentiated.
INFORMATION
Sews the ears back onto the cow. Forces it to read a magazine about machinery. Permits it to wander into the forest where the river cannot reach. Calls it by the name that has been painted on its side. Allows it to be portrayed by a bear in the movie of its life.
INFORMATION
Becomes a tree made out of words that can be used as an explanation, that can be used to measure the horizon as if it were a real thing. Then more of these trees, each occupying a separate page that may or may not lead the observer into the distance that pours off of the page.
INFORMATION
Not all of the dinosaurs learned how to fly. Some just got smaller and smaller until they became no more than punctuation in the story of the past.
INFORMATION
A plot that has no bears is no kind of plot at all. It’s not enough to have the color red and the number 5. It’s not enough to have a man and a woman who may, or may not, like each other. It’s not enough that it be raining all the time, or that the windows cannot be opened.
INFORMATION
A Murphy bed. A Diesel locomotive. A Spencer paddle. Each named after a person who has disappeared into time.
INFORMATION
Some islands are newer. Some are shaped like speech balloons. Some can only be found using a stethoscope. Some are filled with men as well as women. Some are only called islands because they are approached from the wrong direction.
INFORMATION
Defended by dogs. Defended by the rain. Three cups of soil the exact equivalent. The man constructing fences out of words, and songs from the wounds the dogs left behind. “Was I different?” he asked. “Was I the one who was never chosen.” The woman carried him into the sea, without realizing the difference. They ate turkey after dawn, and fish after sunset. They wore the clothes that turned them into artifacts, that resembled the rain once it had ended. The woman was an explanation then. She had no other words inside her.
INFORMATION
Little details that have nothing to do with the plot. The man or the woman picking up small pieces of metal along the shore. The number of dogs always changing. The clouds a message for those who understand them. The woman speaking in Gaelic or French. Her clothes the kind that had not been worn for centuries. The man listens to her count for no reason at all.
INFORMATION
When casting you want to pick people who look different from each other. If they have similar looks the audience will get confused. “I know you,” said the man on the boat, but he really knew someone else. The dogs must be chosen for the length of their legs and the color of their fur. Sometimes they are too hungry to act convincingly.
INFORMATION
There was not enough magic inside of the rabbit. The hat was too deep to crawl inside. The word they had was incorrect. It couldn’t change the mirror enough to make it work. It couldn’t change the woman who was there to distract the audience.
INFORMATION
I have not looked yet at the words that were given to me by the wind. I have not yet brushed off the leaves that have gathered in my thoughts. I was once full of dreams that had no shape, but now they are only trees filled with owls, filled with hives angry with bees. I was the only traveler who was allowed to enter, who was never given the instructions necessary to leave. I have some new words ready to go. I will try to follow them.
INFORMATION
Half of the time they were given was not enough to fill the rabbit. The woman thought it was only a story, not realizing it could be entered from a different direction once the measurements were complete. They used the horizon as the definition of love, and the ocean as the definition of disappointment. They counted the doors they passed but never stopped to open them.
INFORMATION
Sews the ears back onto the cow. Forces it to read a magazine about machinery. Permits it to wander into the forest where the river cannot reach. Calls it by the name that has been painted on its side. Allows it to be portrayed by a bear in the movie of its life.
INFORMATION
Becomes a tree made out of words that can be used as an explanation, that can be used to measure the horizon as if it were a real thing. Then more of these trees, each occupying a separate page that may or may not lead the observer into the distance that pours off of the page.
INFORMATION
Not all of the dinosaurs learned how to fly. Some just got smaller and smaller until they became no more than punctuation in the story of the past.
INFORMATION
A plot that has no bears is no kind of plot at all. It’s not enough to have the color red and the number 5. It’s not enough to have a man and a woman who may, or may not, like each other. It’s not enough that it be raining all the time, or that the windows cannot be opened.
INFORMATION
A Murphy bed. A Diesel locomotive. A Spencer paddle. Each named after a person who has disappeared into time.
INFORMATION
Some islands are newer. Some are shaped like speech balloons. Some can only be found using a stethoscope. Some are filled with men as well as women. Some are only called islands because they are approached from the wrong direction.
INFORMATION
Defended by dogs. Defended by the rain. Three cups of soil the exact equivalent. The man constructing fences out of words, and songs from the wounds the dogs left behind. “Was I different?” he asked. “Was I the one who was never chosen.” The woman carried him into the sea, without realizing the difference. They ate turkey after dawn, and fish after sunset. They wore the clothes that turned them into artifacts, that resembled the rain once it had ended. The woman was an explanation then. She had no other words inside her.
INFORMATION
Little details that have nothing to do with the plot. The man or the woman picking up small pieces of metal along the shore. The number of dogs always changing. The clouds a message for those who understand them. The woman speaking in Gaelic or French. Her clothes the kind that had not been worn for centuries. The man listens to her count for no reason at all.
INFORMATION
When casting you want to pick people who look different from each other. If they have similar looks the audience will get confused. “I know you,” said the man on the boat, but he really knew someone else. The dogs must be chosen for the length of their legs and the color of their fur. Sometimes they are too hungry to act convincingly.
INFORMATION
There was not enough magic inside of the rabbit. The hat was too deep to crawl inside. The word they had was incorrect. It couldn’t change the mirror enough to make it work. It couldn’t change the woman who was there to distract the audience.
INFORMATION
I have not looked yet at the words that were given to me by the wind. I have not yet brushed off the leaves that have gathered in my thoughts. I was once full of dreams that had no shape, but now they are only trees filled with owls, filled with hives angry with bees. I was the only traveler who was allowed to enter, who was never given the instructions necessary to leave. I have some new words ready to go. I will try to follow them.
INFORMATION
Half of the time they were given was not enough to fill the rabbit. The woman thought it was only a story, not realizing it could be entered from a different direction once the measurements were complete. They used the horizon as the definition of love, and the ocean as the definition of disappointment. They counted the doors they passed but never stopped to open them.
THE NUMBER 5 IS ALWAYS SUSPECT, a chapbook of 24 of Bob Heman’s collaborations with Cindy Hochman, will be published soon by Presa Press.
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