Bob Heman


from INFORMATION

INFORMATION

Flowers that burst into flames when they bloom.


INFORMATION

Because he knows nothing is ever perfect he allows more than one kind of animal to enter the photograph. This encourages both counting and explanation but never a resolution that is acceptable to all. It is uncertain whether the grave holds a man or a woman. The caption requires us to think more than is necessary.


INFORMATION

A plot that has no characters. A stage that is filled with machines that may or may not be turned on. The score that of a man choking, of insects that never stop singing, of the beating of a solitary heart. The curtain never raised or lowered.


INFORMATION

The orchestra was playing “The Bear Went Over the Mountain” when the admiral and his wife entered the concert hall. Just because there were clouds it did not mean that it would rain. Each machine was accompanied by a cow that had been trained to interpret the different notes. The women were inserted for a different kind of motivation. They had names that had nothing to do with the seasons. In most versions they were not able to speak.


INFORMATION

It is not always about murder. Sometimes it is about the brewing of tea, or the breeding of Siamese cats. Sometimes the river grows too large to be contained. It is then that the mammals become boats. With luck we can steer them into the right harbor where a twist of the plot awaits us. It is then that we become our own explanation.


INFORMATION

When the film is run at the right speed they seem to be dancing. The night ends sooner than it should without any kind of explanation. The vehicles allowed include a bicycle, an automobile, a horse, and a canoe. He has a word for each one that is never a noun or an adjective. They never told him he would be part of the caption.


INFORMATION

Continuity requires that the flashlight always be held in his left hand, that the woman always be wearing only one shoe, that the owl be removed each time the coach passes. It requires that the words always be spoken in Hungarian, and that each one always be a verb. It requires that the woman be never more than an explanation, and that only the color red be used.


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He is expected to know how to use the machine. He is expected to feel comfortable around women. He is expected to know the difference between the forest and the ocean. He is expected to own a boat or some other kind of simple vehicle. He knows that if he approaches the colors they will change. He knows that if he counts his footsteps he will be required to count them again. He expects to be able to use his voice when the time comes.


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The purpose of socks, of the horizon, of the word “describe.” The purpose of counting. The purpose of syntax. The purpose of margins. The way the mushroom or door can be made to be an exception. The purpose of rules. The distance these words must travel before they end.


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One would expect the wings to itch, but they do not. Counting the only kind of distance that is allowed. Everything else only a variant of sex.


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The anatomy of a bar of chocolate. The distance between the forest and the stars. The words spoken only a reflection in a mirror. The man who finds them no longer a cat or a rabbit. His dimensions a different kind of disaster.


INFORMATION

In their drawings the river was always given wings.

Bob Heman has more information than he knows what to do with. He lives where the forest never reaches.

 
 

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