POP SERIAL

At Heavy Feather Review, an interview with Sam Pink. Includes discussion of Sam’s 2 new books, The No Hellos Diet and Hurt Others, both forthcoming next month from Lazy Fascist Press. Sam also mentions some writers he likes, including Noah Cicero, Mallory Whitten, Tao Lin, Jordan Castro, Megan Boyle, Andrew James Weatherhead, and Ana C.

“HFR: I have been watching too many Looney Tunes reruns on TV as of late. What would you do differently if you were Wile E. Coyote, taking on the Road Runner?

SP: i’d probably act dead. then when the road runner comes to say some shit, i’d reach up and grab him by the throat, staring into his scared eyes through the blinding desert sun. i’d squeeze, just enough to let the road runner know the real pain is yet to come. staring at his bulging eyes, i’d communicate my disregard for him as a rival. he’d see then, in my eyes, that i’d never once lost in our back and forth rivalry, but was simply waiting. all of those acme death kits i’d purchased, they’d been a distraction. creating the illusion that i was losing. hand around the road runner’s throat, i’d drag him through the desert, over rocks, cacti, spiders and snakes, dust. i’d drag him to my dwelling, a lean-to at the bottom of a valley, next to a river. there, i’d push his head into the river water over and over. after only a few dunks, he’d be begging for death. but death, like hope, in my coyote world, was never an option. after numerous dunks, the road runner would be weakened. i’d then smash his feet with a stone and leave him on the ground, convulsing in pain. i’d forcefeed him sand until he was near death. i’d let him blister under the sun. become hideous. i’d piss on the blisters. i’d throw sand on the blisters as they break open. and when his body could take no more, i’d slowly, and gently, place my hand over the road runner’s beak, our eyes close together, as the only air available to him, hot desert air, was denied, and death enters him and pervades him. then i’d spend the rest of the day with my feet in the river by my lean-to, thinking about life.”