Your Rights Expire part 1

Amadou Diallo 1975 - 1999
Patrick Dorismond 1974 - 2000

Amadou Diallo was unarmed when he was shot 41 times in the Bronx by four plain-clothed NYPD officers on February 4, 1999. The officers were acquitted of charges of second degree murder and reckless endangerment on February 25 the following year. Three weeks later, Patrick Dorismond was shot to death by an undercover cop. Dorismond was also unarmed and, like Diallo, had not committed any crime. Claiming that Dorismond "was no altar boy" Giuliani released Dorismond's sealed juvenile records to show he had been arrested when he was thirteen. When he was criticized for violating Dorismond's privacy, the mayor argued that your rights to privacy expire when you do.
Abner Louima is referred to in this booklet. He was beaten by NYPD officers and sodomized with a toilet plunger in 1997 while in custody.

This is my favorite booklet in the series.

creatordestroyer1

creatordestroyer 2

Souvenir of September 11

Souvenir of September 11, part two

A jack-in-the-box takes control of his life
I gotta pull myself together, man,
gotta get connected.
Find a place to plug in -
I’m leaking all over the place, spilled in the void.
I lose my senses, I come to my senses.
I sort through slippery pieces of Mind, like sorting through
pieces of a smashed kaleidoscope.

But I’m a happy, happy guy!
Things could not be better.
I am having the TIME of my LIFE.
I have no complaints.
Most of the panic has worn off.
I WOULD NOT CHANGE A THING.

A jack-in-a-box tries to take control of his life. (Once I get out of this damn box)
I listen to radio, I read the paper, I watch TV, and I forget most of the news I consume - it passes right through me like a greasy lunch. Or just gives me a stomachache.
Even what I remember, I don’t believe.
Even what I believe, I don’t know what it means,
If I know what it means, it freaks me out.

Its all falling apart, I think.
But all the facts have been shredded and the experts are jumping off buildings and 95% of americans think that God is also an American.
So open wide the doors to Christ -
Jesus has left the building.

Most of the panic has worn off and we’ve returned to the ordinary life and death situation and its not so hard to forget -
the empire is ruined,
our rulers are naked,
and they lost the real war,

and the TERROR is below the skin

and the ITCH will be scratched.

Souvenir of September 11, part one

In the Zero Decade my art consisted mostly of spoken word performance and recording with the Audio Artists and making little xerox books of graphic poetry that I would mostly give away. My paintings at the time pretty much sucked. This is a booklet I made on the occasion of a performance we did in 2002 and which focused on the war on Bush's terror and other symptoms of post-apocalyptic stress.

The walls of your home are the walls of my homelessness.
The walls that keep you in are the walls that put me out.
But there is a door.
May I come in and sleep on the floor?
Can I use your toilet?
Is it alright if I fill your home with the odors of my body?
I don't want to be a bother.
Do you have any food? Some leftovers?
I'm not feeling well. I'm afraid I threw up on your carpet.
These are my friends. We won't make much noise. They will only be here overnight. Maybe 2 nights. Certainly not much longer than a week, a month at the most.
You don't mind if we smoke?
We're in a little trouble with the law.
We'll have to hide our pills and some weapons in your kitchen.
Don't worry.
There is not likely to be any trouble.