Excerpts
The Removal of Souls, and More, And Misinterpreting Shit
Does Losing Crush Your Spirit?
I am watching tennis. People lose. They seem crushed. Matthew Simmons just wrote about, among other things, an article that wrote about an abortion. Which is funny, because I was thinking about the removal of things (which is different than a crushing of things, but I am super digressing here non-stop), from reading a short story called “Mirrorball” by Mary Gaitskill, (quote after the jump), where she discusses the removal of the soul. Which led me to think of “Love Removal Machine” by The Cult, (I always misheard the lyrics to say, “soul stealer” but it is actually “soul shaker”. Oops. Also, I know the 80s shit is hard to deal with unironically, but I love that song.) Which led me to think of how I also always thought that this song, “Naked Cousin” contained the lyrics, “He’s Ronny”, like that was his name, the name of PJ’s cousin, but no, it’s “He’s running”. Oops again.
He took her soul–though being a secular-minded person, he didn’t think of it that way. He didn’t take the whole thing; that would not have been possible. But he got such a significant piece that it felt as if her entire soul were gone. As soon as he had it, he not only forgot that he’d taken it; he forgot he’d even known about it. This was not the first time either….
It must be said: she should not have shown him her soul. She flashed it again and again, as if it were a bauble meant to entice him, or a hand mirror flashing signals from a dark and lonely place. Everybody knew about dark and lonely places, he thought. But why was she sending these signals without knowing who he was or if he cared to read them?
And to continue the theme, digresssions and all, here’s a video of PJ singing “When Under Ether” that is about getting an abortion.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rKNOBPpeg8
Tags: Mary Gaitskill, pj harvey, the cult
i dated a sociopath once. she seemed normal at first. then i began realizing she didn’t have a soul. there was nothing behind the glass except _______. not even nothingness, ’cause thats giving a word nothing which makes it something. i showed her my soul, because i got it in an abundance and it kind of runneths over a lot. she took a huge chunk of it every time we had sex. and we had sex a lot. especially when she wanted me to slap her and call her a fucking bitch. i prefer not to do that. but she was a straight up crazylady who needed the souls of others. it was strange. she said she believed in god, yet did the most horrible things without remorse. i can only come to the conclusion she was a demon. a kind of evil being that knows there is a ‘divine thing’ on some level, yet yearns to be evil.
anyway, i got a rejection notice from opium magazine and gargoyle today. that crushed. both were good rejections… one had a paragraph long “thumbs up” of the story with suggestions on how to fix it. the other was a “try us again” personal…
crushing and removing are the same I think. Almost. One leaves pieces.
i dated a sociopath once. she seemed normal at first. then i began realizing she didn’t have a soul. there was nothing behind the glass except _______. not even nothingness, ’cause thats giving a word nothing which makes it something. i showed her my soul, because i got it in an abundance and it kind of runneths over a lot. she took a huge chunk of it every time we had sex. and we had sex a lot. especially when she wanted me to slap her and call her a fucking bitch. i prefer not to do that. but she was a straight up crazylady who needed the souls of others. it was strange. she said she believed in god, yet did the most horrible things without remorse. i can only come to the conclusion she was a demon. a kind of evil being that knows there is a ‘divine thing’ on some level, yet yearns to be evil.
anyway, i got a rejection notice from opium magazine and gargoyle today. that crushed. both were good rejections… one had a paragraph long “thumbs up” of the story with suggestions on how to fix it. the other was a “try us again” personal…
crushing and removing are the same I think. Almost. One leaves pieces.
Gotta watch out for the psychos. I’ve heard from a couple wise dudes that they’re like the supreme pizza of sex “going down,” but when the acid reflux rises–all you end up with are slashed pillow cases covered in pee.
Gotta watch out for the psychos. I’ve heard from a couple wise dudes that they’re like the supreme pizza of sex “going down,” but when the acid reflux rises–all you end up with are slashed pillow cases covered in pee.
some people don’t have souls, right? I really believe that – or corrupted souls, or suppress their souls or are evil. I worked with a woman once who was sooo empty of any goodness I had a religious expererience- the absolute abscence of god- seeing that, really experiencing that in a person– made me believe in HIm.
Anyway- rejection and being crushed and having things removed from our unseen parts.
Good rejections are the beginning of things. Send that shit out to 20 other places and get back to me and tell me you got something accepted.
hey pr, you may have already seen this, but there’s a great interview with mary gaitskill on bookworm, and in addition to silverblatt’s excellent insight and dialogue, gaitskill reads from her work, and the piece she reads includes the quote you included above.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw090611mary_gaitskill
some people don’t have souls, right? I really believe that – or corrupted souls, or suppress their souls or are evil. I worked with a woman once who was sooo empty of any goodness I had a religious expererience- the absolute abscence of god- seeing that, really experiencing that in a person– made me believe in HIm.
Anyway- rejection and being crushed and having things removed from our unseen parts.
Good rejections are the beginning of things. Send that shit out to 20 other places and get back to me and tell me you got something accepted.
hey pr, you may have already seen this, but there’s a great interview with mary gaitskill on bookworm, and in addition to silverblatt’s excellent insight and dialogue, gaitskill reads from her work, and the piece she reads includes the quote you included above.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/bw/bw090611mary_gaitskill
This is like a poem. You wrote a poem as a comment! Love it.
This is like a poem. You wrote a poem as a comment! Love it.
I have not seen this because it isn’t takiing place on grass in England! Thanks so much Shya!
I have not seen this because it isn’t takiing place on grass in England! Thanks so much Shya!
Thanks. But I’m serious.
Thanks. But I’m serious.