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joseph-bradshaw · 6 years ago

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Vanity’s name is Propulsion.

Vanity’s name is Hungry Stink.

Vanity’s name is the Diver; sometimes called Sunken Levitator; and He Who Does Not Believe He Sinks.

Vanity’s name is Unfinished Circle; AKA the Cock-Lip Gap; AKA the Avoidance Surge; AKA Surplus Time; and Pressurized Emptiness; and Suicide’s Arbitrariness.

Vanity’s name is Destroyer; and He Who Makes through Destruction; and He Who Does Not Believe He’s an Asshole.

Vanity’s name is Exception; AKA I’m an Exception; AKA the Uneven Latitude; and the Scorpion in the Throat; occasionally Cruelty via Negligence.

Vanity’s name is Locutor; and the Jocular Knife; AKA Credit; sometimes called Whatever’s Better; and I’ve Got Something Better to Do.

Vanity’s name is Anything Else; and the Willful Ignorance of My Sucking; AKA the Gorgeous Mire; AKA Magnetic Teeth; and My Charismatic Hurt; and the Hardest Wall Is Not Brick.

Vanity’s name is Skin; and the Limp Embrace That Holds You Up; sometimes called Strength; AKA Mine All Mine; and He Whose Abuse Lacks Nuance; or the Depth Charge.

Vanity’s name is This Isn’t Pointless; AKA This Isn’t Aimless.

Vanity’s name is Painlessness.

Vanity’s name is Gratuitous Gratuity; and I’m Not Giving Anything Away; and Graduated Repayment Plan.

Vanity’s name is Redemption’s Anus; and He Who Believes His Anus Can Speak; AKA the Repulsive Repairman.

Vanity’s name is Still Green; And He Who Has Water in the Eye; and He Who Believes His Anus an Eye; occasionally the Enema’s Enemy.

Vanity’s name is Magnificent Milk.

Vanity’s name is Malicious.

Vanity’s name is the Pink Splotch; sometimes called Can’t Splash.

Vanity’s name is Finger Eclipse; and I’m Always about to Die; AKA Mistrusted Distrust.

Vanity’s name is I Never Vomit; and He Who Cannot Mistake; AKA Bullshit Importer; AKA the Breathing Tube; and I Know What I Saw.

Vanity’s name is the Prescient.

Vanity’s name is the Corpulent Prince; and Got Parsed the Wrong Way; AKA the Self-Serious Horde.

Vanity’s name is the Speaking Phone.

Vanity’s name is More Important; sometimes called Impotent Rage; and I’ll Sleep When I Die; or Marvin Gaye’s Father.

Vanity’s name is Content; and He Whose Fences Moan; and He Who Resolves Resentment in a Pleasing Sigh.

Vanity’s name is Your Drain; sometimes called the Dirty Drain; and I’m Not Beautiful Enough; and I Don’t Have Enough Followers.

Vanity’s name is In Addition To; AKA the Not Only; and I Never Get Lonely; and What You Don’t Get Is.

Vanity’s name is Spurting Compass.

Vanity’s name is Maundering Pig; sometimes called I’m Prettier; or I’m Better; AKA You Can’t Comprehend; AKA You Wouldn’t Understand.

Vanity’s name is We Relate; and the Mesmerizing Clearance Rack; occasionally the Clean Break; occasionally the Final Believer.

Vanity’s name is One Last Kiss; and He Who Cannot Suck the Words Back in His Mouth; AKA Always Sucking.

Vanity’s name is Going Dutch; and Are You Fucking Deaf; and the Ants in My Pants Have Fleas; sometimes called Meek Expressions of Pain.

Vanity’s name is Heavenly Debasement.

Vanity’s name is Still Going Hard; AKA My Thoughts Are Not Real; or My Thoughts Are Real.

Vanity’s name is Incorruptible; AKA the Cardinal Sore; AKA the Lingering Fart; and I’m Already a Ghost; and Perfect for Any Occasion; and Come On Baby Give Me a Smile; AKA Why Am I Not Getting Better.

Vanity’s name is the New Leaf; otherwise called the Half Empty; or I’ll Be Rich as Fuck; and I’d Never Say Something So Stupid; sometimes called For Soon I Shall Be Dead; and the Fool Persisting in His Folly.

Vanity’s name is Unbridled Usefulness.

Vanity’s name is Infinite Loss; sometimes called Swimming with You; or I’m Whispering to Nobody; and Never Fought Dread; and I Can’t Dance; and I’m My Own Right Hand.

Vanity’s name is Self-Hatred’s Muse; AKA the Cheapest Tricks Are Free; occasionally It Ain’t My Fault; and Your Lingering Bitterness; and the Sewn-Shut Eyes.

Vanity’s name is Capital Gains; AKA I Keep What I Touch; AKA the Golden Prick.

Vanity’s name is So Far Away; and He Who Cannot Recognize His Naked Feet; otherwise called the Scribe; and It Wasn’t Me; and It Could Never Be Me; occasionally Fashion’s Tease; or the Wheezing Confession; AKA the Sleazy Confessor; and It Would Never Ever Be Me; and My Glittering Anxiety; AKA the Guttural.

Vanity’s name is Betray.

Vanity’s name is the Disease of Fate; and Fake It till You Make It; sometimes called Home’s Unhomeliness; occasionally No One Will Hear Us; AKA Youth’s Cling; AKA Symbol of Escape; sometimes called Remember Me; or Doesn’t Clean Up after Himself; and It Would Be So Nice; and It Will Never Work.

Vanity’s name is Amnesia; sometimes called My Only Friend.

Vanity’s name is the Sack Full of Sorriness Spilled Open; and the Mistimed Sorry; and the Sorry Smooshed Beneath the Sole; or the Sorry Spatter; AKA Hate’s Fullness; or the Squeezer of Hate.

Vanity’s name is My Bicep’s Tower; and He Who Won’t Carry; sometimes called Continuity Obsession.

Vanity’s name is Still but Barely Functioning; otherwise called My Waning Empathy; AKA You Disgust Me; occasionally Charity.

Vanity’s name is the Punishment of All Footfall.

Vanity’s name is My Beautiful Suffering; and the God of a Godless Kind; and I Have No Story.

Vanity’s name is ALL CAPS; and He Who Writes All Caps.

Vanity’s name is Wilderness; and the Flagellator’s Limp Arm; sometimes called Emotionally Unavailable; or Powerlessness.

Vanity’s name is Swimming in Acedia.

Vanity’s name is So What.

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joseph-bradshaw · 8 years ago

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You don't remember me, probably. And you definitely don't think of me anymore, but I bought the last copy of your book at Powell's last night. There's no more of you in the Portland bookstore. Just know every year or so I check up on you to see how you're doing and if you're happy & alive. I'm sorry for meeting you at the peak of my psychosis.. everything you shared and everyone I met because of you saw the worst. I don't love him anymore, I take too many medications. Thank you.

Does your name start with a W, or en E? Will you email me?

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joseph-bradshaw · 9 years ago

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Tripwire 11, POP

The new issue of Tripwire is out, which includes my essay on Kevin Killian’s Tweaky Village. My piece ends with a lil questionnaire I made for Killian about love and relationships, excerpted below. Enjoy, my ghosties.