Jesse’s Reviews > Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird > Status Update
Jesse
is on page 75 of 176
“Perfect Symmetry”
A man who is marked for death in a prison cooks his last meal. It’s grim but the bitterest of bittersweet as the man’s true joy is not in eating his food but savoring the creation of the dish. His assassin has misread his intent, allowing the MC his own, private victory, even in his death. In a very vague way, Bazterrica suggests that no life is complete without death—opposite life.
— Dec 02, 2024 09:19AM
A man who is marked for death in a prison cooks his last meal. It’s grim but the bitterest of bittersweet as the man’s true joy is not in eating his food but savoring the creation of the dish. His assassin has misread his intent, allowing the MC his own, private victory, even in his death. In a very vague way, Bazterrica suggests that no life is complete without death—opposite life.
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Jesse
is on page 147 of 176
“Mary Carminum”
It’s hard to feel sorry for this macho jerk, who is scoring his sexual conquests against his buddy Flaco, when he is converted into a bizarre cult of the Virgin Mary where he may very well never even think about having sex again. He might clap a little bit, though, and it was so nice of his date-rapist friend to join him.
— Dec 03, 2024 03:42PM
It’s hard to feel sorry for this macho jerk, who is scoring his sexual conquests against his buddy Flaco, when he is converted into a bizarre cult of the Virgin Mary where he may very well never even think about having sex again. He might clap a little bit, though, and it was so nice of his date-rapist friend to join him.
Jesse
is on page 133 of 176
“Architecture”
Whoa!!
Bazterrica in this prose poem renders a concept of Christ that is equatable to cosmic horror: “These words that seek salvation are enclosed in the frozen space, in the static block crowned by Christ His Majesty, by Christ the Emperor, from which no one, not even God, can escape.”
— Dec 03, 2024 03:27PM
Whoa!!
Bazterrica in this prose poem renders a concept of Christ that is equatable to cosmic horror: “These words that seek salvation are enclosed in the frozen space, in the static block crowned by Christ His Majesty, by Christ the Emperor, from which no one, not even God, can escape.”
Jesse
is on page 129 of 176
“Hell”
A beautiful prose poem about an absurdly painful existence for a bird, trapped in a cage, by three old women who have no idea how they are torturing it. I have to believe that this is a metaphor for an older generation smothering a younger one for its own, absurd pleasures.
— Dec 03, 2024 03:21PM
A beautiful prose poem about an absurdly painful existence for a bird, trapped in a cage, by three old women who have no idea how they are torturing it. I have to believe that this is a metaphor for an older generation smothering a younger one for its own, absurd pleasures.
Jesse
is on page 125 of 176
“A Hole Hides a House”
Another incredibly brutal story, this one about a girl who has been kidnapped at a young age to be a sex slave and work on her rapist’s farm. Like, I’m glad that these are flash fiction / prose poem-ish because otherwise this would be grueling.
— Dec 03, 2024 09:55AM
Another incredibly brutal story, this one about a girl who has been kidnapped at a young age to be a sex slave and work on her rapist’s farm. Like, I’m glad that these are flash fiction / prose poem-ish because otherwise this would be grueling.
Jesse
is on page 119 of 176
“The Continuous Equality of the Circumference”
This could be the basis for a Junji Ito story. A woman wants to embody circularity to become perfect, indestructible. Part of this plan involves removing her arms and legs (but not her head—she wisely reasons against this). It’s sort of a bizarre dysmorphia, which gives this story uncomfortable undertones.
— Dec 03, 2024 05:25AM
This could be the basis for a Junji Ito story. A woman wants to embody circularity to become perfect, indestructible. Part of this plan involves removing her arms and legs (but not her head—she wisely reasons against this). It’s sort of a bizarre dysmorphia, which gives this story uncomfortable undertones.
Jesse
is on page 113 of 176
“No Tears”
This is like a fun, macabre magical realism story where the man with a legacy of injecting mirth into funerals is at odds with a woman whose purpose is to amplify and mold the grief to make the funerals even gaudier. And, well, they’re mortal foes.
— Dec 02, 2024 07:55PM
This is like a fun, macabre magical realism story where the man with a legacy of injecting mirth into funerals is at odds with a woman whose purpose is to amplify and mold the grief to make the funerals even gaudier. And, well, they’re mortal foes.
Jesse
is on page 103 of 176
“The Slowness of Pleasure”
Idk. I think this prose poem describes a woman after Clark Ashton Smith’s heart. She is imagining herself in the place of a woman in a painting and she has identified the painted woman with death and dying. She appears to have some sort of death-related paraphilia as it looks like her fantasy has her in a slow, orgasmic ecstasy.
— Dec 02, 2024 07:40PM
Idk. I think this prose poem describes a woman after Clark Ashton Smith’s heart. She is imagining herself in the place of a woman in a painting and she has identified the painted woman with death and dying. She appears to have some sort of death-related paraphilia as it looks like her fantasy has her in a slow, orgasmic ecstasy.
Jesse
is on page 99 of 176
“Elena Marie-Sandoz”
Is the narrator Elena? Does the narrator, in a psychotic break, arrange for his own death once he realizes that the image of Elena, which he coveted enough to harass her into suicide, is fading in his brain? The symmetry between Elena in the bar and Elena in her grave is likely more important than exactly where the narrator’s doom heralds from.
— Dec 02, 2024 07:32PM
Is the narrator Elena? Does the narrator, in a psychotic break, arrange for his own death once he realizes that the image of Elena, which he coveted enough to harass her into suicide, is fading in his brain? The symmetry between Elena in the bar and Elena in her grave is likely more important than exactly where the narrator’s doom heralds from.
Jesse
is on page 91 of 176
“The Dead”
A little girl knows that the dead go to the moon, because that’s where her dead mother says she is, and both her and her widower husband miss each other (well the loneliness of the dead is a little more intense) but the father’s fear of death outweighs his yearning for his wife. Contains a scene where the girl describes her father and his girlfriend having sex (including intuiting a faked orgasm).
— Dec 02, 2024 07:21PM
A little girl knows that the dead go to the moon, because that’s where her dead mother says she is, and both her and her widower husband miss each other (well the loneliness of the dead is a little more intense) but the father’s fear of death outweighs his yearning for his wife. Contains a scene where the girl describes her father and his girlfriend having sex (including intuiting a faked orgasm).
Jesse
is on page 85 of 176
“Teicher vs. Nietzsche”
Some football-crazed dude tries to kick his cat and somehow ends up injuring his spine when he misses and wipes out, landing flat on his back. There’s more to the story: the cat was an acquisition of his ex-wife’s; there is a football game on that Teicher is absolutely concerned with; he REALLY hates the cat. I am sensing some symbolism, here. The cat is Nietzsche, btw.
— Dec 02, 2024 10:01AM
Some football-crazed dude tries to kick his cat and somehow ends up injuring his spine when he misses and wipes out, landing flat on his back. There’s more to the story: the cat was an acquisition of his ex-wife’s; there is a football game on that Teicher is absolutely concerned with; he REALLY hates the cat. I am sensing some symbolism, here. The cat is Nietzsche, btw.
