excerpt from the July 206 Journal of Distractions
You could call it Collective Restlessness, affecting no more than around twenty at first. At school they stared out windows. At home they walked from room to room, stopping now and again, as if confused. What we are trying to provide is a kind of early intervention. If you have a few moments I would love to go over our questionnaire with you. Do you often plan weekend trips which never pan out? Do you Dream ? Do you find yourself craving the sea, and all at once say, “fuck it” and have a complicated drink instead? Do you pause often and without obvious cause? Do you feel unease ? Are you uneasy right now? Are you looking, always for some direction in which to pour your terrible energy ? ****** Children and Teenagers were the first to be affected with the most obvious and acute cases. Children could be found stopping , mid game and gazing up at the sky, as if a large balloon had passed before their eyes. Laughing openly, then suddenly collapsing backward with powerful yawns, interest lost forever. Teens started dinner table conversations only to pick up their phone and put it down again as if forgetting what it was they had wanted to say. Trips to the beach were spent walking to and fro on the sand, worrying brows and shifting feet. Some watched television most of the day. Commercials seemed to provide the most relief , cell phone advertisements, in particular. Then we started to receive reports that someone was entering neighborhood yards in the night. No proof of this was ever found, of course, it was only the distinct feeling of something changed. We left our beds to find it, on alert for intruders. There was only the feeling of having been watched. The letter to the editor sections were flooded with guesses, -collective delusions brought on by heat or by boredom, none of which stopped our searching. If you have just a few more moments, it is really best to catch this thing as soon as you can- Are you feeling relentless? Do you hear a sound? An elusive sound, behind the traffic, one that you may not have noticed before ? Do you feel an excitement in your dreams that upon waking leaves you? Do you leave your doors unlocked, hoping?
7 thoughts on "excerpt from the July 206 Journal of Distractions"
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Kind of wrote this on the fly. Not my best work, but that’s the point of this challenge, right? To produce a poem a day.
That’s exactly the point of the challenge! Well done!
Reminds me of The Falls by Greenaway.
Thanks. I had a dream that I was taking calls about people’s experiences w hauntings ? And one guy called requesting a haunting. He said,”I just want a nice, drama free haunting.” And then I wrote this.
But now I want to rewatch the falls. He is so creative. Thanks for introducing me to his work.
I like it–the tone, the retrospective, almost journalistic voice. Nearly humorous, while coldly terrifying in an American Gothic way. Nice, Rach.
Thanks !