July, 2017

Retrogamer: Passive Participation

The last time I played a Castlevania game was during the Reagan administration. So how in the hell do I know Alucard’s backstory? How do I know who Trevor Belmont is? This isn’t knowledge that arrives via osmosis, like talk radio or work conversation.

Flying to the Moon

She asked me if I will need to return, looking up at the powdered face of the moon. “Need’? Perhaps not. Within friendship, needs and wants have a way of turning to smoke. All that we have is each other.

Cobra Commander

When they made a toy of you
Did you dream of children
Thinking you’re the good guy

cackler bridge.

a fist / crown of amethyst cut / across the plains / I wished him

the white / women he dreamed / of – shaved

my head / to empty the soil / to empty myself /

‘Bozart’ Cohn’s Don Quixote

If the player takes damage, or retreats too far, or falters in her play, the golden light and music fall away. The knight ceases to appear as a strong warrior and becomes, again, a spindly old man in tarnished armor swinging wildly.