One Response to “Screams of the Void”

1. Christopher says:
   

   Transcript for “Screams of the Void”

   1) Ben: Hey, nice sculpture. What is it?
   Poet: An exact replica of the spatial contours of my deepest emotional pain.
   2) B: Neato!
   P: See, the hollow space is the unconditional love and affection I never got as a child, it was abused away.
   3) B: Interesting. My deepest emotional pain has a solid core, but with nothing surrounding it.
   P: Maybe that’s why we’re such good friends.
   4) Art Teacher: What…is this thing?
   P: My homework.
   5) Art Teacher: [weeping uncontrollably]
   6) AT: [hysterical, on the floor] NO! NO! MOMMY STOP HITTING ME! I STILL LOVE YOU!
   P: Uh-oh. Somebody better get the vice principal. Albert, give him some anti-depressants.
   Albert: Which ones? The SSRI’s, NDRI’s, or MAOI’s? I’ve got lithium here, too.
   Vanessa: I have some crystal meth in my purse. Will that help?
   7) P: [dumping pills in teacher’s open mouth] Let’s just err on the side of caution.
   A: I’ll give him my allergy pills, too, just to be safe.
   Vice Principal: Oh not again! Which one of you smart-asses made a sculpture of your pain?
   Vanessa: [smoking crystal meth]

   Notes:
   While this strip may remind you of “116 - The Death Sonnet”, the idea originated from a film called “Mysterious Skin”. While the film purports to brutally display the effects of childhood sexual abuse, it is really about the wild effects of intense human pain. At the end of the film I broke down terrifically, and in my unchecked weeping sensed for the first time what seemed to be the distinct spatial contours of a void in my self, not just A void, but THE void, as if something central to my character, that should have been there, simply was not. And like a black hole, no thought or emotion could escape its gravity.

   To be able to so clearly identify this void, its origins, and to see how much of my life has been dictated by my attempts to feed it, to fill it, was intensely liberating (although the void, I believe, will always be a part of me to some extent).

   Realizing the power of this void, I gave it to Poet, allowing him to wreak havoc once again on a humankind that isn’t emotionally prepared for it.

   And then I threw in a crystal meth joke just for the hell of it.

   (I’m pretty sure you actually light the bowl of a meth pipe, whereas Vanessa seems to be lighting from the top. So no need for all my meth addict fans to point that out.)

   March 10th, 2008 at 4:23 pm

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