David F. Hoenigman is the founder and organizer of PAINT YOUR TEETH, a clusterfuck live event held every few months in Tokyo. He is the percussionist of the band GyuuNyuu Hanabi. He’s written Burn Your Belongings (Jaded Ibis Press 2010) and Squeal for Joy (JIP 2015). He’s from Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Squeal for Joy excerpt:
the feather man’s presented to the devil. he looks like he’s already dead. he won’t fully understand yet. these days have been a blur. I remember tearing something open and thinking it was gathering around my ankles. one of the demons starts blowing feathers off things. they’re going to skin him alive, she must be thinking. if he tears one off another one appears. the feathers have jammed the gears. he’d all but abandoned his lookout post. he could’ve gotten us all killed. I’ve never taken a step forward. I wobble then I fall and then I stand up again but I never really move from my original allotted space. the clown begins to chase a butterfly. the vulture continues changing his clothes. he must have gotten these clothes from the polka-dot woman. they must be the clothes of her dead or missing husband. it appears they fit perfectly. soon the clothes will stink like the vulture. and how soon before he sleeps in them in a ditch. she cries and then she dances. at times I think she’s crazy and deserves everything she gets. I’ve forgotten how calm and still it gets at night. in the darkness. away from the city. the vulture and the clown are forgotten here. and the moonlight turns everything into skeletons. I was afraid of animals and ghosts and strangers so sometimes I’d run as fast as I could. you’d stop there with me and we’d whisper into each other’s ears. you were right about me. I was a hopeless cause. I was right about you. you turned out to be a coward. this cost me everything, he thought to himself as he sat there in further surrender. the devil chuckles and sees no other solution. I’m looking at the neck and chin of the devil’s girl. the murderess. the devil never thinks to shield her from this. another demon comes through the door. the man who always wishes he was elsewhere. I find things soaked in blood. I’d like to tell my girl we can go wherever she wants tonight. whatever she wants is hers. I shed everything until they find me alone terrified. my voice hoarse from screaming. there are warning signs but mostly it’s just routine. days stacked upon each other. motions. I was gonna steal all your money and run to where you’d never find me. from this angle I see her boots and her knees. I feel her eyes on me. you’ve lost your way. you’re a stray. a mangy animal. don’t forgive. only threaten. and beat. she’s always in the corner so I can never clearly make out her face. but I think it’s the murderess. and I think she needs to see for herself. the devil breaks fingers. he kicks in machinery. I only want to look at her. to stare until she squirms. or threatens to send him after me. they love more than we do. they’ve freed themselves from these complications and are allowed to simply love. the vulture’s pleased with his new clothes. the missing man’s clothes. or the dead man’s clothes. either way they’re the vulture’s clothes now. and he’s fed. and he’s been paid. and the sun’s only just gone down. the clown’s a pesky fly buzzing around him. when bad men put on new suits they think of lies they’d like to tell women. when women know they aren’t being listened to they walk away and hope to be followed. but really people do whatever they want. nothing unites them or makes them any easier to understand. maybe I’m just some experiment in a dish. the clown walks away but may be hoping no one ever follows her. in any life I’d have to be responsible for myself. there’d be some form of questioning. the feather man becomes the devil’s new prisoner. he knows he can’t explain it all away. still his mouth’s moving for the sake of something. something that’s become entangled in one of these millipede’s legs. I’m going through the motions of begging for my life but really I want you to rip me open and let my feathers scatter. I’m glad you brought her. I want to stare at her legs while you question me. let the devil win. let the world be ripped open. I’m worse than the devil for not caring one way or the other. the devil keeps me in a box so my arms and legs are useless. finally my eyes are beginning to focus. at the end of all this pleasure was the face of the devil leaning over me.
David F. Hoenigman is the founder and organizer of PAINT YOUR TEETH, a clusterfuck live event held every few months in Tokyo. He is the percussionist of the band GyuuNyuu Hanabi. He’s written Burn Your Belongings (Jaded Ibis Press 2010) and Squeal for Joy (JIP 2015). He’s from Cleveland, Ohio, USA.