Affekt Funereal / Affekt Jamboree
5-2001
(as on TV)
Welcome to this
special edition
double cortege for
Galbraith, Kenneth—
Friedman, Milton—
ssstately cortege...
efffusively-shiny
like your kids teeth—
...such éclaircissement
on this beautiful morning
lustrum
(kids, that’s Latin, we mean to say
“wow”)
...directly behind the caskets—is that
—it’s the Macy’s Rat (in mid-air)...neat, real neat...
in front
the lead-coated horses don’t seem to mind the officers’
droppings...
is that a gigantic molar,
with worms popping out?
—such a variety of colors!
...look, some Teamsters
are in a tussle with some scab teletubby over on
23rd St. and Madison
...ok, now, now they’re under arrest...
if you look carefully you’ll see there’s two pre-funeral exercises for
Fukuyama, Francis—
Soros, George—
on 24th
—not, not as stately...
a delegation of mainstream poets!
and behind them, this year’s NPR security-clearance
float!...ooh...
ya, they’re rather new at this but...wait—
there’s a lone guerrilla girl
running through the crowd now
she’s
she’s managed to get the Cultural Studies delegation
to strip and
dress up as
squeegee-bearing babushkas it looks like
...it’s 20 degrees so, that’s rather—ok, she’s, she’s
under arrest now...
...those are neat, those little plastic thingies, aren’t they?...
The Bill Gates (My Charter) High School Marching Band!
The Steve Case (My Charter) High School Marching Band!
behind them
the post ’89, post-historical
acrobat academics
on mini-lawnmowers...
that’s smart...
The Yucky’s!
The Yucky’s, yeah, they’re an interesting group...
they do things like suppress that
Sidney Poitier
is the best American actor ever
...oh look, the Fahd ibn Abdel Aziz al-Saúd
float
...the F14’s behind him are real
...now, that’s smart!
...I think he just waved at me
...who’s that man with the Monocle grabbing his—
that’s Mister Modernist!
he’s been a regular at these events for over 90 years now
...Saga of The Blank Page float
a real favorite...
ooh, he just dropped his—wait
a babushka—her, her boot’s—
crkkkk...
oh, that’s, that’s not good...but
—did you know that
these are the first
100% soy
caskets
ever made?
some people have actually run up to nibble at them...
kids, if you’re watching this...
make sure you never think of any other social arrangement
other than one that
Militarily Has To Dominate Three Quarter of The World
Copyright Credit: Rodrigo Toscano, “Affekt Funereal / Affekt Jamboree” from Platform. Copyright © 2003 by Rodrigo Toscano. Reprinted by permission of Atelos.
Source: Platform (Atelos, 2003)