SEPTEMBER 2009

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Death Ensemble
By Matt DeBenedictis, Jul 18, 2009

Yesterday a man grabbed me in the street. His eyes were covered in a sticky film that made mud look like a centerfold and his bones looked like they were trying to escape, his skin was regret. “Congratulations on the death ensemble,” I said. He took a breath like a man in front of a firing squad and wheezed, “Where do we go from here?”

I laughed, like a child...one that guts stuffed animals with his dad’s knife and tapes ants to toy trucks before he burns them. The man took his grip off of me. Was his outfit always black or did it become that, I thought. This was the first time I had laughed in a month. I told the man where he should go to get help, maybe get a bus ride out of town, but I doubt he heard me because I don’t take my gas mask off for a beggar. I’m a good citizen.