Yet another not so cool lazy southern Spanish siesta
afternoon and five hours hereafter, there will be action under a clear crescent
moon.
“Action!”
Light years too late ghostly Tankman Johnson’s Phantom
Echo Regiment of supercharged mother of pearl blue black Chieftain tanks,
crewed by the sweet sexy Pretty Boys and the sweet sexy Pretty Girls, a
symphony of tuned turbocharged chrome trimmed engines and canon and machine gun
fire, sublime music and bonhomie, roar across the shimmering deserts of
Almería, Sister Ray loud on the sound systems of each and every vehicle, deep
into Al-Ándalus, and, in a storm of settling dust, ding dong, knock knock! Who's
there?
“Come to rescue The Transparent Princess….”
….The Pretty Girl, with her oh so cute nineteen
sixties style pageboy fringe and pony tail, rescue her from the castle keep,
The Stone Room, rescue her from despair. And all without suffering a single
casualty, cuts and bruises, aches and pains apart, to the hoary hordes of
mercenary priests and blind believers, martyrs of the Afterlife Paradise
Enlightenment Salesman, The Born Again Priest.
“Sticks and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me! Help them all along on their way to where they want to go is what I say! Everyone Ok? Cut! That’s a wrap! Shit, we’re all over exposed! Switch the time curves! Let’s get the hell outta here, kids!!”
But, too late, too late! For she is nowhere to be found
and childish dreams of burnished steel, of gentlemen knights and gentlemanly
justice turn to rust to dust, dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
The image of the Chieftain tank is a digital reworking of a 2008 painting, FOOTSTEPS ECHO, HUGE DUST, by the artist David F. Brandon © David F. Brandon, 2014
Sister Ray is a song from The Velvet Underground’s second LP record, White Light/White Heat, 1967.
