The Ol’ Wm. Burroughs Cut-Up Routine
by Vince Tinguely
From Vol. 3 No. 1, 2004

Cutting it up on
Scratchy ol’ vinyl

I see armies of junkie fans lurching
Like ‘Lurch’ lurches out of dark doorways
In trance zombie stance
Seeking autographs of
The old newspaper grey
Guru of the terminally
Dispossessed.

Shrieking transvestites
Bringing up the rear (naturally)
Trying to buy up
Everything in their path like
White tornadoes

Grey old man just
Flicks thin wrists through cuffs
Dons hat, rasps, sniffs, speaks
Voice tinny, crackling from
Well beyond the grave
While earnest ecologist
Flings self off Halifax bridge
And earnest actor
Flings self off Staten Island Ferry
His morbid humour
Lives on.
He gives a turn of phrase
And I’m chuckling to myself
In the headphone dark.