The Cemetery is Full: Short Fiction
()
About this ebook
Award-winning American short fiction writer Mark Antony Rossi has a lifetime of selected fiction ready for examination. With a highly specialized poetic style and the invention of "concrete" short fiction Rossi will bring the gritty urban experience to an intellectual plateau.
Read more from Mark Antony Rossi
Robots Don’t Respect Sundays: Poking Fun at the Religion of Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWriting As Therapy: Tools to Treat Trauma Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrength to Be Human Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalkabout: Thoughts on the Human Condition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCancer Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMother of All Machines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rossi Reader: Essential Writings: 1984 - 2018 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Cemetery is Full
Related ebooks
Pretty Lights: Inside Club Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Kinds of Dark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eleven Ducks All in a Row; Short Stories 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Red Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Last-Minute Love (Year of the Chick series) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gum Thief: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of San Francisco: Tales of Eclipse, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Corpse Whisperer: An Allie Nighthawk Mystery, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Souljacked Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Sharply Struck E7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBe Gentle With Me. More Legendary Twaddle. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDevil City Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDevil May Care: A Crag Banyon Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of San Francisco: The Illustrated Edition: Tales of Eclipse: Illustrated, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCoffee, Shopping, Murder, Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Daddy Next Door: An MC Romance: Heaven's Horns MC, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Diversion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man Who Never Lived Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHello: Hello series, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttack Of The Moon Cows Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlan D Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLamb Chops and Chainsaws: Nine Disturbing Short Stories About the Darker Side of Human Nature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGirl Anatomy: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5TEETH WHERE THEY SHOULDN'T BE Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat is ALL Wrong! An Anthology of Offbeat Horror: Vol III: That is... Wrong! An Offbeat Horror Anthology Series, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Hood Tale: Beyond B.E.T. With Big Fifty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKari Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Corpse Whisperer Sworn: An Allie Nighthawk Mystery, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
General Fiction For You
The Alchemist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The King James Version of the Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Priory of the Orange Tree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outsider: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anonymous Sex Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Sister's Keeper: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life of Pi: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unhoneymooners Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5War and Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nettle & Bone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of Dreaming Books Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beartown: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Cemetery is Full
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Cemetery is Full - Mark Antony Rossi
me.
DECADE I : [1990 – 1999]
"In politics you will have enemies. This is normal for anyone of note. It’s not the enemies you see that cause lasting damage. The unseen enemy is the root of all your grief.
M.A.R.
Philosophy of Rent
We've lost our magic. Our instinct for mystery. Most bold questions have pat answers. Whatever's left---few manage to pay attention.
How I long for a day when the classics are read aloud from atop a balcony to studious listeners drawn to every syllable. Perhaps I'm daydreaming abit. Foolishly expecting culture from soulless mall addict’s intent on spoon-feeding corporations. Mindlessly they dump their slave wages into the awaiting tentacles of ugly giants. The fat and prosperous merchants who in turn dump their garbage into our drinking water.
We've lost our minds. Our fear of freedom is the root of all trouble. The cardinal reason we as a people are exploited over and over again. We are too willing to trade a piece of liberty for peace of mind. In the end it can't be done. But you already you know that in your heart of hearts.
Why bother listening? Fear is a friend beamed in from skyscrapers built by the lowest bidder. Grab that remote switch to something more soothing. You can't fight City Hall. You can't change the World. It's somebody else's problem. You don't want to get involved. Not in my backyard! Daddy will walk out. Mommy might start drinking again. And my God, what would the neighbors think?
These are but a few thoughts running through my mind at the precise moment I forced a nervous bank clerk to fill the bag. One could smell her fear...or was that something else entirely? The instant realization that her shopping days were over. It was almost necessary to remind her---the bank had insurance, she did not. What loyalty could such an oversight instill?
Very little I assure you, there was a gleam in her eye. As if to communicate---take me with you.
Maybe diamonds are a girl's best friend, but right now I can live without both. A gym bag full of cash and the sight of smartass suburbanites kissing marble is enough inspiration. Thank you.
None of those good citizens care about anything but themselves. The men had no chivalry. A sea of white shirts pissing their pants. I've seen more courage in a baby nursery. The magazines say women want romance. I say they want these gutless gold-card holders with little alligators on their shirts.
Women know romance is a fantasy sold by women with the exact same gripes. A man like me, wavering a gun around, is probably more excitement than any of these ladies will see in their boring bedrooms.
The police arrived at a bank swarming with shaken but unharmed customers. The entire bunch much too impatient for questioning. They're all eager to race home and share a sexy crime story with a friend in front of the nightly news.
I fairly divided the money between my three assistants. Two underpaid bank guards and a single mother: three victims of the American Dream. I'm still amazed to find believers in this fairy tale. But such is life in the land of the free.
I have a young child to feed and a naive woman who expects an island paradise will guarantee happiness. If only she weren't the mother of my child. If only I could explain to her the wicked ways of the world. If only the rent were as sunny as that island paradise I wouldn't mind believing in myself.
The Brown Ones
Today I squashed another brown body against my English book ruining the brown bag book cover. I quickly scraped off the twisted legs and thick fluid with a white cardboard from yesterday's Twinkie package before my friends discover. I don’t need the headache.
Roach spray is not helping matters. I think these frigging beasts get high on it. Laughing all the way to their nests. Millions reveling in Evolution's triumph. Makes me want to find Darwin and smack the shit out of him. But he's a hundred years dead and I've only killed about forty roaches today. Not nearly enough to guarantee peace of mind.
Exterminator's normally do the trick. Mass-murderers even your mother could love. Yet who has the money? That jerk pig of a landlord doesn't care. In fact, when his exterminator stops by the roaches sense danger and rush down to my place. Safe in knowledge that a poor boy with a big book can't possibly pose a threat to their brood. They reproduce better than a copy machine.
Last week my great plan fell through. Call me naive; call me a silly city boy wishing the best. Figured I offer to clean up the exterminator's shop, answer a phone or two, and maybe just maybe the owner would spray my place as payment for services rendered. Fat chance---my simple proposal was obscenely rejected. He gave me the finger.
Business was booming but I still couldn't get the exterminator to help me out. Must be my background. He deals with rats as big as cats without breaking a sweat. Yet Puerto Ricans are a threat to national security. The guy's in fear for his life. Let me remind you, buddy, good chance my family has been living longer in America than yours. You might want to look that up if you can actually read. Dirt bag.
I'd rather not face this bug-infested reality. Too many of my friends are diving head first into dope. The room spins and produces roach-free fantasies every kid on the block wants to believe in. I want to believe in them too. I believe so much that I am willing to live with degrading comments. Live with the fear that a roach or two might have stowed away in my school bag ready and willing to jump ship and streak across the classroom floor. Bringing loathing, embarrassment and explanations I'm too tired to lie about or too pissed off to tell the truth about.
I'd rather not face this roach-ravaged reality. But I must. Dope doesn't agree with my English aspirations. Nor my roach problem. I don't need any more problems. Plus, I see the truth without the help of funny smelling smoke: the only browns
succeeding on this block are the roaches. Teachers know this. So, do