GRASSHOPPER
By Zac Dunn
Art by Mark Mothersbaugh & Daniel Whittington
Published Issue 099, March 2022
Hounds tooth
Foaming at the mouth
A shiny briefcase
And a bad case
Of chronic halitosis
One foot in front
Of the other
Stepping over
The scorched earth
In your wake
A master of the universe
But utterly perverse
Fist full of dollars
Heart full of rocks
A smiling so bright
It makes you wanna
Feed it concrete
Behind giant craters of greed
Staring down the muzzle
Of a bazooka
In the name of vanity
And utter distain for the elderly
Not knowing who you are
Steaming ahead at full speed
Helming the Titanic
Captain my captain
We are doomed
The first mate exclaims
But there is no ship
No iceberg or Leo or Kate
No band playing as the
Bow slowly breaks
Women children first
The doors slam open
The people all stand up
The fog of the previous moment fades
Up flights and polished boxes
High into the sky
69th floor in the fore’
Ferragamo’s still wet from the rag
The face behind the desk
Sstands and ushers you in
The men are all there sitting
Sizing up the bag of bones
Brains, balls, blood and dastardly intent
That stands like a scarecrow
In a fallow field …
The work is never done
It can’t stop ever
A hand and voice call out
From far off across the
Mighty cherry expanse
Uttering some gibberish
And arithmetic
Blubbering about
Collateral damage
To the palm and the digits
Thrust brashly in said direction
Extending a one word extinguisher
NO
No one can stop this thing of ours
This crusade of conquest
This manifest of malicious destiny
Versus anyone and anything
Just as we put lead in the water
We will put the poison
back in the Kool-Aid
Dead silence
The old man looked confused
He grit his teeth and stood up
Slamming his boney rooker
Like a thunder clap
NO
No young man
How can you hear the grasshopper
At your feet?
When you cannot
Hear your own heartbeat?
Zac Dunn is a psycho-social mechanic, father, musician and dreamer. Check out his music and follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
Daniel Whittington is a Pennsylvania-born illustrator specializing in pencil and marker.
Mark Mothersbaugh is one of this era’s most unique and prolific composers. Deeply aware of the ability of precise, multi-faceted artistic expression to deliver vital social commentary, he has perpetually challenged and redefined musical and visual boundaries. Mothersbaugh co-founded influential rock group DEVO, and then parlayed his avant-garde musical background into a leading role in the world of scoring for filmed and animated entertainment, interactive media and commercials. As an award winning composer, his credits include Moonrise Kingdom, 21 Jump Street, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Enlightened, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and the hugely successful Rugrats television, stage and film franchise. Through his multimedia company, Mutato Muzika, Mark has scored hundreds of commercials. Mothersbaugh received the BMI Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at the organization’s 2004 Film/TV Awards. He can currently be seen as the art teacher on the hit television series, Yo Gabba Gabba! See more of his work on Instagram and his site.
Check out Zac’s February Birdy piece, GRAVY, and Mark’s installs, When He Fell Through The Trap Door, Then Everything Started Going WrongandWhere Do We Go From Here, or head to our Explore section to see more work by these artists.
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