It all happened so suddenly. But these things always do. I had volunteered with a church youth group because I knew how boring small town summers could get for a kid. And now I was to be a guest preacher one Sunday. No notice. No training. Just head up there and see what the Holy Spirit has to say. It went about as well as you might expect. A 20-minute Andy Kaufman meets Jesus bit that was recorded for those would couldn't make it. "The Building Decayeth" is why I've never ran for office with any atheist group. I know that tape will pop up in oppo research.
"The Building Decayeth"
In my teens I volunteered with the Youth Group at Rock Sink Baptist church in the First District area of Old Town, FL. A van traveled unmarked limerock roads picking up kids. During the long pre-Internet summers in rural Florida most were just happy to get out. The usual schedule of touch football and Little Debbies was disrupted with talk of a "Youthquake." The next Sunday service… 4 days away… would be run by us kids. I was selected to be the preacher. Asking for advice on how to prepare I was told that "the Spirit would guide my words…" What followed was 20 minutes of nervous laughter.
Fumbling through the Bible I read Ecclesiastes 10:18 (KJV) "By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through" to a few muted cries of "Amen." This ended my career as a Spirit-filled backwoods preacher. I was never asked to preach again. I did realize that in the future I should probably actually prepare as I was going to speak in public. #writing#poetry#memoir#SouthernGothic#florida
We're about a week out from the launch of a new comic – "Southern Gothic Children's Book." My stories paired with @BlunderBusted 's art. Everything looks great! From cover to the sticker-worthy incidental art. You'll be hearing more about all this soon. #comics#poetry#SouthernGothic#jacksonville#florida#frogs
A year ago I collaborated with @BlunderBusted on "More Snakes Than People." A Rural Gloom Graphic Novel. My Southern Gothic Realism paired with Nick's Gothic Surrealism. It went well! Readings, Fests, and Interviews. An Amazon #1. But I've got a lot of stories. And Nick's Art makes them look great. So we're doing another! A comic that won't skimp on the Southern granny talk – "My grandmother used to complain about anything decorated with a skull. Said it was evil. This mostly stopped as I reminded her of the skull inside her own head." #comics#writing#poetry#books#SouthernGothic#florida
I've not been sharing much of my most recent #Art online as I've mainly been working on #comic strips and I don't want to give the plot away ... but here's a single panel page I did today for the #ConjureMan Swampblood comic written by #DrBobCurran
WIKI
In 2002, Johnny Cash covered "Hurt" to commercial and critical acclaim. The related music video is considered one of the greatest of all time by publications such as NME. Reznor praised Cash's interpretation of the song for its "sincerity and meaning", going so far as to say "that song isn't mine anymore".
I grew up on the banks of the Suwannee in a very rural Dixie County, FL. Dixie County is a real place. It only sounds like a Faulknerian construct. I share short "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"-like stories now on how the bookish might pass time in that Southern Gothic setting. Record myself reading them as Spoken Word albums. Self publish books via Amazon. www.ruralgloom.com I live and work in Jacksonville, FL. #introduction#WritingCommunity#writing#SpokenWord#SouthernGothic#RuralGloom#FlashMemoir