Issue #13 is on the street
Graffiti is Eugene’s community creative writing and art zine. You write it (or draw it) and send it in. If we accept it (and we accept almost everything), we either post it on this website or print it and distribute it to coffeehouses, pubs, markets, bookstores, and other cool places around town! See the list of locations. That’s all there is to it.
SUBMISSIONS
Email them to: graffitieugene@gmail.com. If you have hardcopy art, please scan it as a jpeg and email it to us. If you don’t have a scanner, go to the public library and ask the nice librarian how to use theirs.
Note that we don’t edit. What we accept we publish as-is, warts and all. The current issue will always be available only in print, but here you can read past issues, as well as work that didn’t make it into the paper (posted below).
Thanks for your support and participation! Donations are always appreciated (it costs $600 to print each issue!). Send us your life savings and love letters via PayPal (graffitieugene@gmail.com), Venmo (@GraffitiEugene), or old-fashioned cash or check (Graffiti, 1292 High St. #129, Eugene, OR 97401). Thanks!
It’s Spring
The crocuses and the daffodils
are already out.
Then tulips shoot up in red and yellow.
Rhododendrons explode in pink and magenta.
Birds sing from the treetops in alto and soprano.
Fresh rains fall and cool breezes blow.
Sun breaks between showers.
A rainbow arches over the horizon.
White cloud masts drift
like brush strokes painting the sky
swirling in patches of blue.
After the last rain the sun comes back out
and the days grow warmer.
Poppies come to life showing off
their fiery orange blooms.
Iris petals unfold in rich deep purple.
It snowed in the mountains a few weeks ago
and it’s time to hit the trail soon.
The forests call and the river runs
strong and swift.
I’m ready to lift off
into the heavens
chase the moon
and float among the stars.
Tom Avery
Mom
by Charles Mattoon. "You carried me, I will carry you. / Shared blood circulates outside the womb, / survives the thinning wounds of fledgling cuts, distance, difference. / May the love to raise a child grow twofold / to assist a parent bowing back to the Source."
Words Kill
by maRco Elliott.
"The ongoing student protests and counter protests on campuses across the country show us that beyond the use of physical force, intimidation and arrests, another form of violence is at play."
Mantrayana
by Wes Hansen.
“So, you have these two events involving people jumping from tall structures and bouncing off of the pavement, that does seem significant. And the time between these events?”
A Tea Party Discourse
by Wes Hansen. "I’m just not mathematically inclined; quite the opposite, every equation is a war. I’m bleeding right now."
Why Change?
by fredX. "Why change? It affects everything: your job, your relationships—everything you are a part of. Why would you want the turmoil?"
How Philosophy Fails: A Brief Guide to Top Dogs in Modern Western Philosophy
by John Zerzan. "Theodor Adorno opens his magnum opus Negative Dialectics (1966) with 'Philosophy, which once seemed obsolete, lives on because the moment to realize it was missed.' ”
Nena Wapa Wapa: A Voice of Urban Art
by Diego López. "Nena Wapa Wapa, a prominent figure in the world of urban art, shares her journey from humble beginnings to creating an artistic universe that transcends the city walls."
Gamma Ray: Bloody: Gamma Ray
by Wes Hansen. "They ran from the bloody scene, two rebellious lovers left over from the brethren war. They had received the directions for the ritual from the wise old wizard reading from an oracle – ancient Egyptian bones."
The Curious Case of the Sheep Who Thought He Was a Cow
by Rene Tihista. "These days there’s a lot of conflict, hand wringing, puzzlement and outrage about the various sexual identity issues currently riling up our dyspeptic society. One of these disputes concerning what has become known as LBGTQ issues, is usually confined to humans. However, though not widely known, issues of gender identity are not exclusive to H. Sapiens."
The Decline of the West
by Jim Smith. "The West includes the five white eyes; United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, plus the European Union, and Israel. They’ve been down so long they don’t know which way is up."
The Search for the Scenic: Travel in the Age of Tourism
by Stephen Slater. "Tourism, like the society that gives rise to it, has a remarkable inescapability. Although it is undeniable that tourism would not exist without tourists, it is equally undeniable, and in fact more revealing, that people become tourists because of tourism."
Deih Freestyler: Strategies to be Free
by Diego López. "DEIH draws inspiration from various sources, from European comics of the 80s (I can vouch for all the times we met in comic stores) to the colors of Guatemala and Japanese animation. His work reflects a fusion of influences, with his love for science fiction, narrative, and exploration of philosophical issues being evident."
Bouncing Betty
by Wes Hansen. “In every life there are these defining episodes, like chaotic attractors that suck you in and determine your entire trajectory. Due to consciousness, humans, and sometimes animals, can escape, but it requires a heroic act; some people call it Turning the Witches Wheel. You see, I am a curioso.”
Irregular Heart Functioning
by Al Fry. "Most of us begin to clog up our heart's plumbing system early through consuming the usual processed foods & acid forming favorites like sugar & meat."
When Cousins War on Each Other
by Jim Smith. "It happens in the best of families. Siblings don’t speak to each other for years, or file suits against each other. But now, nations of related peoples are fighting each other."
Tales from the Inner Earth
by A.E.D. Sideen. "A man clad in wolf furs and bronze armour hops into a chariot with a Druid clad in white and red with a crown of regal oak. In his hand he holds a spear that feels like a thunderbolt with which to smite his enemies in vengeance. Truly an awesome feeling."
Nightmare
by Riman. "A man with red hair broke into my house. He tried the back door first, as my father always leaves the garage open on summer days where the sun is scorching hot enough to turn it into an easy bake oven. I thought the man was there to kill me, so I begged my father to get one of his guns."
My Brush with the NSA
by Stephen Slater. "It was the National Security Agency or a similar entity that had intercepted the e-mails, headed by an Allen Dulles-like creep with an unlimited budget and a unquenchable desire to inflict maximum damage on America’s enemies."
My Sweet Valentine
by Wes Hansen. "Six different metallics, / silver, cobalt, copper hue – / piss jars of ethylene art sense – / viper blue, canary yellow, paliochrome orange – / aromatic flayed hood pattern scrambler /
ephemeral."
Vitamins and Minerals
by Al Fry. "We humans have now come to the point we need to change our methods of nourishing ourselves or face destroying ourselves."
Exploring the Depths of Vision: Black, Bardo, and Guarda Inspired Paintings
by Jerry Ross. "Art is often a reflection of the artist’s inner world. That has certainly been true for me in recent months, as I find myself grappling with the challenge of semi-blindness."
The Lost Vibratory Secrets
by Al Fry. "In the last decades before Atlantis sank, they had technology that surpassed what we have now in many ways. I happened to run across a couple of people who had some recall of their former lives there & knew of the technology."
Flashlight Men
by James Otter. "On a night of restlessness / Cans of Cobra and 4 loko spill down a dirty white wooden stare case / Friends and strangers passed out in a living room / moans and thoughtful whispers reverberate in the hallways of motels"
Beware the Silent Places
by James Otter. "Conversing about the little things / sharing my day with every stranger / I encounter / They don’t always like what I have to say / when will they figure it out / The quiet places are haunting grounds"
How Life Streams Fit Together
by Al Fry. "It is obviously our good fortune to have a GOD that enjoys creating things and allowing us the same privilege on the levels we reside."
The Beekeeper
by Wes Hansen. "My true name – my Medicine name, / is Walks With Turtle. / And if, one day, someone were to inquire, / tell them I just came to see the garden, / but they told me there is no room here / for thorns."
The Globalization of Violence and Hate
by Herbert J. Weiner. "The recent crisis in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas caps the invasion of Ukraine, wars in Northern Africa and its continent, conflict in Southeast Asia, the rise in anti-Semitism and racism, increase in crime and shootings, political and economic polarization, the rise in authoritarian governments and the threat to democracy, even in Scandinavia, a region of social democracy."
After Hours: A Cinematic Vegas Horror Story
by Connor Mayhue. "On March 20th, 2020, the world shutdown due to the Covid-19... No other album from this decade perfectly demonstrates the mood and struggles for the world like “After Hours” by The Weeknd, released on the same day as the world shutting down."
The Empathy Examination
by Anna Rosé. "To the residents of Earth, Halley’s Comet is just a giant rock hurtling through space and leaving streaks of light in its wake. But not to the Zephyrians, who have been keeping patrolled watch on Halley’s Comet, Earth and the inhabitants thereof since Neanderthals came to be."
Concrete Nouns
by Call Me Cross. "Concreteness, nouns, / How do I beat this? / Have to write this poem, lots of things to write down. / You build a poem with nouns, / And a house with concrete."
Pull My Funger
by Clayton S.
Commune à Tea
by Jeff Southwick. "Tea leaf, fragments swimming, in my cup, you cannot, just make this stuff up, but- perhaps using a better filter will- clear up, this problem with my extracted product."
Markets and Money
by Ulitka Krasnyy. "A man I know once said, “Capitalism was a good seed that became corrupted over time.” In this essay I am going to examine whether markets (the first seed of capitalism) and money (the second seed of capitalism) are truly good seeds."
Pilgrim Bay
by Leo Rivers. "One night the fog rolled in and drew a curtain across the Stars. And as I continued my meditation at the Attic Window the cyclops Moon, as if covered by a cataract, looked balefully back through the fog at me, sitting at my chair at my desk with my pen laid down beside the pad."
The Bitter Billionaire
by Myka Mckinney. "When he revealed himself to be a billionaire, I was certainly impressed but otherwise unintimidated, as most of my patrons are of substantial means. My wealth of artistic talent has always given me the feeling of being equal, if not superior in most ways."
Remastered
by Myka McKinney. "Wealthy, handsome and spoiled, with an attitude that makes it easy to dismiss his finer features, Andrew Taylor Scott gazes through the French-lace sheers that filter the afternoon sunlight, casting delicate shadows across his all-white bedroom carpet and silk duvets."
Untitled
by DeBobby Ross. "It is a cool Oregon morning and for Hailey, war is about to begin. She is skilled. Her father, a former Sheriff, taught her how to hit a mark."
My First Kiss
by Frank Harper. "The summer of 1967 I was 17 years-old living in San Jose, California when I finally had a chance to go on my very first date. The Santa Clara County Fair was going on and I thought that was the best place to take Diane on a very warm Friday evening."
Boo Saves the Day
by Sara Blakey. "Many years have gone by, but I remember my seven-year-old self waking up mad thinking Dill had kicked me. But Dill was nowhere around. A branch jabbed into my bare bug-bitten leg. My worn shorts were no protection against the night air and an awful fear overwhelmed my simmering pique."
The Picnic, 1847
by Eden Omari. "Jimmy Carver and Lester Franklin wasn’t no regular boys growing up as sharecroppers or son and grandson of great men in the not southern, but southern acting, town of Oakfield. Between the two, they knew all of the towns people secrets, which was easy to know when they were fetched and made to stand around and the masters and mistresses act like you don’t understand English."
Journal Envoyed
by Howard Falk. "Already a bad dream about a pre-scheduled evening meal with a lady had me as its hostage. No one ever issues AMBER alerts about kidnapped imaginations.
Arriving at the lady’s residence, I encountered her posing at the front door. As I handed the bouquet of flowers to her, she asked me.
“Which coffin did I steal them from?”