4581 Asclepius

The second of my track-by-track looks at Future Ghosts

 

 

another twilight

put through the human thresher

 

wine

laughter

 

the peaked meat

of matter

 

how many remain?

how much longer?

 

night pushes open the door

leers and sharpens knives

 

we run from sight

across london fields

 

you're holding your own hand

not mine

 

i down beer

at the speed of starlight

 

sirens but there's ever sirens

epiphanies but there's ever epiphanies

 

 

Musically, this draws on the Logos tracks Anhedoniac and [#], which were created at the time of Shamania and were at one point scheduled to appear on that album. Both were amongst the half-a-dozen or so tracks that I dropped when streamlining Shamania from the 4+ hour epic it at one stage was, and into a more manageable two hours. At one point Ahnedoniac was available as a free download from the Logos website, and no doubt at some point in the future I'll put it up again. [#] remains unreleased in any form, aside from the except included here as coda.

 

Why the title? 4581 Asclepius is an Apollo asteroid and near Earth object; upon its discovery in March 1989, it was noticed that it had just passed through an exact point in space occupied by Earth six hours previously, meaning that our planet was separated from a 600 megaton-equivalent collision by a mere six hours. As a title, it seemed apt; drinking and fretting and fucking while world-killers glide silently about us.

 

As with the rest of Future Ghosts, all the text to this track originally appeared, on the dates it was written, on my Twitter feed, in the late autumn and winter of 2013. I don't think any of it requires explanation, though would make the following comments:

 

"another twilight put through the human thresher" - See The Conspiracy Against The Human Race by Thomas Ligotti.

 

"the peaked meat of matter" - When first written, this was 'the peaked meat of starlight', which I think is a better line, but I changed it due to the repeat of 'starlight' when putting the separate fragments into one text.

 

"i down beer at the speed of starlight" - See my text Belong. The rate at which I could once sink beer, when set to it, was startling. This is not a positive quality. 

 

"sirens but there's ever sirens" - Throughout the 1990s and until 2005, I lived in New Cross in south London. Sirens were an ever aspect of the accustomed to and ignored background din.

 

"epiphanies but there's ever epiphanies" - See Philip K Dick - 'Took drugs. Saw god. BFD.'

 

Currently reading: The Berlin Bunker - James P O'Donnell

Currently listening: Talk Talk Talk - The Psychedelic Furs