
Model: @ropemuse
Photographer: @shotbybaker







Model: @ropemuse
Photographer: @shotbybaker
Nobody bothers to look when I crack open a beer.
They should. It is, after all,
a student library.
I’m here to gain some knowledge,
a celebratory feeling
better than fretting because
I’ve already flunked out
and tasted walking in straight lines.
Beer though, that’s a source
of inspiration abused
outside of academia;
the DNA to the pillars of libraries.
It takes courage to do what you love.
And so I do.
The day crumbles and fails
and we’re half-assed Christs
nailed to the cross
of whatever’s left of things.
We drink beer in the Tenderloin
grimace beneath the sun.
The Great American Loneliness
drips from the walls of the sad hotels
where the poets fuck and die
and the latest thing
we thought would save us
we burnt through it in a day.
There’s a guy with a boombox
strapped to his bicycle playing
music from another world
where you could still imagine
something other than
the dreariness at hand.
There’s a man on a corner
leaning on the liquor store
he’s got enough losing tickets
scattered at his feet
to build some kind of kite or boat
and get the hell away from here.
It was a slow day in Hog City, at least it was until Mickey Finster ran into the Sheriff’s office.
“Sheriff Clapp. Come quick! There’s trouble over at the whorehouse!”
Fortunately, Sheriff Clapp had already finished butt fucking his deputy and had already been in the process of zipping up his fly.
“What’s wrong?” He asked.
“There’s been a major burglary,” shouted Finster. “And the crook’s done been seen making off with the goods.”
Clapp hustled across the street to McMurty’s Saloon and Pleasure House. It was the only house of ill repute around for over fifty miles. It and the railway emergency coaling station were the only things that kept Hog City going.
Sheriff Clapp entered through the swinging doors. He eyed the bar. There was the usual selection of drunk cowboys and professional gamblers. He went over to Sam, the bartender, who told him to go upstairs to see Miss Felicia.
As he climbed the stairs, he could hear Miss Felicia crying, “A three hunert dollar investment gone, just like that.”
The sheriff found Miss Felicia in a small room containing not much more than a bed and a stand for a wash basin. Miss Felicia had been put out to pasture as a whore after a thirty years in the sporting life. She had taken what little she had, turning tricks where and when she could until she scraped up enough money to buy into the saloon as a partner. Her role was finding and managing the whores. Now, Miss Felicia sat on the bed, all three hundred pounds of her. Tears had made her make up run in blue streaks down her face. Her gray hair, tinged with henna, seemed to have collapsed from its normal tower on her head into a tangle running down her back.
“What’s wrong Miss Felicia?” Sheriff Clapp asked.
Miss Felicia’s eyes brightened. “Thank goodness you are here. Billy Hodges done stole Nancy Jenkins right out the window. The two of them climbed down bed sheets and rode off on Billy’s horse.”
Sheriff Clapp was thunderstruck. “He did what?”
He knew Billy Hodges. He was a young layabout, a sometime cow puncher and farmhand, would be gambler, and outlaw wannabe. He’d expected Billy to wind up more or less on the right side of the law most of the time, and finish his days respectfully, drunk in the gutter just like his father. This was a big step for Billy Hodges, and Sheriff Clapp wasn’t sure he liked it. Nancy Jenkins was the youngest and best looking whore at McMurty’s, making her the youngest and best looking whore around for more than fifty miles around. This did not set well with Sheriff Clapp. Without Nancy Jenkins around, how would he while away his Sunday afternoons? He had just gotten her to the point where the last bit of girlish squeamishness was gone, and she would let him indulge in any activity he fancied with her, even three ways with his horse or deputy. Without her, the next best whore was Wallpaper Sally, but Sheriff Clapp didn’t like the scabs on Sally’s cunt. They scratched his cock when he slid it in to her. She’d pick’em if a customer complained, to make things slide in easier, but that didn’t make the ride any more appealing to some folks, Sheriff Clapp included. But, Clapp couldn’t let his own feelings affect the way he did his job. At least not now, while he was in town. Anyone could be listening.
“How do you know,” Clapp asked. “that Nancy was stolen? Er, kidnapped. Sounds like she might have gone with Billy of her own accord.”
“It’s all the same,” Miss Felicia said. “Either Billy stole her or she stole herself. Either way my property is gone and so is my livelihood.”
“You can’t own a person,” Clapp said. “We fought a war about that.”
“Don’t give me that crap,” Miss Felicia shouted. “This ain’t no person. This is a whore. I know whores. I’ve been one near all my life. Whores just can’t up and go as they please. They is owned by the madam or the whore master. They can kiss the cock or kiss the whip, but they ain’t going nowhere unless their pimp or madam says so. Nancy has three more years on her contract with me, and it says right in there time is added on to work off her food, clothing, and medical expenses, plus and extra two years for every time she tries to run off.”
“Nancy signed a contract?”
“I’ve got a paper with her X on it.”
“Sounds like breach of contract. I don’t know if that is for me to look into, but I’ll find her to see if she went off on her own or was kidnapped.”
“Stolen,” Miss Felicia corrected him.
Sheriff Clapp left the saloon. He knew well enough what Nancy and Billy looked like, and had a fair idea where they’d be heading. He figured they would be looking for a preacher or a way out of the county, or possibly going to hole up together in the old Hodges’ cabin. That was if Nancy had gone away on her own. If not, Billy might be off raping and killing her if he’d lost his mind. If he was smart, Billy might be taking her to sell to another whorehouse or to work the streets for him in a city. But, Sheriff Clapp didn’t think Billy was that crazy or that smart. He was just dumb enough to fall in love with a whore, or think he could save her.
On the street Old Man Fletcher ran up to Clapp. “I just heard about Nancy,” Fletcher said. “You gotta get her back. She has these lips, they’re almost prehensile. She wraps them around your cock and…” Fletcher stopped himself, as if suddenly thinking this wasn’t the right thing to say. “Listen,” he continued. “You have to get her back. The economy of this whole town is dependent on that whorehouse, and without Nancy, there are really no whores there worth having. No Nancy, no whorehouse. No whorehouse, no town. You gotta bring her back.”
Clapp said he’d do what he could do. He had a lot of respect for Fletcher. After the war, Clapp had come west. He’d tried work as a cowboy and as a rustler. He’d worked laying track, and robbing trains. There had been no job he really liked or was good at. The only talent he had was with a gun. Fletcher saw something in him. He had given him a chance as a hired gun guarding his small bank. And later, with Fletcher’s influence, Clapp had been made sheriff of Hog City. The job had got him respect, and a home. Without it, he’d have never met his wife Hilda, or gotten the chance to start a family. Law or no law, Clapp had a lasting debt to Fletcher that he meant to pay back. He would bring back Nancy. He saddled his horse.
He called to his deputy, “If I’m not back with her by sundown tomorrow, get a pussy, er, posse, and come lookin’.”
Sheriff Clapp road out of town. Both his pistols were loaded. A rifle lay across the pommel of his horse. Billy’d probably put up a fight, which was okay by him. Likely the boy would be lynched if Clapp brought him back to town alive. He never liked selfish folk. Nancy was the best lookin’ and best fuckin’ woman in these parts, There weren’t a man or boy around who wouldn’t kill to get his share of her. The nerve of that boy. He checked Hodges’ place. They weren’t there. So he road off towards Johnny Blog’s homestead. Blog had been a preacher in his younger days, before he discovered the joys of whiskey and fucking sheep. Might be that Billy and Nancy had sought out Blog for a quick wedding.
Blog was in the barn with his pants down when Clapp rode up. Blog’s hands were full with the back legs of a ewe. Clapp called to him.
“Just a minute,” Blog shouted. “I’m almost done.”
Clapp waited patiently for the man to finish. Blog came out of the barn, his overalls were back on. He was wiping his hands on a rag. “Thanks for waiting. Had to tenderize some meat before it goes to market. What can I do for you Sheriff? Been a long while since you been out these parts.”
“Lookin’ for a thief. Billy Hodges done run off with Nancy Jenkins.”
“Why that lying bastard. He was here not an hour ago. Said he bought her fair and square. I didn’t think he had that kind of money, but he said he had a real good hand at poker.”
“He was here? An hour ago? What did he want?”
“What ya think? He wanted me to hitch him to Nancy. I said sure, for five dollars. He didn’t have five dollars. So I said, okay, how’s two. He didn’t have two. So I said, Nancy’s a hard working girl who knows a lot of tricks. Why don’t the two of you get naked with me and some of the sheep and y’all can work it off. He cursed me out somethin’ fierce and told me they’d ride down to the old Spanish mission and look up the old priest there who works with the injuns.”
“Thanks for the information.” Clapp tipped his hat and spurred his horse.
Blog shouted after him, “Bring her back! We need a piece of ass like that around here.”
It was dark when Sheriff Clapp reached the mission. He could see candle light in the church. He rode straight up to the door and burst through on his horse. The priest looked up in surprise. His cassock was up around his waist exposing his hairy legs and long thin cock. He was standing over Nancy who was naked on all fours giving him head while Billy did her ass.
“Madre Dios!” the priest screamed and pulled down his cassock.
“You done already?” Nancy growled.
Billy whirled around reaching for his gun, but Sheriff Clapp drilled a hole in his chest.
“Now why’d you do that?” Nancy screamed. “You coulda had some if you just waited.”
“Murderer!” the priest said pointing at Clapp, so the sheriff plugged him too. He never liked papists.
“You’re comin’ with me Nancy. Hog City needs you.”
He pulled the naked girl onto his horse and road back out of the church. He fucked her three times on the way back to town, once while they were still riding.
Clapp apologized to Nancy for ruining her wedding. She didn’t seem too upset.
“I didn’t know how boring he was until I had to spend all day with him,” she explained. “Guess its for the best. I’d probably have run off on him in a week or two anyway.”
“Well, I’ll see that you get back safe where you belong, at McMurty’s, where we all love and care about you.”
“That’s sweet,” she said and gave him a hug.
Clapp felt another hard-on coming on, but it would have to wait. His cock was feeling sore now, it burned when he peed and a milky substance was leaking out from the tip. He dropped Nancy off at McMurty’s. Miss Felicia gave her a good whipping and let him watch. It made his heart feel good. When he got home, he poured himself a tall glass of whiskey and soaked his cock in it. Later, he drained the glass and was ready to meet the world again.

Born in Catanzaro, Italy, Claudio Parentela (1962) is a painter, illustrator, photographer, cartoonist, collagist, mail artist and freelance journalist. Active many years in the international contemporary art scene, he has collaborated with many zines, magazines of contemporary art, literary publications and comics from Italy and around the world. His obscure and crazy artworks have been showcased in many galleries. For a full listing of his appearances and publications, please see his website at https://ilrattobavoso.altervista.org.













CONTACT: claudioparentela@gmail.com
https://www.instagram.com/claudioparentela62/
https://www.facebook.com/claudio.parentela.1
the severed head of medusa flies through spheres
copy and pasted endlessly as screens show raped
words for fame
lick the hands of Dr. Mengele an iron taste
of human shame
the ratline ties a noose around my hopes
they suffocate but won’t die the invisible hand feeds it
substance for conscience
caged in by bones and teeth and scalps
resembling markets
in an absolute darkness the interior is superior
but the doors are shut
the lizard king drowns in the blood on the street
graveyards in Paris buried the best men
a shotgun blast through the mouth leaves a
generation dead what followed was trauma
art as dissociation a line was erased
irrational emotion and obligation
Eichmann reserved claiming innocence
as teenage girls sell sex for the prude
taste sweat and tears the salt of our wounds
I am a wound in Limbo the philosophers
have disappeared
evangelist radicals scream the truth the left ears
of listeners sown shut
a gaping fire pit of hate mistaken for a mouth
that doesn’t close
ants crawl on skin the cliche withdrawal the ants
are norms not created by fiending brains
my toes on acid they dig into the ground unable
to move as fish fly through the sky carrying
moral travelers
hyperbolic adjectives smack my brain
I cannot sleep
I awake to nightmares
HARD 2GET huffs up my neck, sharp
as the knife of the scribe who scrawledon the wall of Gomorrah, which he
smuggled to Avignon for Pope John
XXII (so smooth he could’ve
had him, in sissified Buddha-arm
sleeves), then headed to Southern
California to meet sex-addicted
hookers and their clients at the Lost
Oasis where he must’ve got his
knuckles tattooed like that.
“I’ll make you squirm like a
pig on the grill,” he said. Like a
girl on the pill, you heard—as much as
you’d like to have gone back in time,
just to say you won.
After-dinner swig. Krack. The bloody
edge of a black eye. You never knew
what you would learn, what you
must decide upon.
Your tears smell salty on his breath,
and his foul taste from the last over-
lubricated orgy will make
you cry even more. “I’ll take you
to the beach, where the brown sea and thrashed
sands’ll remind you of your insatiability.”
He says something to you about tanning
beds and cancer. You can’t concentrate.
Everything comes back to you: sprawling
naked on a barstool with your heart
hammering on your bladder as you tried
to remember what you’d been
researching at the library.
“…you want it in your fat beautiful
mouth before I put it in your fat ugly
broken heart? I’ll knock that whoreface out
of you with the force of a yellow firehose.
You’re fucked, now and forever. And if you ever
see me again, you’ll know exactly why. No
more advertising—it’s fucking time.
You’re gonna have to suck the
foaming top off of mine.”
On and on he went, little chains of
explosions and gallons and gallons of
concentrated fillips. When you’re fucking
that high, you can’t take pleasure in
just pleasure. You want to…you want…
to punish yourself. So you give
yourself to his manic jabber.
“You gotta give it all
to me. It’ll feel too good
to be true. But it will.
You don’t know much, but you
know that. A hooded creature with
keel-like teeth has taken your
heart away. Yeah—I can feel your
nova vigor ebbing. I see all your
wounds. You don’t know
who you are.”
It’s too much. The cracks in your
timeline start forming all over again.
Shadows strain to give birth to
the unknown in front of you from
the should-have-known
behind you.
when the two friends could no longer avoid the angry men with guns + atvs + leafblowers, they made their way to the gates of the walled city just before sundown and knocked on the small steel door to the side of the gates. a small slit opened. two eyes appeared in the slit, flicking under long lashes from one man to the other. —what do you want?! we dont allow straight white men!
—please, said one. we/re not like those others. he gestured behind them. —we/re hungry.
—are you jewish?
the man tilted his head slightly. —what?
—are you jewish? you look jewish.
—well, i mean, yes. secular though.
—thats fine. do you believe in israel?
—i/m sorry? believe?
the person behind the slit sighed. —believe in the right of return?
he shrugged. —i guess? i dont believe in the killing of palestinians tho. or their displacement, of course.
the eyes glared. —wrong answer. we dont take muslim extremists!
—im not muslim! i told, i/m athiest—
—we dont allow muslim extremist sympathizers! you/re either with us or against us!
—but…i just think the palestinians should me treated equally, like humans—
—sorry jew boy. jewish self-haters arent allowed!
—but—
—move along!
the first man stared at the glaring eyes for some seconds, then turned to his friends. —if you can still get in, do it! i/ll meet you somewhere!
—i/m not leaving you!
—no! the orange people are too close! theres no other way. its either/or!
—its never either/or!
—just do it! go!
the first man ran from his friend, away from the walled city towards the hills. his friends stared after him.
—straight white men not allowed! you may as well go after him!
the man turned to the glaring eyes. —but we—i—just want shelter. water. maybe a pizza?
—no straight white men. are you gay? closeted?
—uh….
—do you want to suck dick?
—excuse me?
—do you want to suck dick? fantasize about it?
—well, i mean, in certain fantasies. but i like women!
—too bad. are you bi? that counts.
—i mean, i have fantasies about being forced to wear womens underwear while my girlfriend laughs + has sex with a real man.
—cuckolds dont count. but are you trans?
—um, i dont know? i dont think so?
—are you a little bitch?
—i mean, maybe?
—do you feel like a little bitch in the presence of real men?
—maybe? but that doesnt make me a woman, does it?
—well, it doesnt make you a man.
—i guess thats true.
—we have a womens mountain mike race this weekend. if i let you in, you could sign up.
—oh, that wouldnt me fair. i mean, i/d sign up for the mens race.
—ah ha! i knew it! you are a man! your politics are so transparent!
—thats not politics. thats like, social issues.
—i knew it! cisgender male!
—what do you mean?! politics is about the exploitation of the working class!
—communist! socialist! anarchist! you/re like the dead white men you read!
—look, if you dont let me in, i will be dead! the conservative christians want to kill me because i/m not pro-life!
—if it wasnt for men like you, women wouldnt have to worry about abortions. get the fuck out of here!
—seriously?!
—seriously!
the slit closed. the man stared at it. he turned to the distant roar and dust cloud of atvs and leafblowers coming closer.
Misery is a blue mountain
And black water runs putrid
Along her sides.
The birds who nest along her walls
Smack their smudged wings together
And their birdsong is derisive laughter
And the word No.
The sun never appears.
The rain never arrives.
Her body is weeds and mud.
You will not smile
And you will not cry.
You will stare into her face
And she will not acknowledge you.
Helpless and immobile
Before this impossible blue mountain
With putrid black water
Gargling down always
Along her sick sides