DESTROYER AND PRESERVER

John Prine died yesterday, and I keep listening to “Hello in There.” I’ve been thinking also of a microfiction, from my novel Never Mind the Beasts, forthcoming from Dostoyevsky Wannabe next month, entitled “Destroyer and Preserver.” “Destroyer and Preserver” was written in Madrid in 2016, near La Elipa metro stop. It was my first year in Madrid, and Spain in general, and it was a very windy day. The rats were scuttling behind the dumpsters and some older couples were linking arms leaning into the wind. Transience. Change. Growing old. The future is in the wind.

Here is a performance of “Destroyer and Preserver,” part of an album collaboration with the U.K. musician, artist, and writer Stephen Emmerson.