Mike Topp

 

 

CAR

I struggled with the steering wheel, trying to keep the car on the road. Which safety system had failed? Probably the AEB, unless it was the FCW, AES or the LKA. Maybe the RCTW? To add to my problems, the car was emitting noxious gas, ticking like a bomb & cursing like a sailor.

 

TITANIC

The cops caught up to me on the Titanic. When they started shooting I ducked behind the captain. I mean he was going to die anyway, right? As it turned out he wasn’t much of a shield. While the cops were arguing with Leonardo DiCaprio & historians, I ran back to the time machine.

 

THE FLYING NUN

I asked him if flying nuns ever existed. He said no and showed me a bunch of equations to prove it. I ran the numbers a couple of times and they checked out. So I guess flying nuns never existed. But sometimes, when I’m alone in my room with the lights out, I wonder if they did.

 

THE BALLOON BUILDING

Why was Jeff Koons chosen as architect? His buildings were dangerous, stupid & surprisingly inexpensive to construct for something so stupid. Take the Balloon Building which, within three weeks, kept slowly getting smaller & losing its shape, until finally somebody stepped on it.

 

DALLAS

One of the cops saw me at the Texas School Book Depository building & yelled at me to get out of here. Police only. I was about to tell him I had a perfect right to be here because I was JFK’s assassin. But I decided it would be wiser to remain silent. I’d let him win this round.

 

 



Mike Topp was born in Washington, D.C. and currently lives in New York City unless he has died or moved. He's recently been published in the Brooklyn Rail, HAD and X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine, and has been interviewed by Ben Niespodziany. He has collaborated on books with Sparrow and Raymond Pettibon.