Saturday, February 20, 2010

The Island


The Island before The Waggaists turned tourists away. Red flag and surf sign. And high over the beach the citadel, whose inner courtyard contains the chicken wire enclosure where Wilding is being held captive. Note the dark red bunker between two trees, far right. This nondescript structure has a door that leads deep inside the hill, where the Red K's scientists have been breeding Waggas with stonefish. 

The poetry wars are fast approaching. The passenger and vehicle ferry has been torched, its cable severed. The northern, ocean-facing beach (main photo) has been mined. Stonefish have been placed in the shallows all around The Island. Electric eels on long leads have been tethered to the river's marker bouys. Red streamers fly from the mangroves. Signs with UNLESS YOU'RE RED YOU'RE ROOTED and ORGANIC MISERY have been hammered to every tree. All access points to The Island are being patrolled by the Red K's pacifist vegan acolytes: many burned his books on the beach then fled, seeing his refusal to travel as a sign of betrayal. Many more remain, their glazed, red eyes fixed on the horizon. 

David W. Foster, glassing the coast in his Piper Aerostar, has reported seeing many vessels approaching from all directions. "An Armada of bleak intent" is how he described seeing ketches, tall-ships, bark canoes, jet-skis and game-fishing boats in tight formation.


A Waggaist on Night Watch

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