Exterminating Angel Press

Creative Solutions for Practical Idealists.

Sean Murphy.

Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse.

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by Sean Murphy.

You want to make a living?
Go into accounting.

Want to be around lots of money?
Work in a bank.

(Want to have a bunch of money
And not work especially hard?)
Rob a bank.

Want to make a living as an artist?
Give the people what they want.

Want to make the art you need to make?
Burn all the boats and don’t look back.

Want security and peace with your decisions?
Good luck.

It’s not imperative that you suffer
Or struggle with your work,
or hate yourself and everyone
else in order to make things work.

But there’s a solitary reason
so many of our best artists go insane
or seldom have a moment of peace.

And it’s the same situation across centuries:
possessing unshakeable faith in yourself

Even as everything you know turns away
in amusement or disgust,
and every sign sent from God—
or all the anonymous men
who control the keys to the vaults—
tells you it’s never going to happen
you still have faith
in something that outlives forever after.

Summer 1980.

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by Sean Murphy. Who am I to speak of the dead or even dare to presume it’s my place to do so? Because I was there, aware —even at ten—this was something nobody would ever forget. An era when news was on the news, and word of mouth, always the best way to convey everything […]

Countervailing Forces.

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by Sean Murphy. An email, an angry thought, a meditation, a prayer; ill-will directed toward those who thrive on the perpetuated misery of those accommodating it. A severed friendship, letters to the editor, a withholding of affection, a refusal to smile mutely while the usual suspects recite talking points from pundits. Do you ponder that […]

Gen X Exegesis.

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by Sean Murphy. How else can our resilience be explained except by the video games we played— the early ‘80s offering us invaders from space on screen and nuclear apocalypse everywhere else (except when we were asleep, and that’s the lesson we learned, cable TV our textbook: death never rests), so even when you’re staying […]

Contraband.

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by Sean Murphy. One night just after counting my tips I stole an entire chocolate torte from the walk-in, absconding to the roof of the restaurant for a late-night snack. Predictably, I felt immediate regret: not only had I effectively robbed my place of employment, but worse, betrayed a friend. Kathy, in addition to being […]

On This Day in History, 4877 B.C.: Universe is created, according to Kepler.*

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by Sean Murphy. When it came to physics—to name only one subject, there was no saving me, long on imagination, lacking in discipline and so much else— it’s with some humility that I recall dispirited high school teachers serving up pearls before my swinish eyes, me preoccupied with anything other than savoring the ways knowledge […]

In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing.

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by Sean Murphy. We’re going to discover some things. For starters: who was paying attention to the long-suffering flight attendant when she went through the motions of how to go through the motions of dying? We’ll see who screams first, who covers their eyes, and who gives two shits about the well-being of anyone but […]