There is something for the common writings. i have written this piece as
a tribute to uncle bill, william s. burroughs... it is a cut up of
passages taken from two burroughs biographies, "yage letters" by
burroughs & ginsberg, and a book about adult mortality in the western
world. i put this piece together today in the state library.
Sam

El Hombre Invisible got to be such a nuisance I finally had to kill him:
It is the idea of Death that appeals... His work has had considerable
influence on the more literate end of rock and roll, and his imagery has
filtered into the modern cinema... Burroughs is the man who saw the
abyss and came back to report on it - Burroughs, el hombre invisible...
death rates have declined more or less continuously during the twentieth
century... (No wonder food prices are high)... ‘What did he do’ ‘Well,
he did something.’... ‘How do you know you’re not dead already?... If
you see everything as an illusion, everything is permitted. If you
really want to do it, then it’s the right thing. That’s the point.’
‘Isn’t that an amoralist point of view?’ ’Oh yes... I do what I can.
It’s obvious that what you want to do is, of course, eventually what you
will do anyway. Sooner or later.’... He’s an old character that guy,
making coffee at Franklin Street, I finally had to kill him... I don’t
mean shoot him. I’d give him a chance. I’d say: "You’d better get out of
here quick." He didn’t have fuckall backing him up, he was just all
alone there trying to be smart. People have attacked me. I beat the
other person hands down. He’s causing me trouble, I said, "Don’t like ya
and I don’t know ya and now my God I’m gonna show ya!" Because I hadda get out of that, man. I hadda get out of that situation. He said, "If
one man refuses to believe all this crap, that liberates everyone from
it." Yes, everything’s back to normal... I’m just checking things out,
seeing what’s going on. I basically knew something was wrong, so I
stayed over on intuition. Everything is OK, I suppose, in case this all
just worries you unnecessarily... I remember your saying watch out whose
vision you get - but God knows I don’t know who to turn to finally when
the Chips are down spiritually and I have to depend on nothing and enter
anew - but enter what? Death?... The obvious question is: are these
efforts effective? Agent Lee still has a strong influence on writers,
artists, filmmakers, musicians... Who is dying, Bill? I AM DYING,
MEESTER? INTO SHIT FOREVER? THERE IS NO WORD TO FEAR...

Sam Birbeck, 1 July 1998
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