Starting tomorrow, we’ll be officially publishing the first “arc” of Kentucky Meat Shower. “A Prophet of His Own” consists of three Kentucky Meat Shower issues. The first two issues, #24 and #26, have been published on Substack, and will be publishing on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.
Issue #27 will be debuting on Kittysneezes.
“A Prophet of His Own” is a reflexive self-portrait. It’s about attempting to understand my life using all the critical tools I’ve developed over the last 32 years by writing about specific ways I’ve been a Richmonder, from a freshman to a student in crunch to a library worker. Instead of writing autofiction, I’ve taken this tact.
#24 is entitled “Lonesome, Alienated, and Mean: An Interpretative Essay on Appalachian Reality”. It’s about how I came to Richmond, and what I missed from home, and how I think there’s a certain way I view the world based on how I grew up. It includes an essay on The Louvin Brothers “This Christian Life”.
#26 is entitled “Ceaseless Tides and Uneven Development” is about finals week, how finals introduces students to “speed up” and “crunch”, about how VCU continued to develop the area around Monroe Park, and why I don’t like burrito bowls. Includes writings on “Eat Y’rself Fitter” by the Fall. Barely.
#27 is entitled “Et In Golgotha Ego”. It’s about friends I’ve had and lost while working for the city. No song essay. It debuts on Wednesday.
These are tone poems of dark blues and blacks, the color of the world as viewed from an empty lot at 2am. You can only understand if you’ve been up so late you heard the birds wake up.
From this point forward, most, if not all issues of Kentucky Meat Shower will conform to “arcs”. I’ve always had an interest in the long form but serialized documentaries of Jon Bois and Adam Curtis. This is akin to that: using the natural advantages afforded to you by taking your time with a subject to create something with greater meaning.
I do not know what the next arc will be, and probably won’t know until I write several issues. I have two ideas, and they’re both very exciting.
My advice is to read these issues, one day after another. I didn’t create a murder investigation spider web (I probably should have, frankly) when I wrote this, but I did write a trilogy.