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  "slug": "elegy-for-al-the-plastic-clown",
  "title": "Elegy for Al / The Plastic Clown",
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  "author": {
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    "name": "Nick Cooper",
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  "issue": null,
  "publicationDate": "2013-07-20",
  "publicationYear": 2013,
  "sourceDateRaw": "July 20, 2026",
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    "Literature"
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    "photo by Eric Black Scriptonian Battles",
    "In the early hours of July 18, Al-Gene Pennison III, aka The Plastic Clown, died, having fallen from a friend’s balcony. A year ago, Al spoke about his funeral in a poem:",
    "THE FUNERAL POEM (excerpt)",
    "…at my funeral",
    "(after everyone watches me burn)",
    "I want an open bar",
    "& dancing in the streets",
    "my ashes in a golden vase",
    "& I want everyone to get so drunk",
    "that the urn gets lost",
    "& a one-eyed, one-armed",
    "toothless whore",
    "steals the vase for its gold",
    "but spills a spoonful",
    "of my ashes",
    "into her drink",
    "and becomes healed",
    "she grows back an eye",
    "she grows back an arm",
    "& all of her teeth",
    "& her way up high",
    "and firm little titties",
    "fill back out",
    "and she’s the best",
    "and most prosperous whore",
    "in the whole town",
    "His friends had these words for him:",
    "Clyde Richardson: H is poetry, just like the soiree of illusions was a mirror for us all to witness the horrid banality of faking it through this jaded world.",
    "Khloe Morris: Guess that he was honest, vulgar, and a true poet. ” your smile is my safety word” was my favorite line he had.",
    "Amanda Renee: To me, al was something of a cross between John Updike and g.g. Allin. Brutally and often uncomfortably honest, al had a beautifully macabre rawness that was alternately easy to misunderstand and to relate to. I’ve had few friends who were as encouraging, entertaining, and flat out reckless. I feel privileged to have known him, and will miss him greatly.",
    "Salvador Macias : He was a madman, a poet, a hermit, a pervert, a jester, a genius, and friend.",
    "One more poem (because every poet should be the one to write their own elegy):",
    "the Propaganda of Death’s Cartography (excerpt)",
    "… But gather together yr philosophies & unwieldy puzzle pieces of truth",
    "To throw on the fire that we share & feed the fire",
    "with the Propaganda of Death’s Cartography",
    "To battle the darkness that none of us can deny",
    "we’ll feed each other the bounty of the forest",
    "& get drunk on its intoxicants",
    "We’ll make suicide pacts while tending one anothers wounds",
    "& Dismantle the disco ball of knowledge",
    "& each carry a piece of mirror",
    "To enjoy the distractions of narcissism",
    "Argue about where the light comes from",
    "& the source of the river",
    "We’ll enact blood rituals just to prove a point",
    "& each do our best to protect one another from the darkness",
    "But for me",
    "I beg that you not dissuade me",
    "From trying to believe",
    "That as what I experience behind the wall of sleep",
    "So also will my experience continue",
    "Under the shroud of death",
    "For if I am convinced that this encampment",
    "On the edge of the wilderness is all that there is…",
    "I will swim to the center of the river",
    "& give myself to its currents",
    "Twitter",
    "Facebook",
    "Website"
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      "sourceByline": "Nick Cooper",
      "sourceDate": "July 20, 2026",
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