Writing Darkness

The Works of Zachary Robert Long

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Month: July 2023

One wolf sits on a fallen tree stump beside. another standing. Their fur is filthy and they look unhealthy.

The Animals
by Zachary Robert Long (997 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)

Posted on July 31, 2023August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

Their eyes meet from across the room. Amber is saying something, but she doesn’t hear it. She’s already left her seat and is moving across the room with her glass in hand. Amber looks angry until she shakes the glass and points back with two fingers. Now Amber is happy, pacified by her favorite treat….

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A pile of different pill-form medications.

The Cut-Ups Volume 1: Medicated Death
by Zachary Robert Long (851 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)

Posted on July 11, 2023August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

The following cut-ups were created using the index of a hack medical text and a  poorly researched chapter on Jonestown. Images of the cut-ups can be found at the bottom of the page. 1. Premenstrual syndromeas vaginal lubricant,breast discomfort and,prenatalVomiting,and,nausea WartsofWaspsanddiarrheaimpure bone exercisebyinsomniaBlistersfromshingles,Blood.coughing upin eye,urine,circulation. 911constipation fromarthritis foot odorhemorrhoids,insectlegsproblems and,self-treatment,   2.still reverberates in the…

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A pile eggs in hay. The eggs are green-with-black-spots.

Be My Buddy (Cut-Up)
by Zachary Robert Long (943 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)

Posted on July 3, 2023August 26, 2024 by Zack Long

I suddenly felt calm. And sleepy. I drifted into her little baby face. Opens her green eyes wide, did things with white rats. me. Covering me. feeling I’m anybody’s fuck here? I felt so warm beneath it. speed. The egg creatures moved with surprising work. dozen heartbeats. entire body shuddered from fear. Because they were…

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You can’t write good poetry unless you have a soul to express

— Cormac McCarthy

Recent Posts

  • A Good Mother
    by Zachary Robert Long (1049 words, estimated reading time: 5 minutes)
    She made airplane noises while balancing the slime-covered spoon as it made its descent, begging for a landing strip, but when he refused to open his...
  • Obfuscation: The Hidden of Art
    by Zachary Robert Long (1211 words, estimated reading time: 6 minutes)
    The mystery genre can largely be divided into three categories:  Who did it?, How do it?, and Why do it?   Each category requires the author...
  • My Son in the Sun
    by Zachary Robert Long (2837 words, estimated reading time: 13 minutes)
    Bills Hicks had a bit about how he didn’t understand what people saw in the beach. It’s where water meets land. What’s so special about that?...
  • Where Silence Meets Speed
    by Zachary Robert Long (2500 words, estimated reading time: 12 minutes)
    I don’t trust electric cars. And no, before you ask, it isn’t because of Musk and the endless litany of issues with Tesla. Fiat, Lotus, Hyundai,...
  • Talking Teapots: A Wallace & Gromit Treatise
    by Zachary Robert Long (1279 words, estimated reading time: 7 minutes)
    When Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024) was released onto Netflix this January, my family had to watch. It had been nearly twenty years since...

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