i.

wonder if I wrote at all about
that finnish band ride for revenge

probably I did & probably
I could check the archives

but to my great surprise
we now live in a world

in which the archives have become:
if not the problem then a pretty potent symbol of it

ii.

I have a double gatefold ride for revenge record
that kicks my ass every time I listen to it

not listening to it right now
listening to anwynn right now
they're only ok

plenty ok
it's not like I'm going to go over there and turn it off
kinda like the vocals
despite myself

but ride for revenge
this is a band who
when I think of them
I hear the record and remember it
and feel it in my body

the problem with the metal now
is that people will go to bat for stuff
that's really quite fine
and is utterly unmemorable
and could not grow a barnacle
if it sat in wet dock

for a thousand years
and another thousand
and then several more thousand
unrotting
stable
post-everything
no barnacles

it's fine and all

but ride for revenge

you may not love them when you hear them

but you will remember them

which was the thing
which was supposed to have been the point

iii.

still wonder if I said all this before
or something like this
could probably check the archives

anybody who's right now checking the archives
or about to:
no offense
but you
are symptomatic
of the more general problem