Friday, June 26, 2009
MARVELLOUS KEENE, MORALITY AND "GUN CRAZY"
I just got an anonymous comment letting me know that Marvellous Keene is due to be executed by the state of Ohio on July 21, 2009. This made me feel very, very strange in a number of ways. In "Gun Crazy - Part Seventeen" I used Marvellous Keene as a vehicle to examine the reasons why some murderers are semi-deified (the examples I used were Charles Starkweather and Bonnie and Clyde) and some are just quickly forgotten or demonized. I found Marvellous Keene's name and specifics from some shit in an old notebook from the mid-90s and decided to use it for the poem, not having any idea if he had been paroled or was still in prison or, as we now know, on death row.
This brings up a few dodgy issues. First off, using an actual murderer (with, you know, actual victims) in a poem. There's a lot of stuff in "Gun Crazy" that is morally questionable, and in every other case, that's cool with me - I designed it to be provacative, and to have an amoral stance that reflects the number of conflicting feelings I have about guns, America, violence, religion, etc. But again, whatever his crimes, Marvellous Keene is a real person (as were his victims) and I am literally using him and his image and crimes as a figurative element in a long-form poem, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Secondly, Marvellous Keene is going to be killed by the state. Again, using "Gun Crazy"'s anti-logic, this is a fitting end for the story: eye for an eye, cycle of violence, American tradition, etc. But it makes me feel terrible. I am not rabid about it, but I have never been a supporter of the death penalty. The very idea that this guy is going to be killed now for what he did at 19 or 20 years old, 15 years ago, is madness to me. I've never known someone who was on death row. This, in its wussy way, is probably the closest I'm ever gonna get.
Thirdly, I wondered how Marvellous himself would feel reading the piece. Or the parent or friend of one of his victims. I assume that Mr. Keene would most probably see the truth quickly: intellectual pansy with no firsthand knowledge of true violence uses a figure from an ancient newspaper clipping to add heft to his writing. Mr. Keene would most probably not see any of himself in the piece at all, despite the repeated use of his (admittedly very colorful) name. And I would think that a victim's friend or family would just be enraged.
I got some stuff to think about. Kinda fucked up, right?
http://fictionalmixtape.blogspot.com/2009/04/gun-crazy-part-seventeen.html
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8 comments:
I am not very fond of capital punishment either, although I do think some people diverse to die, I do not think this decision could be put in the hand of humans, because they make mistakes, and are not wise enough.
This was on the news on 92: "Five people have been left dead and four wounded in what the police describe as a spree of "joy killing" by four youths here late last week."
This was published by official sources today: "IT was not possible to know without a single doubt that the eyewitness identified the killer correctly or not..."
Keep thinking my dear friend, you will get to understand more and more as time goes bye.
I guess now you will have many many interesting things to write about.
Let me know what goes on in your head, how it changes your ideas the new things that happen, and the memories retrieved from the past.
It can certainly be more than a little unsettling when the fictional worlds we create intersect a little too closely for comfort with the real world where we draw our inspiration from...I guess all you can do is think everything through...
mariana and tracey - thank you for yr well thought-out, helpful commentary. much appreciated, and it helps to put my feelings about the writing in some sort of context.
It raises very interesting questions about fictinality. The character in your story poem is very loosely based on the actual human. They aren't the same thing, the same entity. But it's a field of though that is infinite and amazing, because the Jason I have in my head is a fiction and so is the Squires. The ontological status of fictional characters, a life times work and something all writers run into at some point. The death penalty is a barbaric archaism in my opinion.
paul - as usual yr commentary is perceptive and hits on angles i hadnt previously considered. of course "Jason" is a fiction to you folks, and the reality, like any writer you read before you meet, would be either disappointing or at least unexpected. as you said, i've got a "Squires" in my head that i am certain is very different from the actual human being, but still, id take the chance if i could meetcha, any of you, really.
wow! to be honest, as a close freind of marvellous or (Velly) we called him growing up in Dayton, Ohio. Just to hear someone speak of him as a human is a refreshing breath of fresh air. Before Dec. 1992, Velly was NOT the monster that he had become in those few days. He had no juvenile record and to my knowledge having grown up 2 doors away never even a childhood brawl. I feel very deeply for the victims and their families as many of them were also close friends and neighbors and with the same heart I felt very sad on Monday the 21st at 10:26 A.M. as I lost yet another friend. Anything remotely positive I am so sure Velly would be elated to hear. Thanks from someone who knew most of the victims and also knew Velly before Dec. 1992.
anonymous friend - yr comment meant more to me than you can imagine. i truly hope that yr friend velly can rest now, and the victims as well. thank you so much for saying what you said - i'll be thinking on this all day, and long into the future.
you are very welcome and THANKS to you as well from "THE PRINCETON DR. POSSE" lol that,s what we called ourselves as kids
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