Barret Vogel is angry or frustrated or both. His DeadBirds blog has the appropriate colors to go with the general mood of the site: gray and black and grayish blue and darkish green (and some brighter colors in between)… No links, no extras. The “r” in “Birds” is a handgun.
Barret’s writing has a hard, abrasive edge. It’s often powerful, then suddenly drops off only to shoot up again in the next post. There’s often abusive language, but not anything extraordinarily beyond what many people use routinely. You may not agree with such language, but this is obviously part of Barret.
This blog is about his creator’s “precious memories,” we’re told at the very beginning, so “f…k you.” Nice opener. DeadBirds is a darn hard blog to swallow, but, once you’ve read a couple of posts, it can become almost addictive if you’re into tension and resentment that pours onto the (electronic) page straight out of the foundry…
Barret talks harshly about people and about what is happening in his life. Mom is away some place, but within reach; Dad has been living with this woman Barret hates “since I was seven years old;” the post about the woman is long and angry and disturbing; Barret gets good grades, but “Mom still won’t buy me shit…. Someone needs to explain to that bitch that an attitude of negativity without positive reinforcement is no way to encourage me.” Rides at the fair are “…easily the best drug I’ve tried next to acid.” He also gets drunk — often….
DeadBirds is a punch in the stomach, but also a reminder. I had once a student who sounded very much like Barret — and he also wrote outstanding tempestuous prose. I won’t tell you though what he did with his life.
Pay a visit to DeadBirds, if only for the writing. Maybe this blog is the beginning of a book; I can see several threads for short stories here. DeadBirds is no fun. You got to wrestle with it. But I recommend it — highly… and then of course you decide if you’ll go back… deadbirds.net