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The Jaunt Issue. Let’s go for a trip, a romp, a frolic, or perhaps just a quick nip there and back. For Carune, Stephen King’s inventor of the Jaunt, ”it started with a pencil... some keys... a wristwatch... then some mice.” So, pencils, rulers, and index fingers at the ready. Big toes too —for balance. It’s time to go. This is the Jaunt issue.
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POSTURE.
POSTURE.
THE JAUNT ISSUE.
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It was at a reasonably young age that I began to read Stephen King. I recall being especially fascinated by his short stories, in particular The Long Walk and The Jaunt. The first, a tale of a long, arduous walk, completed only when all bar one are dead and the winner has gone mad, and the second, a story of the discovery of an instant that contains an eternity as it is told just prior to an instant that was an eternity. Both stories are very clever (which might be a quality said to be lacking from his later works) and absolutely captivating to a child of no more than 14. Boy did he have a way with words that set my imagination alight. I read these stories over and over, never tiring of their strange and eerie conclusions.
It was the content of The Long Walk that stuck with me the most vividly, but it was the word jaunt that I found myself mulling over. Oftentimes repeating it over and over to myself after overhearing it in passing (or at least thinking that’s what I’d heard). For me jaunt has always held some dark curiosity somewhat detached from its correct interpretation, perhaps as a result of the context where it was first encountered, or possibly due to the infrequency of its usage positioning it as a fascinating rarity.
Creeping into winter, with its dark cold evenings, and in the lead up to Posture heading off to trial a new post code for a bit, this felt like a good time to re-explore the jaunt. Consuming the mouth when it is spoken and feeling suggestive in its reference, let’s go jaunting together before I jaunt over there.
Until next time, enjoy your trip.
The Jaunt Issue.
Once a tiring or troublesome journey, a jaunt is now more often considered to be an excursion, a pleasure trip of sorts. Then there’s Stephen King’s Jaunt; the teleportation device whose trip takes no more than a mere tardis-esque instant.
“ ‘It’s eternity in there,’ he said, and dropped dead of what was later diagnosed as a massive heart attack. The scientists foregathered there were left with his corpse [...] and that strange and awful dying declaration: It’s eternity in there.” 1
Of course, not wanting to restrict jaunt to either noun or verb, consider those folk we deem to be sprightly; elegant; smart; and even debonair. For those folk confident use may be made of the adjective, possibly even referring to them as delightfully jaunty, if one felt so inclined.
Let’s go for a trip, a romp, a frolic, or perhaps just a quick nip there and back. For Carune, King’s inventor of the Jaunt, ”it started with a pencil... some keys... a wristwatch... then some mice.” 2 So, pencils, rulers, and index fingers at the ready. Big toes too —for balance. It’s time to go. This is the Jaunt issue.
1, 2 King, Stephen. “The Jaunt.” Skeleton Crew. London: Futura Publications, 1985. 237-265.
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3COMMUTERS BY RUTH SUMNER
Zoo life train riding Passed smoking stacks withAfrican-safari lightAnd complex scaffoldsto keep it up, and smokingpassed 3am.
–Let's ride down the hill to the town,–Let's ride down the hill to the town,The zoo life city, and feel animalscollecting experiences and scratches,–Let's rough up our smooth skin!
Zoo city has rooftop tennis courtsAnd 5 open-air swimming poolsthat light up at nightSpied from white-sheet bedsSpied from white-sheet bedsWith back kisses.
Then it's cinema:It's 8 hour dinner partiesWith Ravioli, picked fungus (pine mushroom)Shooting Vodka, cigars, spliffsand Jay-Z–Dance by yourself(When you asked the world to dance)(When you asked the world to dance)
Zoo Life Cinema recorded through dirty filterscracked and worn.A different audience each night and changing day
They're well below the Fifteenth floorFifteenth floorWhere we bothlook and projectthe zoo life outfrom our eyes.
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Zoo life train riding Passed smoking stacks withAfrican-safari lightAnd complex scaffoldsto keep it up, and smokingpassed 3am.
–Let's ride down the hill to the town,–Let's ride down the hill to the town,The zoo life city, and feel animalscollecting experiences and scratches,–Let's rough up our smooth skin!
Zoo city has rooftop tennis courtsAnd 5 open-air swimming poolsthat light up at nightSpied from white-sheet bedsSpied from white-sheet bedsWith back kisses.
Then it's cinema:It's 8 hour dinner partiesWith Ravioli, picked fungus (pine mushroom)Shooting Vodka, cigars, spliffsand Jay-Z–Dance by yourself(When you asked the world to dance)(When you asked the world to dance)
Zoo Life Cinema recorded through dirty filterscracked and worn.A different audience each night and changing day
They're well below the Fifteenth floorFifteenth floorWhere we bothlook and projectthe zoo life outfrom our eyes.
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...and as he remembered that morning when she said “build body Antim, build body” he wondered, wondered whether he should have left. But, as he worked through his morning tea break connecting all, he knew he had chosen wisely. She had only ever wanted three things from him; water, time, and pods. Water and time, sure, he could have given her those. But pods... that was the request that always caused him to break down.
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A JAUNT THROUGH 5 MONTHS VIA 23 WEEKS
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THE PRELUDE [TO A JAUNT]:
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THERE IS AN APPLE IN MY EYE.
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Contributors.
Art direction and editorial by Katherine Roberts.
For information and enquires, Posture can be contacted at [email protected] and viewed at posturepubllication.com
p10-11. Two Folks. Migration. Blind collaboration.
p3. E. Rodda. Attention. Photo & text. Featherston, 5710
p6-7. Meals Guise. Letter to the Editor. Melbourne. [email protected]
p12-13. Katherine Roberts. A Jaunt Through 5 Months. Digital trace of 23 paper scans. www.katherinearoberts.comp4-5. Byron Kinnaird. Zoo, Life, City.
Photographed & written. Melbourne.
p18-19. KR. The Prelude.
p14-15. Lisa Crutchley. 30_05_2011. Photography & Photoshop. Melbourne. [email protected]
p17. Jack Delgado. Frederick Selous. www.jackdelgado.com
p9. Ruth Sumner. Commuters. Pen on tracing paper. Wellington.
All with good posture.
Posture would like to extend a kind word of thanks to the known and the new who have supported and contributed to the sixth issue. Posture is looking forward to conversing with you again soon.
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The Jaunt Issue.
Number 6.
