Cover Letter
Dustin Junkert
What I’m trying to do at the moment is write good sentences which sort of cheat their way to the heart. I’m trying to use the lowest common denominator of narrative and strike right past the story to the effect. Because this is how life is lived, in my experience. The things that move me are fragments of other people’s lives of which I see only momentarily the glittering surface.
Traditional narrative structures strike me as drolly omniscient. They are unreal in the worst way. Stories that move me are often built of a fragmentary consciousness coupled with sometimes absurdly simple statements.
My stories are mostly ripped from my text messages. Because I trust what I see in the moment as good enough, clever enough, funny enough, interesting enough to say to a particular audience: my friends. Maybe it makes me a weak artist, but I do not trust the things I write “for myself.” For instance, my journals are absolutely horrendous to read. It is sickening. I allow myself this and have no pretense of anything but heart-gushing shit when I’m in this mode of journaling. And this is not what you want, believe me. What is fun to read is an element of the forthright sincerity of the journalistic self coupled with the awareness of audience — and, for me, an exact audience is the most tangible.
