To Be or Not to Be Zombie
by Edward Supranowicz
The zombies had laid under a blanket of dirt for a long time. Being dead and confined, there was not much for them to do except observe and speculate. All agreed they did not want their next invasion to end up the way it usually did in the movies. There was general agreement that they would eat pig and beef brains, easily available at a butcher’s, especially since human brains these days did not have much knowledge or nutritional value. And new and improved skin lotions could put off decay a bit longer, plus spare limb and organ parts were available on the black market (even from some respectable sources). The invasion plan was simple: They would replace members of the clergy, political office holders, law enforcement members, and CEOs of major corporations, since such a strategy allowed them to act with relative impunity. And it was accomplished so smoothly and quickly that no one noticed the difference. After all, both spoke in deadpan fashion and spouted cliches full of dead ideas. All the while, the general populace continued wondering when the next zombie invasion was going to happen.
BIO: Edward Michael Supranowicz is the grandson of Irish and Lithuanian/Russian/Ukrainian immigrants. He grew up on a small farm in Appalachia. He has a grad background in painting and printmaking. Some of his artwork has recently or will soon appear in Fish Food, Streetlight, Another Chicago Magazine, Door Is A Jar, The Phoenix, and The Harvard Advocate. Edward is also a published poet who has had over 700 poems published and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize multiple times.
Artist’s Statement: I do not believe in formal artist statements. Art should speak for itself, and the artist should maintain a respectful distance and silence. I work intuitively and compulsively, probably believing that there are archetypes that are shared among us all, but amenable to being expressed in one’s own individual style.
I have been doing digital paintings and drawings for the last 10 or so years. It is a good fit to my personality and nature, being able to go forward, then back, then back and forward, and not having to worry about wasted canvas. And digital work allows for sharing work with more than one person rather than just one person “owning” a painting.