So, I was at the Academy. It was my junior year. It was like being stuck in a leper colony. I had a "creative" writing

class. The teacher gave us an assignment that I thought was incredibly boring. They were always boring. Anyway, we

had to find a literary quote, and using that as a theme, write poems around it. Everything I came up with to make the

assignment more interesting was met with a "NO". No, I couldn't include drawings and other artwork. No, I couldn't come

up with my own theme. No, I couldn't break any grammar rules. No, I couldn't do it as a spoken-word presentation

instead. And so on. Absurd.

The Teacher had booked us two days in the computer lab to craft our collections. I'd been writing for fucking years, so I

took my big yellow folder of drafts, and typed up poems I had already finished, and dashed off some ridiculous nonsense

about how it was related to the theme I'd chosen. And just to keep myself from falling asleep, I decided to create (entirely

from scratch) a short collection of all new work. You are now reading that collection!

I did the whole thing very quickly. As an act of contempt. As a statement of freedom. And to display that even when I

wasn't trying, I could fuckin blow away any these ironically detached cynics, sneering their way through the end of their

adolescence.

I did the cover drawing when I was done writing. I made it look like something a bored pre-schooler would come up

with. I created the final master that night in my basement. The next morning, I printed up a few copies at the Academy,

and immediately gave them away. I never kept one for myself, because I didn't care at all. I'd done what I was supposed

to do.

I didn't put any of these pieces into No One Will Ever Love You, because what the fuck would the point have that

been? But, I have always liked them. They make me smile. They're equal parts ridiculous and snide. There's a good

healthy energy crackling through every word.

Oh yeah, the title was something I came up with around the time of our junior year retreat. Thurston Moore had declared

that the upcoming Sonic Youth album would be "artcore", and I had been using the phrase "Go Naked" (which is from a

scene in the Peter Sellers 1968 hippie movie The Party- "Go Naked" is written on an elephant in the backyard), and I just

combined the two things. Artcore Naked. Sounds fine to me.

I always wanted Artcore Naked to be available for people to read. It was supposed to have been included in the original

1997 version of Extracts (which never came out). As an act of (ahem) generosity, included here is the original draft from

the computer lab, so you can see what I was up to.

Thanks for reading.

Enjoy.

Rich Millett

RMAP02: ARTCORE NAKED (DELUXE EDITION)

CONTENTS:

ARTCORE NAKED (PROPER) ARTCORE NAKED (RUFF DRAFT)

Ranting Of The Unsatisfied Ego Untitled

Driving In A Fast Car Testosterone

The Small Smile Father

Home Is Where The Heart Bleeds Estrogen

Interrogation

Ranting Of The Unsatisfied Ego

Driving In A Fast Car

The Small Smile (Version One)

Too Much Time On My Hands!

The Small Smile (Version Two)

“Father” and “Estrogen”

written by Richard Millett © 1992 published by FLUXLIFE INC.

“Untitled”, “Testosterone”, and “Interrogation”

written by Richard Millett © 1993 published by FLUXLIFE INC.

“Ranting Of The Unsatisfied Ego”, “Driving In A Fast Car”, “Too Much Time On My Hands!”, and “Home Is Where The Heart Bleeds”

written by Richard Millett © 1994 published by FLUXLIFE INC.

“The Small Smile”

written by Richard Millett and Chris Kelly © 1994 published by FLUXLIFE INC.

RMAP02

© 1994 © 2014 FLUXLIFE INC.