The Gorko Gazette

Daily Humor

thegorkogazette

5.16.2025 7:00 AM

Timmy the Cutter by JD Clapp

Timmy the Cutter

As a boy, Timmy caught butterflies, cut off their wings and pinned them to his bedroom walls because he needed some beauty in his dull days. At 13, he cut grass to buy skunk weed from the old hippy down the road. In high school, he cut class to sell weed to cool kids, jocks, and stoners. At 19, he cut crystal meth into grams and eighths to earn a fucking living. When he got popped by an undercover female cop with nice tits, he became a rat and cut a deal. The DA cut him a brake and gave him two years. In prison, Timmy cut hash-marks into his thigh to mark lost time and his empty days. Inside, he cut photos of butterfly wings from magazines to brighten to the walls of his cell. When he was released, he cut out meth and booze but not weed. ‘I fucking can’t cut everything man,’ he explained to his therapist. He got a job at the local mill, the only place that would hire him, cutting lumber. On Sundays, he caught more butterflies to cut off their wings to decorate the ceiling of his trailer. For six years, he woke and looked up at those wings when he woke, and on the morning the wings didn’t make him smile, he cut his wrists. As the blood drained from the clean cuts, Timmy understood he loved the beauty of destruction, the destruction of beauty, and his flightless butterfly wings.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

JD Clapp is a writer based in San Diego, CA. His creative work has appeared in over 70 different literary journals and magazines including Cowboy Jamboree, trampset, and Revolution John. His work has been nominated for several awards including the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best Small Fictions. He is the author of two story collections—Poachers and Pills (2025), and A Good Man Goes South (2024).

Images generated on Magic Studio, collage by Raddy