For most of the aughts, Ellen was the smartest person I knew. She dressed impeccably for parties, she always knew the right moment to use the word ‘oeuvre.’ People were delighted to be in her presence, as if she glowed incandescently. Later she came down with an eating disorder and wasn’t quite as fetching as in earlier years. After all this, she asked me what she was like then, since a woman is rarely aware of her powers. I told her. She exclaimed, “But I was a failure!”
The Art of Forgetting
Jan’s name was a girl’s and didn’t match the heft of his body. His hair was short black squiggles and his skin the color of roasted chicken. He was full of contradictions, like, in spite of his name he was very much a man, with rippled shoulders and an Adam’s apple that protruded from his throat.
What I Remember of My Love Affair with the Bird
That night, like every night that year, long after dark had fallen, I climbed the tree at the top of the hill behind town hall. That night was different, though. When I’d almost made it to the top, instead of the bird with whom I’d been having an affair, I met a fellow border guard.
New Years Day
It isn’t how it looks but how it feels
I just sit there opening my mind to my mind
And all the soldiers of the garden, the frogs and snakes
And all the foot soldiers in the garden composing letters under the stars
The Dream
Last night, all night
the dream, the dead
mother, my small sister,
tiny, her mouth
over my shoulder
Under the Influence of Ideals
The extra fine ingredients sift down on you
or stir at your feet and cover your shoes
with the dust of it. The back of your hands,
dusted. Some fine glass particles stick.
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