Of a Cold Country
Across the room you stand in torchfire, early king of cold country. You drink wine. Your smile is a thin refusal. I made you out of lies and colors. I learned your face before then formed it. I … Continued
Wonder
The Body of Coney Island
This place is almost larger suddenly than I can get to. My senses fuse, clearing Coney Island piece by piece like a sharp stick this noontide. … Continued
The Creation
It was a dream of bodies It was a dream of your body unlocking itself from newly risen fields It was a dream of you materializing from the brown limbs of … Continued
Colombia
Translated from Slovenian by Phillis Levin and Tomaž Šalamun Cats have set themselves on wings. Buttons have buttercups. Hares are soft flesh, hares are soft flesh, they shudder and hustle. They rise the sun, actually they hold it … Continued
Drowning Lessons
My sister has drowned thirty-seven times. You might think that’s impossible, but believe me, it’s not. It’s the truth. My sister has drowned in rivers, in bathtubs, and in soup bowls. She’s drowned in swimming pools and drinking glasses. … Continued
On Childhood
1 My daughter has slid down in the bath so that just the island of her face breaks the surface— and when she holds in her breath her body suspends touching nothing I say can you hear me and she … Continued
Open Call
Because of the number and severity of the stab wounds and the disorder of his room, which indicated a violent struggle, the death of Horton Smith Juaire Jr. was at first listed as a homicide. It was not until … Continued
For the Love of Leprechauns
1 I’m driving on one of those dark, peculiar backroads in upstate New York, coming back from a land-development community meeting, when I hit something in the road. The car skids a little, after the thump, and as I screech … Continued
Walser on Fire
1. Jean lingered in Tyler’s, a music shop with a bar in the front. Used guitars and banjoes, all for sale, hung along the wall by their necks, their wood darkened in patches where fingers had strummed, tuning knobs like … Continued
Roger Weber Would Like To Stay
How it happened isn’t clear to her. Roger Weber is possibly the product of a dream that made the leap from her subconscious into her waking life, but his habits are human enough in their predictability. He sticks to a … Continued
Mary
There was a hypothetical pregnancy. The woman in question accumulated a box-full of video cassettes featuring pregnant characters. She wore beads around her waist and sat up late in bed with a shawl of her own hair. Roommates circled her … Continued
Ghost
“There’s a ghost in this house,” says Monica. “Stop it,” says Nell, holding her palm up flat. Just outside the window, beside a low, bare hemlock branch, a ghost is listening. Most people imagine ghosts as the leftovers of … Continued