American Dream (Excerpt)
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.
What’s the point of being ridiculous?
Over and over and over again, it seems.
Enough’s enough, enough to make you scream.
Well, you don’t. You’re quiet. Meticulous.
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme.
You browse through dirty thumbnails on a screen
Then click Clear History, recoil in disgust.
Over and over and over again, it seems.
[…]
Shopping with Mayakovsky (Excerpt)
One morning I wake
not wanting to get out of bed,
and see a cloud
in my room.
“Mayakovsky?” I say.
“Find me some trousers!” he orders.
I scramble to the closet
and pull out a pair of jeans.
“Don’t know if these will fit,” I say.
“Of course they will,” he says.
“I’m a cloud.”
[…]
Extremely Poor (Excerpt)
“Telling is a form of generosity,” Javier Marías
writes in Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me,
a novel Josh Mehigan sent me for my birthday,
which surprised me, not only because I didn’t think
Josh thought about me that much, but because,
well, who receives real mail anymore, and I’d
never heard of this guy who ended up blowing
my mind. “We can always prove ourselves
to be right and everything can be told
if accompanied by some justification, some
excuse or by some attenuating circumstance
or even by its mere representation.” At first
[…]
