Thursday, May 28, 2015

85

Men busy themselves only with pots and cups and things at home, or shops and trades and things in the street. Prepositions propose a world: if we're in the street we don't hang above it. If at home, we're not away from it. If we're next to a table, we're not on it, though a kitten might be. In her sleep she chews on an image. We were at the Soviet border when young soldiers took an old woman off the train. One carried her luggage up a narrow path. She had typed pages on her person. She stayed in; we went out. Or: she was kept out and we got in. The preposition floats in a river full of dead construction workers, while a dreamer rises to the surface. Surface is only skin deep, as is skin.

--28 May 2015

2 comments:

Karen said...

Whoa! That last line is pretty wonderful. I love the mixing of language talk, the kitten, the Soviet border; the terror of the woman walking away. "Dissertation director" seems to strike an off note. Why are soldiers always so young? Today it occurred to me that my two could be child soldiers elsewhere - somehow our breakfast conversation today slipped into that part of the world.

Karen said...

Completely OT, but the verification / captcha / I'm not a robot today was to check all the pictures (out of 6 or so) that were soup. This was surprisingly pleasing to do. But what a strange thing - find the soup!