from Downtown Brooklyn #18 (2009)

THE WATER STEADILY RISES UP TO MY CHIN & I SHUDDER

Every time we meet he launches right into the tale of the latest indie rock band to withdraw from society into some secret underground bunker. Can you fucking believe that? he always says, always with the same cadence & inflection. How sweet of you to ask! I always want to say but he never pauses to hear my answer so I always just shrug. Every time we meet we walk side by side but neither of us is ever really wherever we are. Like a hostess flitting about the room, opening curtains, fluffing up pillows, trying not to offend her own sensibilities. You quietly stand aside until she is no longer in your peripheral vision. Surely she says something or other at some point, but damned if you can ever remember what. If just one person would say something real, I swear I would immediately lose control of every bodily function. That’s my plan, anyway. The sun drags across the sky.

WE SHALL BE BRISK & PRODUCTIVE RATHER THAN RESENTFUL

This is a good find. Be quick my children & collect these colorful boxes of powdered gelatin mix. Don’t forget to peer under the shelving for strays. My biographer will need to employ several hungry research assistants to count the times I was so tipsy I shushed the alligator on my way up the stairs. I used to think I would become a celebrity. No more would I be any little man’s middleman. I longed to go astray & seek out opportunities to look a craftsperson in the eye in Nevada. At border after border I planned to flash the badge immemorial. Clattery would be the bookshelves nailed up inside my amphibious vehicle. I wanted to laugh to see the deep sea creatures scurry before me! Look at me now. First thing in the morning we will startle an impunity of cats.