The phone and this guy who I for the record
never loved says he's broken up with Sharon.
He's broken up with Sharon that's it he says
he wishes he'd stop doing that with women.
For the first time with a guy I've seen naked
I'm not jealous not even thinking would I do
it again not even thinking. On his mind he has
Sharon, a restaurant, a page of Raymond
Carver he's tried to kill for seven or eight
hours at the keypad, a cabin in the hills,
the woman from Verona. You still loved her
when you were with me I say not even thinking.
It starts to snow. The first time it did that
snowed outside while I was inside with
the windows I thought the lights in the city
had gone out and we were all fucked.
Snow is one of those things so small you can
barely put your finger on it in the singular.
When I was with you I went to see her he says
and I wait on the phone for the rest.
When he was with me he called seven or
eight hours a day and we drove through snow
to the movies in Wellfleet where the walls
between screens were so thin you could hear
the action the next film over. Once only once
have I been with a man who by his elbow bumped
mine made me forget the movie which movie
all the movies all the time and this guy has just
released Sharon back into the world.
Affairs are amply appreciated by contemporary critics under the name of discontinuity. Affairs come into their own when we translate the whole question from structure to behavior. Affairs disappear altogether. Many affairs remain unabsorbed. The concept of the affair gives another dimension to the impact of epiphanies. Affairs in general may be analyzed according to whatever distinctions one uses in analyzing. Affairs are associated with shortness. Final affairs are an obstacle to artistic comprehension caused by the seemingly premature placing of the end. Such affairs exist in every perception that one's tentative comprehension is not complete. Such affairs depend on the convention that "every thing counts." Affairs challenge us at a more fundamental level. Affairs are never completely resolved. Final affairs are the most extreme.
* Text lifted from the essay "Recalcitrance in the Short Story" by theorist Austin M. Wright. "Recalcitrance" changed to "Affairs."
Bedtime Story
Once there was a country based on chickens
and how many chickens could hatch from one
basket. Once there was a basket woven
by the Tribe, three generations of weaving.
Once woven, every hand touched what every
other hand had and there were no have-nots.
Duly celebrated. Chickens and camaraderie.
Do you like a chicken? Of course you do.
Everyone slept warmly in the basket.
Everyone suitable for hatching hatched
while the basket accommodated many
families, three generations. A generation
is generally considered from chicken
to chicken, like that. Once we knocked
on the doors of our neighbors no one could
stop us. The basket grew and grew.
I should probably tell you now that your father
screwed around. For every chicken,
another chicken, plenty of room in the basket.
I can tell you expect a wolf I will not give you.
I searched the woods and fields and all like that
not finding. What do you want with a wolf?
