HE SAID, MARIE, MARIE, HOLD ON TIGHT

And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

~ The Waste Land, "The Burial of The Dead", Eliot

Wednesday, February 06, 2008
duck time
if time were clay. so much time, what could we do with it? there are immense possibilities. outside i hear men arguing, they sound like television, american television. i think i would shape time into the shape of a duck. so much time, jay said, folding clothes, five years, wasted. something is between us, something is blocking us, someone, but i don't know who. she said. yesterday, my grandfather fell from the stairs, while trying to balance mandarin oranges with two hands. i think of home. four-day holiday, my family red-faced and belligerent. i almost forgot that it was chinese new year. here there is no reminder, angel-hair pasta. the time of other people i've wasted, and i can still remember, some of them telling me, shouting at me, so much time, wasted, the people, the possibilities, could have, if. those were people who were not creative. they conceived of time in terms of spilt milk. out of yesterday's lunch, i make myself a wedding banquet, 3 minutes, medium heat. i have ceased taking responsibility for other's people time, for the spilt milk of other people. they should have known--they who thought of time could be molded into trees, boats, rivers--i was the girl who wanted to carve out of time, the shape of duck.

[publishing] Publishers Weekly . Dystel & Goderich . New York Center for Independent Publishing . Association of American University Presses . Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

[people] clarisse . nurul . aunty zarina (ummi's bakery) . jeremy . pak . cyril . softblow . karen & kenny (booksactually) . eric . joel .

[other loves] digitaljournalist . ballet dictionary . poetshouse . urbanwordnyc

[me] dawn, singapore, new york city, ithaca.

[yesterday] a certain violence
superbowl
slush and snow
the strangest thing
hopes and dreams
stone soup
random book trivia
interlude
dropped things
meeting my mom on facebook for the first time

[archives] January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?