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Exhortation
“Where LOVE is in any of these pancakes?” wailed Maurice, turning them over with his fork one by one, giving each only the most cursory examination for love before throwing it on the floor. “Where love is?” he cired again as, coming to the bottom of the stack, he tossed the fork down too, freeing his hands for wild gesticulation.
“Have you no love ( Read more... ) -
Able was I
Like everyone, I have a mirror image, and we do not have much to say to one another, for whatever I might say, he would say, and so I think whatever I know, he knows. But we meet every day or so and I help him shave his chin and brush his hair, and he helps me with mine.
One midnight, walking through a park in V____, I turned a corner and found ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
She punched me on the arm to wake me up. "I like these cinnamon rolls now," she said accusingly. "With the orange frosting and it's your fault."
I sat up in bed.
"It's like whenever I'm around you, you're making me try new things and stuff that I don't like and it's got to stop," she said. "I'm a person. An individual. I have likes and ( Read more... ) -
A non-negative review
The Null Book of Mathematics by J. Orendorff
0 pages
Harwood Press
It is not easy for the layman to determine how seriously to take The Null Book of Mathematics, and curiously enough, consulting mathematicians does not help. Every one this reviewer spoke to cheerfully agreed that the slender volume is completely unreadable, but while some called ( Read more... ) -
Those were the days
Halfway around the world,
in a city buried in sand three thousand years ago,
after our tools and brushes had been set aside,
after dinner had settled and conversation had quieted,
in darkness,
under a moonless black sky,
we would play flashlight tag. -
Eep
I eeped the beeks and Bart eeped the zooks. That was not the problem. They both needed eeping, after all, and we both needed the money. I guess Bart did his job okay. The zooks didn't complain.
( Read more... ) -
Upon returning home after five forgettable years
He chose the largest styrofoam cup they had. He pulled a spigot. Slowly, ominously, the cup filled with superheated black serum.
( Read more... ) -
Aftertaste
Artur carried limes with him everywhere for weeks. At every meal, he squeezed fresh lime juice onto his food. Every drink he took was adorned with a slice of lime. His taste buds adapted to it. He claimed he could no longer taste lime juice. Strangely, we became similarly accustomed to Artur's unusual habits, and often failed to notice as he ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
Among my baby's favorite toys are his honey stirrer and his spatula. (Actual baby toys he spurns.)
Today I thought I'd start teaching him about opportunity costs (after all he is seven months old now) by offering him both, and when he grabbed one, I'd take the other away. So he grabbed the honey stirrer, and I started to set the spatula aside, ( Read more... )