[lit-ideas] Re: On Finding a Friend Dead
- From: carol kirschenbaum <carolkir@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 06:29:29 -0800
Mike,
Any reply I can think of feels inadequate, anemic. I remember how you
defended her against a perceived attack, years ago. Such loyalty, even
if you came to it kicking and screaming, struck me as enviable on your part
and hers.
ck
> 911.
> Dead woman here.
> Dead as a doornail.
> No chance of bringing her back.
> Dead, dead, dead.
>
> Cop 1: "Who are you?"
> Cop 2: "Why are you here?
> Cop 3, Cop 4, Cop 2, Cop 3, Cope 1:
> "Explain yourself."
>
> I once loved this woman.
> But madness slowly won her over.
> I kept watch at the edge of her life,
> I was a fringe benefit who would take her
> to the emergency rooms when she OD'd.
> Holding the stainless steel bowl
> while she vomited out the black
> waters of River Styx.
> Four times at least, I did this.
> Friends said I was as sick as she was
> and deserved whatever I got
> or didn't get.
>
> But she's gone now. I took her dog to the pound
> to be put down. The only creature on this earth who
> returned her affection without asking anything of her.
> I took the dog in, knowing it would be disposed of
> like so much refuse. Options limited. So what's new?
>
> So she's dead now. A thing to be disposed of. No more laughter out of
> this cold, rigid corpse. No more lovely piano playing. No more discussions
> of Russian Literature or of Borges or of Italian cinema, no more laughter,
> no more symphonies to be attended. Dead, dead, dead, she is. Cold and
> stiff. Totally fucking dead. Eyes open, mouth open. clutching a tissue in
> her left hand. What was her last thought? Think now, we are each hundreds
> of billions (into the trillions?) of individual living organisms all living
> their own little lives incognizant of us, but working nevertheless in
> consort to their own survival and consequentially to the survival of the
> greater being of whom they are: namely, US, our individual selves -- so,
> little fellas, thank you. We are you, you whose lives brief lives
> constitute our lives though you are never aware of us, just as we are
> largely ignorant of the role of our lives in your role in the world outside
> ourselves.
> Nevertheless, carry on.
>
> Mike Geary
> Memphis
>
> Mike Geary
>
>
>
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