Out in the sunlight, I keep holding her hand. Though her eyes are devoid of feeling, fat tears stream down, and she curses me for dragging her to this godforsaken place—me with my fucking therapy and passion for the old crap.
mary karr
Tag: creative nonfiction
The whole of this film is one gorgeous hymn to the feminine mystique. For who would want to be the dumbfounded, piston-like Alexandre pumping his genitals, when instead you could be this most sensitive creature brimming with the rarest emotions?
veronica scott esposito, on the double life of véronique
Before the 1914 war passports didn’t exist. You had to have one for Russia or Turkey, otherwise you went where you liked provided you had the money. He told me he was in London on a diplomatic passport. His stay was limited. He was going to Holland to lecture, or so I understood. He told me he was half French, half Dutch, and lived in Paris. ‘All this passport business is only because it’s wartime,’ I said. ‘They’ll stop it as soon as the war’s over.’ He smiled a little and said, ‘Perhaps, perhaps.’
jean rhys
I told him I sometimes felt like smacking Quinn for mocking me anytime I recited poetry.
Nah, it ain’t like that, Doonie said. He just associates poems with some teacher telling him he’s a dumbass.
mary karr
sign o the times
Evelina’s brother was like her but with red hair. He took me for long walks, showed me Castries, and one day asked if I would like to see a fight between a tarantula and a scorpion. ‘We put them in a bottle and watch,’ he said.
I asked who won.
‘Neither wins. The spider bites, the scorpion stings, and they both die.’
jean rhys
I seldom saw the only one I really liked, Willie. He was now at school and taken up with the companionship of other boys. Gone were the days when we were all little, when we used to hop about together in a huge stone bath. Willie and his sisters, me and my brothers. We used to splash each other and shriek. Now I was alone except for books.
Jean Rhys
review: A TWENTY MINUTE SILENCE FOLLOWED BY APPLAUSE by shawn wen
This review was originally published at Plougshares on 8.15.17
Odd and delightful, A Twenty Minute Silence Followed By Applause is an artful character study, entertaining portrait, and comprehensive investigation of a great modern myth.
full review here
