welcome to the neighborhood.
welcome to the neighborhood.
Mrs. Levesque [the new widow] will put me to use as witness, as crutch, as Kleenex, as proxy for Jean-Pierre—a temporary substitute for all the neighbors, church folk, friends and family members who will soon come bursting though her door to share her grief. I am a transitional love object, an objet d’amour; I am Rab-Rab, Jesus, Mama. What a strange privilege it is to be so used.
The lieutenant will muse, as we drive south together, “It’s like standing right on the hinge, while the whole world swings around, and that widow, or that mother or dad’s life is suddenly completely different. I’ve been a game warden for thirty-two years. I can’t think of how many people I’ve had to tell about a death, how many people have that memory of me standing there, saying those words. It’s really something to be on the hinge of so many stories.”
“It is,” I say. “It’s really something.
The lieutenant will muse, as we drive south together, “It’s like standing right on the hinge, while the whole world swings around, and that widow, or that mother or dad’s life is suddenly completely different. I’ve been a game warden for thirty-two years. I can’t think of how many people I’ve had to tell about a death, how many people have that memory of me standing there, saying those words. It’s really something to be on the hinge of so many stories.”
“It is,” I say. “It’s really something.
– Kate Braestrup, Here If You Need Me
this is how i party / phillips gallery
How Then Shall We Pray?
O G-dde,
remember not only the men and women of goodwill
but also those of ill will
but do not remember the suffering they have inflicted on us
remember the fruits we brought to this suffering
our comradeship, our loyalty,
our humility,
the courage, the generosity,
the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this
and when they come to judgement
let all the fruits that we have borne
be their forgiveness.
amen.
written on wrapping paper
by a dead child’s body
in a death camp.
dad/anderson house garden
Sometimes, I feel like they take the baby out and put the guilt in.
– Arianna Huffington, Women and Power Panel, WomenDeliver Conference
wilson house
I was a very ancient twelve; my views at that age would have done credit to a Civil War veteran. I am much younger now that I was at twelve, or anyway, less burdened.
– Flannery O’Conner, 1956
