Writing

Dear 1849,

I’m supposed to close on you in about two days. The lawyer keeps calling it “finalizing the transaction,” but that’s not really what this is.

One afternoon, a friend of mine asked, rather cynically, “Why should we care about the humanities?” Aren’t we “wasting” our dear time painting pictures, writing novels, and endlessly debating philosophical issues?

I don’t know

If there is one thing

I can thank

For getting me through life

I can thank all the people who

Stood beside me

There was a man who worked on the corner of Bellevue and St. James six days a week, who only came out at dusk to have a smoke. I usually saw him from a distance, across from the park. He was weary, very weary.

Once upon a time,

A woman won a lottery.

But she did not keep

The tens of thousands of dollars.

Where did they go, then? 

1)

I think that when he looks at pianos, 

The keys are stained and worn in 

With grooves and dents,

In the shapes of his fingerprints,