Author: Grant Barrett
Plague
This is Shakespeare’s sonnet 114: Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you, Drink up the monarch’s plague, this flattery? Or whether shall I say mine eye saith true, And that your love taught it this alchemy, To make of monsters and things indigest Such cherubins as your sweet self resemble, Creating every bad…
Lacy
Lacy launched a new project for the homeless this week. They were out, the weather was warm, before these last few days of snow. They have resumed their stations. Their clothes stink of mildew, urine. Their bodies smell like leftover turkey. Lacy, if you remember, comes from privilege. She assumes there was once civilization in…
Gamin
From the Dictionary of American Regional English, a publication I highly recommend. If your local library does not have it, you might encourage them to consider purchasing it. “gaum” v2 Alsp sp gawm, gorm [EDD gaum v.4 “To stare idly or vacantly.. gape.. be stupid, awkward”] chiefly NEng Cf gaming adj 1. with “around”: To…
Grade
Comments written on a 700-word American literature essay just returned by my instructor M. Smith, the kind of graduate student who stares at the floor when he lectures. First paragraph: “Excellent gloss.” Second paragraph: “Good.” Words underlined. “Good.” Fourth paragraph: “Excellent.” Then, suddenly: “Have you shown this? How does this fit into your argument?” Sixth…
Tourists
I thought, for just a second, that you were talking about Union Square in New York, say, a hundred years ago when it still had cable cars and they would come ripping around Deadman’s Curve where Broadway and 14th Street rails used to do an insane jog and jerk. Used to kill, like, a dozen…
Bowery
It can still happen. Susan’s friend Caryn was found dead on the third floor of the Bowery Hotel after two days in the city, her body sweating from steam heat and an overdose of heroin. Three cops threw a rug over her head. At 17, her internship represented a precociousness also marked by graduation from…
Wool
With patience Wool waded through the paperwork, the body search, the questioning, the handing out of uniform, wash cloth and soap. The only thing that had really bounced around his skull was whether there were razors. His new haircut needed maintenance, and he knew that the back of his neck was prone to develop an…
Lois
She sent me an e-mail thanking me for something, and she put “thank you” in a number of different languages. One of them said “shenoragalem.” I sent her a message back saying, No problem, but what the hell language is “shenoragalem”? In the meantime, I hit the Internet trying to figure it out. I find…
A gift to C., on the eve of her departure
This Week In The News. In a week, three of us stand and laugh, having a good time. But we are a person short so we go home early. The next week, I call. My friend’s roommate answers and we both laugh after a second and keep on laughing cause we both know I forgot…
Crowds
Listening to the radio, I hear the crowds cheering at election primary rallies. They sound fake. College-aged women yelling “wooooo” and the ball-cap hatted undergrad men yelling individually in imitation of the roar they perceive when watching television. There is no difference between the crowd noise, no matter the politician, no matter the location, or…