All rights reserved.<\/b><\/p>\n
Raining, duck into the used bookstore.
\nBHT. Before High Tech.
\nRows and rows of books.
\nI see her for a split second on one knee at the poetry section and know she is
\ndamned.
\nI want to whisper tenderly to her: \u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Know what?<\/em><\/p>\n We are kin.<\/p>\n You\u2019re also damned?<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019m damned to love the damned. Goose-stepping in a used bookstore?<\/em><\/p>\n She saw I was a Jew and goose-stepped to warn me to keep my distance. You are only half-Jewish.<\/em><\/p>\n Half is enough.<\/p>\n She was schizophrenic?<\/em><\/p>\n Whatever you want to call it. Heard of it. Never read it.<\/em><\/p>\n She was protecting her heart. Where was this? When?<\/em><\/p>\n Seattle, near the University of Washington. Why did your intended tenderness threaten her.<\/em><\/p>\n Do you know Plath\u2019s \u201cPoppies in October\u201d? I don\u2019t know it.<\/em> I know your great pain, I will share it.<\/p>\n And what does she do with a meaningless share? What would you do?<\/p>\n I wouldn\u2019t recognize her great pain, for starters.<\/em> I wouldn\u2019t put it that way.<\/p>\n It was long ago.<\/em> The memory was intact. Why now?<\/em><\/p>\n What did you say your name was?<\/p>\n Marlon.<\/em><\/p>\n Hyper-sensitive Method-acting brute who grappled and wept. I\u2019m doing the best I can.<\/em><\/p>\n There are more things on this benighted earth than are accounted for in your By Harold Jaffe All rights reserved. Raining, duck into the used bookstore. BHT. Before High Tech. Rows and rows of books. I see her for a split second on one knee at the poetry section and know she is damned. I want to whisper tenderly to her: \u201cI know.\u201d Know what? We are kin. You\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":1791,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1818","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1818"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1823,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1818\/revisions\/1823"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fictioninternational.sdsu.edu\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWe were at different stacks.
\nI was in the art section, Goya, I remember.
\nShe was in poetry.
\nWe each turned a corner and abruptly faced one another.
\nShe was goose-stepping.<\/p>\n
\nKeep my tenderness away from her.
\nInstantly, I understood her response to my brief initial glance.
\nHer response to my response to her great pain.<\/p>\n
\nIllnesses have different designations to suit the DSM.
\nDo you know Chekhov\u2019s Ward No. 6?<\/p>\n
\nThe goosestep flipped me.
\nI was awed by the rapidity of our exchange.
\nInstantly.
\nAs though we were attached hip-to-hip, chest to chest.<\/p>\n
\nThirty years ago.
\nWhen humans read books.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s in Ariel.<\/p>\n
\n Had she let you talk, you would have said: \u201cWe are kin.\u201d
\nWhat does that mean?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s sentimental.
\nAs if for your own benefit.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI don\u2019t see those things.<\/em>
\n If I did I wouldn\u2019t do anything.
\nCertain pain cannot be assuaged.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s haunted you all this time?<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThe haunting has only begun.<\/p>\n
\nYou carry that name, you should have feelings about what I\u2019ve been trying to
\nconvey.<\/p>\n
\nphilosophy, Marlon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"