#mar. 14

From walking the pet duck to duck costumes to duck-headed women -- a collection of vintage duck imagery.

Photo: Associated Press via Kommersant

No ‘ever after.’

from Phantom of The Opera

I. There was an apocalyptic trifecta: earthquake, meltdown, tsunami, and people died. I don’t know what to do, shake, melt or swim. I’m sorry, I really am.   II. The rainbow is wrinkling in the rain. There is a giant crack in the Earth. The Gods found a new spectrum playing baseball with the planets. We got hit the hardest. What’s the prize of a home run?   III. I dream of explosions and overflowsions, shake and quake between snooze buttons heavy with my broken heart, my empty heart. It hurts. What would have happened if I had told you I loved you earlier? I miss you, that’s all.   IV. She is lonely. She cries every time an answer makes more questions, She spends too much of her life looking for a single answer.     She asks “What’s the point?” “What am I paying for?” “Do we ever stop paying?” “When we’re done, aren’t we dead?”   V. The answer is always “because.”   VI. I want to give her an imaginary world with imaginary friends and imaginary lives. She is an only child It explains a lot.   VII. Circle the appropriate answer:   A. $2.00 for coffee creamer B. $10.00 for the shuttle C. A penance for negative thoughts D. My life as a mastercard commercial E. All of the above (Answer E makes me doubt myself, but maybe doubt is good when choosing all of the above)   VIII. I am not whole But I am not broken Everyone has a someone, but my someone and I never belonged to each other in the first place.   IX. Lists made in the mystical magical manifold of my mind seem to slip away fast. There is so much to do and so much will never be done. I want to get from “to-do” to “done.” Maybe I should start dreaming and stop asking why. Take the time to remember to do the things I don’t understand. Maybe over-standing is easier. I overstate that I’m underwhelmed and undermine that I oversee the upside. Mindful of my misgivings, I prefer to imagine life experience to experience, memory to memory. Scattered attention makes us feel like we’re getting more things done. But really we’re just doing more things badly. When I lose a memory, do I pay for it the next morning? or long after? I’d rather be overcomplicated and look for more things to ask. A good question is most of the answer. Sometimes the universe and all beyond does not let us understand. This “theory of everything” can be summed up in a point. The point is that “I don’t know #life.”     X. The last moments of our lives are tragic, stunning, intimate. We have all returned, but our thoughts are still on their way. Hopefully when they arrive, they come slowly.   That’s when the magic happens.

I heard my imaginary friend died. The lawn has turned into a jungle. My psychic advised me otherwise. The man on TV told me to stay tuned. I’m attending the opening of my garage door. My chocolate-appreciation class meets that night. The queen of roses has left me with nothing but thorns.

All my favorite people in one room. The lamp flickers. We’re reunited. There’s chatter about “Friday” on a Sunday evening Laughter at the stupidity that wealth breeds. My roommate is the only studious one, eyes glued intently at her macbook screen. I sit at my desk chewing bubble gum, blowing bubbles Organically autotuned voices People are watching TV in the lounge across the hall. I see the glow of cigarettes in the courtyard. Everywhere, friends are catching up after spring break.