I turn the page and find geology notes. Again: a polaroid of feet. Again: a diary entry.
Today I climbed the big rocks in the cemetery where April is buried. There were many big trees. I climbed a big rock and then a big tree, and then my cell phone went off and joined the cacophony of insects. This all happened in Professor's lecture on environmental law, which isn't really about law but the natural history of New York City. Did you know that Manhattan Island increased three times in size because of landfill? That the Cotton Club used to be a beach and open water? That over 75 lakes and 75 streams of New York City are all gone, obliterated by development? Professor says it took millions years for everything in this moment to fall into place. I wonder how many more years it will take for all to grow, endure, and decay, be reduced to its crumbling bones, a testament to its growth, endurance, and decay, more ponderous and pertinent than Professor's drone?
The Eskimos have 200 words for snow. We have 200 words for ripping someone off. Knowledge of the law is not an element of violation.
Encounter with the Cheshire Cat of My Dreams
I split open batteries, and inside each is a dead ginger kitten: trouble ahead, according to my dream dictionary. Expect misery on the 16th and ecstasy on the 21st, says my April horoscope. Today is the 16th, and there is a black cat nibbling on the rosebush in the backyard. “I'm not your pet,” he says. “You always wanted your pet, but your pet never wanted you.” The black cat grins and hops over the fence. Before I can wish for all the bad things that ever happened in my life to have never happened, and for all the bad things that will happen to never happen, the winds of solitude blow me over the edge of infinity. I see one last sunrise, hug all my familiars, touch the corners of the grin that so haunts me.
* Kimberly Go says “As for my autobiographical note, you can simply say that I made some unconventional choices over the course of the past year, and I'm not sure sure what I've gotten myself into. My poems have been published in elimae and Word Riot.”