Historical Fiction
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when they cease to be your friends
when they cease to be your friendsit begins when they wake your daily companions the changebegins one morning the firstmorning after the annual season returns they waketheir lives dressed in silks and velvets embroideries abandoned and in their sleep smocks and in the woolen breeches of workers they go out of their roomswhen the oat… Continue reading
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the prince’s mother
the prince’s motherthe elector’s widowjohann of brandenberg who’sappointed regent over saxonyhe adores herand his adoration tolerateswhat proclamations she issues from dresden Continue reading
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you learn solitude
you learn solitudeyour classmates all are like older unclesi haven’t read anywhere that the soul has shutters that swing open nor have i heard anywherethat it has doorsyour peers when they strolluphill the street to market squaredown lane through the meadowwhen they wade from the grassshores of the elbe into the shallowswhen the light of… Continue reading
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these two fingers
these two fingersi asked that you place themhere on your wrist like thisyour liver turnsyour banquet into blood i saidit ebbs upriver through your arteries to your heart i askedif you could feel it ebb from your heartupstream through your veinsyou said you couldyour heart’s in good health i saidnow you sayit’s not that heart… Continue reading
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with nora removed
with nora removedby a dialect for every fingerand by another for every toegone to antwerp to learn to speak a dutch you don’t understandi asked that you remove your shirtand barechested lieface up and flat backed to the flooryour eyes became a mouththey uttered that i’d cursed in my supplications as i prayed to slice… Continue reading
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i hear that you’ve sworn to abdicate
i hear that you’ve sworn to abdicatefrom your scholarship here at this university to walk awayfrom the vacation of your dormitory from the evacuationof your fortunes from wittenberg the weekly assembly gathers mondaydeparts from the town at dawn i want shame to creep heat blushup your neck into your faceas you walk across the empire… Continue reading
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confess if you will or don’t
confess if you will or don’tthat you’d have bedded your hand on a bible to swearto the lies that you had no want to seethe rouge on her cheek to hearhow her voice soundedto smell the alcohol in her perfumeto taste her kisses lieand tell me you wanted only to ask her name Continue reading
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let’s speak of nora
let’s speak of noraforsake what you vowed that night at the elector’s ball once you saw her across the dance floorthen looked at her a hundred timesyour religion becamethe hamster urge that’s buttonedcaged in your embroidered jerkin Continue reading
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robbers and the rulers
robbers and the rulersof the domains through which you’d gothey watch the roads for passing fortunes they can seizeor for fortunate people they can spend on a ransom rather than four guilders paid at the first of each of the five months that followpay for the first three months when he signsand for the last… Continue reading
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an apprentice should be tempted
an apprentice should be tempted to abandon his apprenticeship pay double what’s paid to an apprentice four guilders when he signsor makes his mark at the bottom of the page Continue reading
About Me
I have a day.
