Historical Fiction
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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 abdicate from your scholarship here at this universityto walk away from the vacation of your dormitory from the evacuation of your fortunes from this wittenbergthe weekly assembly gathers mondaydeparts from the town at dawnlet shame creep heat blush up your neck into your face before youwalk across the empiresmell 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 when once you saw her across the dance floorthen looked at her a hundred timeswhen your religion becamethe hamster urge that’s buttonedcaged in your embroidered jerkin Continue reading
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(the horatio monologues) xx
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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(the horatio monologues) ixx
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
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(the horatio monologues) xviii
to the bottom of a first page of parchment sew the topof a secondand to the bottom of the second sewthe top of a thirdsew until the page islong enough to host the names of two thousand menand beside their names their signatures or their marks Continue reading
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(the horatio monologues) xvii
xviitell him you want to find a man like heone who plays watten1 at a table in a tavernwho sits naked in the smock he sleeps ina nightshirt bought from a ragmanwhite linen unwashed time yellowed tannedby fireplace smoke and sweattrousers fadedto beige and threadbarebarefoota squatter from an abandoned housewith a wife to return to Continue reading
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(the horatio monologues) xvi
want his wife to behis accomplice who removesthe purse from the pouchthe brooch on a chain from the neckthe ruby on the ring from the finger removesthe doublet of brocade from the torsothe pluderhosen (1) made of silk from the trunkpointed poulaines (2) from the feet wanthis wife to chew a leaf of henbane (3) Continue reading
About Me
I have a day.
Jake's Flea Market 