The Library

The ceiling of the Library of Congress is embossed with aluminum. Aluminum, the tour guide tells us, was a precious metal. Once. On the top there is a torch. Torches are prominently featured. As are: Minerva, owls, and women showing or unshowing one or both of their breasts, it varies a great deal. Minerva has […]

Sirens

The ceiling of our church is the underside of a piano, those rolls and baubles, carved rods, that make fancy furniture from rude trees. The service had been: nine slain. People had cried, well, Episcopalian cried– sniffling and wiping eyes. When I stood in the water the evening after the day at the beach, I […]

Parade

The Mermaid Parade was nice, the ride there was nicer. A female “sailor” with a “mustache” was standing next to a cooler, and what would probably become a tail. We got on the D train, and a guy asked us if anyone was going to Coney Island. Yes, I said. What is it like, he […]

Yours

Today a kid asked me what my religion was, I used to dodge that question, today I just told him. I don’t know why. Episcopalian. I mean Christian. Episcopalian. Did you, like, grow up in the church? Yeah. My family’s very religious. He’s Catholic. Other kid nodded. He’s Catholic. I’m nothing. I mean, I’m a […]