Mary Shaw

11/04/2015

i couldn't see and still don't

the point of that oversized suit behind the cake we had chosen for our portrait.

except there was something about the repetition, the exact reprise of a rhythm that would ease our soul.

and clearly, this rhythm would have as much validity in space, taking on the form of a pattern that could be infinitely played with, as i did in these vibrations which, making up sound, result in speech, 

 in words and music. 

so we both agreed on this principle and committed ourselves to feeding the beast of regularity so that we could tame him and could count rhythms on our fingers that would never cease.

but just behind this process, there was also a persona, or perhaps a character, whom we wished to honor also on his birthday. and while we were interested in portraying his whole bust and had no idea of cropping the top of him or making him smaller, we had no use at all for his bottom, his legs or pants, which were hugely oversized.

so i kept trying to fold them and throw them up toward the closet shelf where they might be stored for a fortnight, till we could retrieve them blindly. and then

     give them away.

 Mary Shaw est professeure de littérature française des dix-neuvième et vingtième siècles à l'Université de Rutgers (New Jersey).  Outre ses travaux universitaires, elle a publié deux livres pour enfants ainsi qu'un recueil de poésie intitulé Album Without Pictures (2008).