Imaginary Vessels. Paisley Rekdal
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FOR MY FRIENDS
You think you do well to hide the little things in the big ones—but what if you were to hide the world in the world?
Chuang Tzu
We are truly ourselves only when we coincide with nothing, not even ourselves.
E.M. Cioran
Contents
When It Is Over, It Will Be Over
II. Go West
You’re
Mae West: Advice
Marriage
Censored
Freedom
Go West
The New Woman
Mae West: On Aging
“Celebrity” Striptease at Southern X-Posure
Confessional
Self-Portrait as Mae West One-Liner
Never
Prayer
Envoi
III
W.C. Fields Takes a Walk
Philip Larkin’s Koan
Once
Saturdays at Reynolds Work Release
Olive Oatman in Texas
Assemblage of Ruined Plane Parts, Vietnam Military Museum, Hanoi
IV. Shooting the Skulls: A Wartime Devotional
Portrait of F19: Male, 42 Years Old
Portrait of D6: Male, 38 Years Old
F21: Male, 37 Years Old
Devotional
Devotional
Portrait of F11: Female, 39 Years Old
F20: Male, 29 Years Old
Portrait of D19: Male, 41 Years Old
Portrait of D17: Female, 37 Years Old
C18: Male, 36 Years Old
Devotional
Devotional
Portrait of E4: Male, 34 Years Old
Devotional
Devotional
C2: Male, 42 Years Old
Portrait of E20: Female, 32 Years Old
C11: Female, 54 Years Old
Portrait of B4: Female, 34 Years Old
Portrait of C8: Male, 32 Years Old
V
Baucis and Philemon
Rhetoric
Irises
Monticello Vase
Birthday Poem
Mortal Love
The History of Paisley
Notes
About the Author
Also by Paisley Rekdal
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Special thanks
I
MURANO
It is not miraculous. Only a handful of silica, fire,
and then the blower twirls another knob of gold
on his metal pontil, dipping the tip into a pot
inlaid with spikes to make the burning globe
twist in upon itself as the man breathes out
and a thin neck bulges, wreathes into a spiral
like a unicorn horn; but we’re bored, he’s
bored, blowing and blowing the same shape over.
It takes no effort. He stares off through one