The Family: a natural wonder
The Family: a natural wonder
fate /fāt/
one or more people or things already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge the matter at hand used to point forward to a following qualifying or defining clause or phrase the paper that rolls the wheel that turns the terrace that freezes the trend that slows the blank that blanks the road that folds she taught herself the signs used to make a generalized reference to something rather than identifying a particular instance he hoped to speak of sprawling and superior donuts if only he could find the materials enough of a particular thing the more she rode the elevator the less frightening it became adverbially indicating with comparatives how one varies in relation to another he was the facilitator in the room indicating that someone is the best known or most important of that name or type a gentle intimate comedic development an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation the end of civilization the east wing of the mall the relationship between a part and a whole this type of privacy governed by a noun expressing the fact that a category is vague a planned public or social occasion a thing that happens one of importance the time of her life she pointed toward a spot beyond the trees beyond the time a likeness was established or continuing to happen after a specified time or event when refering to someone or something for the first time in a text or a conversation a citizen dressed as a sheep in wolf’s clothing walks out of the room then into a bar indicating membership to a species to a class to a buying club he was a genius when expressing rates or ratios in to or for each of which he congratulates himself five times a day a human being regarded as an individual the elevator operator was the last person to see her the mute button on the remote control was broken influencing people's behavior and the course of events he was appointed to control all the lawns on the block to determine the behavior or supervise the running of no attempt was made to control for variations the control group was let go they regarded the discomfort as naturally occuring considering someone or something in a specified way hailstones as big as tennis balls she watched him as he pushed all the buttons to indicate that something happened during a time when something else was taking place he was a genius he dressed as he would have if he was having guests or riding down to the mezzanine having made a firm decision and being resolved to not change it he was determined to press all the buttons to indicate the means of achieving something by any means necessary the ability to act in a particular way especially as a faculty or quality she envied the power of a box tied to a piece of rope individual acts constituting group acts get covered get dressed get down- stairs to greet the guests so as to go past the elevator passed by a family of bats flew by a pack of geniuses made room on the couch as a variant spelling of bye as in by by when referring to someone or something for the last time in a text or conversation a man walks out of a bar then into a room a manifestation a force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature a super natural addition to human intuition
A Seasonal Question For You
Hi I just started shaving
my armpits in order to stay
clean I don’t live with my mom
or any women and what kind
of product should you use I really
appreciate it what about down
there how often should you shave
your private part plus what about
private part hair can you tell me
the name of any how long does
it take you to shave your armpits
and legs I'm just wondering to see
how often I should shave both
my armpits and my legs and how
long it should take thanks again
for your kind helpful answer I really
want to shave there but I’m worried
about little red bumps I really
want to shave there but Idk
how to like up or down and
the flaps what if I cut myself please
reply I’m gonna use the powder
cause my mom doesn’t really
buy me vaginal things I haven’t
touched that area with a razor I
wanna shave down there but I’m
scared of the little bumps and
the itchiness afterwards I would
trim it down with scissors but
will the red bumps still appear
should I or should I not do it
what is the current style as to hair
down there if I do I’ll start bleeding
my mom doesn’t know that I
have pubic hair should I try again
can someone answer pat’s question
totally bare or landing strip
so to speak natural unless
showing in bathing suit LOL like
not to sound promiscuous so
confused and pretty much scared of
any pain I want to start shaving
but am unsure what area
is supposed to be shaved clean
and what should just be trimmed
should the labia be shaved clean
and the area above trimmed does
anyone else get this I was told
to go with the grain so I think
that’s why I got so frustrated I am
seeing a wonderful guy
that hinted it would be better
if my area was a bit trimmed up I
cut myself during that first attempt
has anyone else ever felt that way about
the hair down there guys what should I
do or should I wax I have a bf I
might be getting some so
should I shave it all away or
just a little I have a date tomorrow
at 11 AM with a guy I’ve known
since primary school really
uncomfortable feeling like I have
some bush growing down there
should I shave my whole vagina
I’m worried it will like grow
further up onto my back is this normal
so confused and pretty much
scared of any pain there are times
that I glance at my area and I
sort of miss the hair I felt like
nothing was being accomplished
the hair makes me really nervous
A Common Amnesia
But not yet have we solved the incantation of this whiteness, and learned why it appeals with such power to the soul; and more strange and far more portentous—why, as we have seen, it is at once the most meaning symbol of spiritual things, nay, the very veil of the Christian’s Deity; and yet should be as it is, the intensifying agent in things the most appalling to mankind.
–Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 1851
white butcher paper wrapping the white bagel with the white sesame seeds inside white wax paper white spray paint tagging the framing store on metropolitan before 1691 the word white did not exist white letters of Brooklyn Seoul six white people in the bagel store white napkins the white Nissan sedan parked across the street left over dirty white snow before 1691 the word white did not exist in a legal document the white help wanted sign in the bagel store window me a white girl sitting under the bright white light bulb that many things I do or do not do think or do not think say or do not say are related to this “fact” the pistachio ice cream green even though it is supposed to be white white finding a way a way to be visible or invisible when it needs to be the white coffee mug found on driggs street the white coffee mug taken from leon botstein’s dinner party the white macbook charger soon to be obsolete those fuckers plugged into the white power strip in 1691 the word white was used for the first time in a legal document previously the christian and english indentured servants in jamestown were referred to as christian and english indentured servants but then they were called white the white faux down comforter with ink stains and cat hair the white light on the white windowsill then the other indentured servants who did not have black or brown skin came to be called white white drugs all the white noise all the white pages the white backs of family pictures bayridge 1978 super white whiteness was extended to the poor whites separating their condition from those of african descent encouraging them to hold their heads a little bit higher I’d say it was a pretty successful move even today I see some white folks holding their heads a little bit higher even if they won’t remember why the large white book about the sun the white part of the eye coconut oil white when solid
ALEX CUFF was born in Bay Ridge and grew up in the suburbs of Babylon, Long Island. She currently lives in Brooklyn where she teaches tenth grade at a public school and edits No, Dear magazine. Her writing can be found online in Sink Review, Leveler and Two Serious Ladies; and in print in Diner Journal. She is a graduate of the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College.
Let’s Go Swimming
I.
Stories cannot repeat themselves when people are involved.
The man walking on water, rifle slung over shoulder, should serve as a warning.
Everything about the day is an inside-out yellow so establish the distance between you, your
next conversation and your executioner.
Somewhere someone is using flattery.
Somewhere someone is talking about killing a squirrel, needing a haircut, pulling a curtain
closed.
Noon is scented with these decisions.
Sounds of water like the unbuckling of a belt indicate that sex is nearer.
If you dress in disguise and enter a distressing situation, you may be obliged to remain based on
the false premise.
Somewhere an iced cake with your name waits in a wall papered kitchen while you shuffle
photographs of shape and color.
These movements are governed by the bored arms of a strong audience.
Your fans have not yet been called into being.
When they arrive, they will help us build our new room.
II.
If the water is littered with seaweed or gelatinous creatures, I will swim in it.
If the water is coated in sulphuric outer space foam – and you know what I’m talking about – I
will get in.
If the water is garrisoned with empty bags of doritos, cigarette butts and rows of voyeurs, I will
still get in the water.
An underwater reed is a quiet reed.
Events occurring in water could be described as ceremonial, like a baptism, an underwater
promissory note to god.
Baptismal fonts are not large enough to swim in.
I am often misplacing diffidence for soundlessness.
When I am tired of my things, gestures displace sound.
Everything I put in this drawer belongs to me.
If this drawer were placed in the middle of a busy intersection it would be run over before
picked over.
There would be injury before objects could be claimed for use.
Goggles and steel wool would no longer be goggles and steel wool.
Family dinners would be reduced to a plate of hostile gestures.
When trees can’t get through to people they turn their attention to buildings.
Throughout the year paper fails and ducks ascend a lake
with inquiry more logical than a recipe.
III.
Everyone is present when I undress He-man and bury him in the backyard under the swing set.
The gamble is whether he will remain underground or tunnel his way back into his armor.
The probability of this depends on whether he is able to swim.
In walking the distance between here and the storm door leading to the basement, it is easy to
lose count of your steps.
It is not important to retrace an exact path but it is to be exact in enumeration.
Walking may be the only thing left.
Carrying a sword will keep you from having to explain yourself to a group of historians when
they follow you to a snow-packed jetty and lower you slowly into the bay.
It is still winter but do not be discouraged by the temperature of the water.
There is no honest road back to autumn and its broad leaf.
If administered in sheets, water will quell the need to destroy small left over things.
If you pull all eight legs from a spider’s body counting to ten between each gentle tug, you still
will not have arrived.
The thought of coming up stands in conflict to the distance between you and the surface.
Eye contact, like smoking, is nearly impossible underwater.
I’m thinking about making important decisions for you.
If we act now, things will stay dry for a long time.
levelheaded: Let’s Go Swimming
This poem begins with an invitation: “Let’s Go Swimming.” It’s simple enough, serving as an introduction to the poem’s preoccupation with water and establishing a directly conversational connection with the reader. More importantly (and more subtly), the title tells us how to read the poem. It lets us know that as we read, we will be “swimming.” We will be moving around a realm where things are muted and blurred, where things float past us without full comprehension.
The first line of the poem also provides some guidance. The speaker starts out by telling us what “Stories cannot” do. It’s an immediate cue that we won’t be following a particular narrative, or that whatever narrative we get may not be “true” in a certain sense. For instance, “The man walking on water” in the following line brings to mind a recognizable biblical moment. But when it’s coupled with the “rifle slung over shoulder,” we are suddenly somewhere else.
Something similar happens at the beginning of the third section. We’re presented with a story about the burial of “He-man” (likely a figurine). The first three or four sentences describe and wonder about the burial. The fifth, “It’s not important to retrace an exact path but it is to be exact in enumeration,” steps away from the narrative to offer a kind of explanatory epigram. This line drops the “He-man” narrative to remind us it’s not about “story” but abstractly about “enumeration.”
The poem takes many turns like this, jumping from specificity to ambiguity. And even in moments of specificity the poem leaps from thought to thought. Take these lines in the middle of section II: “Baptismal fonts are not large enough to swim in. / I am often misplacing diffidence for soundlessness.“ There is a disconnect between these two ideas. There isn’t much immediate connection between the two lines. The poem consistently operates within this disconnect, as if the quiet area of thought between the lines is most important.
It’s also worth looking at the poem’s form, which is mostly consistent. With one exception (at the end of section II), every line break occurs at the end of a sentence or at the page’s margin. This gives each line (or each sentence, rather) a special autonomy. The sentences begin and end, then we move on to the next sentence. It all seems rather obvious, but since we’re used to poems with sentences broken up amid several lines, it feels like this poem’s doubled up on the separation between lines and ideas. That one exception in section II uses the word “logical” (and “recipe”) to reiterate that even when language is organized logically there is an immense space between the words, the phrases, and the messages.
– The Editors