~~Quarter Cento~~

The Dissonance of Music

She sang beyond the genius of the sea
My wife here takes three mortal hours to dress her self
She turned away from the mirror slowly
For she was the maker of the song, she sang
A vague terror seized
I am lying in bed
In praise of love
She came around to my side and took me in her arms
‘you aint never gonna be nothing but a bum”
I was clammy cold with a sweat
I must have loved my wife, I know I did
The room was different now, changing, getting thinner
There is no comfort it seems, in a world of objects
It seems that at that moment she began to inhabit the world
I will not fight, will not interfere
That was her song, for she was the maker
If you could love me, I’d do anything
She left the lit room
She knows. She must know and
There is only this
The clocks in the house about to strike the half hour
She knows she will leave. She is herself
She would prefer that no one ask where she’s going
The close of an ordinary day
I could hear my heart beating, even when the room went dark

Readings used for quarter cento
1. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
2. Michael Cunningham’s The Hours
3. Wallace Steven’s The Idea Of Order at Key West
4. Joyce’s The Dead
5. Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
6. James Baldwin’s Previous Condition: A Story