Images and Dialogue

1.
“Those are blossoms,” they had roast chicken, “it was windy,” and beet salad for dinner, “I couldn’t focus on the flowers,” she sipped her wine, “so I focused on the branches,” and regarded the images, “they look better,” as he described his day, “but the best one is of the entire tree.”

2.
A narrow pebble beach, “he isn’t dying,” where transparent waves reached the shore, “he’ll bury you,” the low sky was streaked with silver, “isn’t that what you always say?”

3.
“In the cabinet,” I was walking, “the one above the sink,” beside a long low wall, “the second shelf,” happy from I don’t know what, “it’s right there,” and yet I felt abandoned, “do you see it?”

4.
Janet held the phone in her left hand, “I thanked him for the time we shared,” while saying that she didn’t think they were right for each other, “he sounded surprised at first,” that she was very sorry, “and I don’t think we talked for more than five minutes,” but she really didn’t want to see him anymore, “he took it well I guess,” because it didn’t feel like they were right for each other, “at least until the surprise wore off,” suggesting that it probably had something to do with their difference in age, “but isn’t it always that way,” then assured James that he would be much happier with someone younger, “and then he asked if my decision had anything to do with you and I changed the subject,” who was equally ambitious, “that was when he got angry with me,” or a woman who could appreciate him for his writing, “and said that I was superficial,” because to be perfectly honest there had been many times when his single-mindedness had really put her off, “he even called me vapid,” and she countered by stating that she had never pretended to be an intellectual, “and claimed that I hadn’t given him a chance,” or had the slightest desire to continue being a cheerleader for an aspiring writer, “before hanging up on me.”

Donald Breckenridge

Notes:
3. Contains a line from “Hebdomeros” by Giorgio de Chirico (Exact Change ’92)
4. Is an excerpt from You Are Here (Starcherone Books ’09)