In Quest

If words were pixels I could lighten these shadows. If words were
pixels, my logic could be leavened. If words were binary, machines
would chuckle at the right moments. The sun, alas, will still be
reprehensible. I‘m not talking about death-dealing or its opposite,
but something anomalous I can’t disclose. Tell me your deepest
secret, as soon as I forget. There is this nagging lack, there is this
honeymoon of cones & rods as colorful as any Indian wedding.
Black, black is the rarity some of us are bound to crave. Call me
contrary, call me besotted with soot or unwilling to put this idea
beside its natural brother. What I won’t revisit is the Age of
Affront. You may vibrate with sympathy for a plethora of
accidental beauties, although they are no less probable than the rest
of us.

—

This selection comes from Susan Lewis’ book How to Be Another, available from Červená Barva Press. Purchase your copy here!

Susan Lewis lives in New York City and edits Posit (www.positjournal.com). In addition to How to be Another, her most recent books are This Visit (BlazeVOX [books], 2015) and State of the Union (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014). Her work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in The Awl, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Connotation Press, EOAGH, Gargoyle, Luna Luna, Otoliths, Ping Pong, Propeller, Raritan, Seneca Review, Verse, Word For/Word, and Yew. More at www.susanlewis.net.

Marika von Zellen has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Cornell College (no, not the one in Ithaca). She’s had poetry and fiction published in Open Field, Temporary Infinity, The Grin City Monthly, and the anthology Rock & Roll Saved My Soul. As an Editorial Assistant for Sundress, she’s copy-edited the book Picture Dictionary (2014); as a freelance editor she copy-edited the photography book Face It (2013). In the summer of 2012, she attended the Grin City Collective Artist Residency in Iowa. Besides writing, she enjoys theoretical physics, playing piano, ghost-hunting, climbing trees, and drinking good Czech beer. She’s also a scholar of Lewis Carroll.

                               Introduction to Anonymity (I)

Consider Hecuba. Consider the lilies. Consider the captain of any
team. Consider yourself lucky. Even your own mother forgets you.
You, too, can ignore the pain in just minutes a day. Refine your
superstitions, revive your age-old proclivity to fabulate. To be
flooded with faces, to be anointed, to be inundated with molecules
of jasmine or sheet metal or gold leaf or stagnant soil. Now, try
amputating that vestigial ego. Try building a dark edifice or another
dying species. Meditate upon the walls until you find a cave, a
hypodermic needle, or a childhood memory. Who do you want to
know? Who wants to know you?

—

This selection comes from Susan Lewis’ book How to Be Another, available from Červená Barva Press. Purchase your copy here!

Susan Lewis lives in New York City and edits Posit (www.positjournal.com). In addition to How to be Another, her most recent books are This Visit (BlazeVOX [books], 2015) and State of the Union (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014). Her work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in The Awl, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Connotation Press, EOAGH, Gargoyle, Luna Luna, Otoliths, Ping Pong, Propeller, Raritan, Seneca Review, Verse, Word For/Word, and Yew. More at www.susanlewis.net.

Marika von Zellen has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Cornell College (no, not the one in Ithaca). She’s had poetry and fiction published in Open Field, Temporary Infinity, The Grin City Monthly, and the anthology Rock & Roll Saved My Soul. As an Editorial Assistant for Sundress, she’s copy-edited the book Picture Dictionary (2014); as a freelance editor she copy-edited the photography book Face It (2013). In the summer of 2012, she attended the Grin City Collective Artist Residency in Iowa. Besides writing, she enjoys theoretical physics, playing piano, ghost-hunting, climbing trees, and drinking good Czech beer. She’s also a scholar of Lewis Carroll.

                                                    Beloved

I want to thank you for the cage you made. As you know, it fits my
narrow outlook to a T, better than the one I made myself. That
one, you may recall, replaced my original home. Those were the
days! Remember? Back then we were always fed & watered, &
could sometimes touch fingers through the bars. Forgive me for
wondering why you continue to concern yourself with my wellbeing.
I would have thought, with those instinctively kinetic &
incessantly expanding offspring, you’d have your hands full enough
with (only the best) locks & bars & other paraphernalia of affection
& concern.

—

This selection comes from Susan Lewis’ book How to Be Another, available from Červená Barva Press. Purchase your copy here!

Susan Lewis lives in New York City and edits Posit (www.positjournal.com). In addition to How to be Another, her most recent books are This Visit (BlazeVOX [books], 2015) and State of the Union (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014). Her work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in The Awl, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Connotation Press, EOAGH, Gargoyle, Luna Luna, Otoliths, Ping Pong, Propeller, Raritan, Seneca Review, Verse, Word For/Word, and Yew. More at www.susanlewis.net.

Marika von Zellen has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Cornell College (no, not the one in Ithaca). She’s had poetry and fiction published in Open Field, Temporary Infinity, The Grin City Monthly, and the anthology Rock & Roll Saved My Soul. As an Editorial Assistant for Sundress, she’s copy-edited the book Picture Dictionary (2014); as a freelance editor she copy-edited the photography book Face It (2013). In the summer of 2012, she attended the Grin City Collective Artist Residency in Iowa. Besides writing, she enjoys theoretical physics, playing piano, ghost-hunting, climbing trees, and drinking good Czech beer. She’s also a scholar of Lewis Carroll.

                                                  Sometimes

I hear a voice, although it doesn’t hear me. It says little of interest.
Perhaps I should learn another language, or invent one. I’m trying
to understand the Song of the Invisible Bird. I also incline towards
Modern Paleontology. Once, someone gave me a sample of
Spirited Inquiry, but it didn’t take. Horses & dogs woo me. Even
the grass has something to sell. Gimme is the word I would most
like to quash, with or without a subpoena. Sure, birds do it, bees do it,
but I only have these ancient opposable thumbs. Soon, I’m hoping
to be less awed by the presence of greatness. Dusk & dawn might
be in for a surprise. Whole continents could be affected. You
might see a flowering of pan-atheistic revelry. Forbidden
indulgence will be legislatively annulled. Even the boldest blossoms
will count themselves out. Pay attention, or the clamor in your
head might very well prevail.

—

This selection comes from Susan Lewis’ book How to Be Another, available from Červená Barva Press. Purchase your copy here!

Susan Lewis lives in New York City and edits Posit (www.positjournal.com). Her most recent books are This Visit (forthcoming), How to Be Another, and State of the Union. Her work is forthcoming or has appeared recently in such places as The Awl, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Connotation Press, Dusie, EOAGH, Gargoyle, Otoliths, Ping Pong, Propeller, Raritan, Seneca Review, and Verse. More at www.susanlewis.net.

Marika von Zellen has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Cornell College (no, not the one in Ithaca). She’s had poetry and fiction published in Open Field, Temporary Infinity, The Grin City Monthly, and the anthology Rock & Roll Saved My Soul. As an Editorial Assistant for Sundress, she’s copy-edited the book Picture Dictionary (2014); as a freelance editor she copy-edited the photography book Face It (2013). In the summer of 2012, she attended the Grin City Collective Artist Residency in Iowa. Besides writing, she enjoys theoretical physics, playing piano, ghost-hunting, climbing trees, and drinking good Czech beer. She’s also a scholar of Lewis Carroll.

                                               Let’s

talk this over like rational actors. Convention, convection, let’s call
the whole thing off. Let’s say I went first. Let’s say you never did.
Let’s agree to be disagreeable. Let’s go play in quicksand, quickly.
Let’s not bother with the rules. Let’s not amount to a hill of beans.
Let’s order something to share, like vinegar & quicklime, a mug of
gold dust, & a deconstructed chain of command. That’s what I
thought of, but let’s admit it, the menu goes on forever, & I’ll
never appreciate what you’ve been through. Also, I promise to stay
open to new intrusions.

—

This selection comes from Susan Lewis’ book How to Be Another, available from Červená Barva Press. Purchase your copy here!

Susan Lewis lives in New York City and edits Posit (www.positjournal.com). In addition to How to be Another, her most recent books are This Visit (BlazeVOX [books], 2015) and State of the Union (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014). Her work is forthcoming or has recently appeared in The Awl, Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Connotation Press, EOAGH, Gargoyle, Luna Luna, Otoliths, Ping Pong, Propeller, Raritan, Seneca Review, Verse, Word For/Word, and Yew. More at www.susanlewis.net.

Marika von Zellen has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Cornell College (no, not the one in Ithaca). She’s had poetry and fiction published in Open Field, Temporary Infinity, The Grin City Monthly, and the anthology Rock & Roll Saved My Soul. As an Editorial Assistant for Sundress, she’s copy-edited the book Picture Dictionary (2014); as a freelance editor she copy-edited the photography book Face It (2013). In the summer of 2012, she attended the Grin City Collective Artist Residency in Iowa. Besides writing, she enjoys theoretical physics, playing piano, ghost-hunting, climbing trees, and drinking good Czech beer. She’s also a scholar of Lewis Carroll.