1 Anything cancels everything out. If each point is a singularity, thrusting all else aside for good, “good” takes the form of a throng of empty chairs. Or it’s ants swarming a bone. 2 I’m afraid I don’t love my mother who’s dead though I once – what does “once” mean? – did love her . So who’ll meet me over yonder? I don’t recognize the place names. Or I do, but they come from televised wars.
First published in Shiny, issue 13. Copyright © Rae Armantrout. Appears in Next Life (Wesleyan, 2007). Reprinted with permission of the author.