When asked, if you say “I do not dance,” the next day an infant is born without feet … That’s what Sister Mary said … Then yesterday my friend said that he heard the world is in the fourth stage … that the fourth is our final … our worst … that the Dharma bull is standing on one hoof … I said You’re right … And we both felt energized … exultant even … I turned on the news … maybe meltdown … maybe revolution … We listened … This fourth stage … such science … such … fruit … They interlace apricot with plum … and the outcome … ! Plus … say they take you to the ICU … if you get shot in the head … if that happens … they can use these tiny copper tools … they can remove half your skull … … This was all mostly me talking but I guess I wasn’t listening … I was eating …
It was a feast … Kiwi abounded … Kiwi ice sculptures … Kiwi fondue … Kiwi boats … Kiwi fountains … I heard my friend’s voice … He was saying … Kiwi … but with a lot of … pain … As if the kiwi were killing him … I looked up from … my trough … His voice was coming from … the radio … ? There was a radio … lodged in the kiwi gateau … There was kiwi veal … I’m sorry I said … to the invisible host proffering the kiwi bacon … I’m sorry … I’m a vegetarian … There was even … now that I was looking … encased in brown fur … a kiwi person … I’m sorry … I can’t … Where was my friend … He was so polite … Even among cannibals … If asked to eat children … He would acquiesce … He once told me … he’d rather eat than dance …
from Madame XFind more by Darcie Dennigan at the library
Copyright © 2012 Darcie Dennigan
Used with the permission of Canarium Books.