http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/hemingway-mailer-vonnegut-afterlives/ Norbert Blei's Poetry Dispatch and other Notes from the Underground. “We live to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection,” said Anaїs Nin. Fri, 17 May 2013 23:30:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/hemingway-mailer-vonnegut-afterlives/#comment-365 Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:41:35 +0000 http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/?p=826#comment-365 The windscreen wipers wave back and forth. I wipe the tears away and see him disappear into the torrent. I wonder if he’s cold and remember my mother warning me about wearing damp clothes. She’d be staring into the mirror and flailing an arm around as though a wasp were attacking her; hairspray hissing out in all directions; plastic hair brush in the other hand, the pointed end jabbing her hair into place. It would make me hypothermic, she’d say.

]]> http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/hemingway-mailer-vonnegut-afterlives/#comment-352 Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:22:21 +0000 http://poetrydispatch.wordpress.com/?p=826#comment-352 After the accident it became harder and harder to see how well he’d done for himself.
Everything became harder; barbed, dark, scary.
I used to make a mental note to leave the house at least once a day.
Then it became once a week.
I’d make up for this by helping any old or infirm people across the street. Not for them; to make me feel better, you see?
Once, I walked a very elderly lady across St. Vitus Street. When we got to the other side she said, “Can you manage the rest of the way on your own?”
I stopped after that.
Well, it all did.

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