Stir crazy.
Worked from home in Jersey for two days on account of the air, or lack of it. Nothing good to eat at home. Intense longing for Brooklyn: its open all hours conveniences. Stepped out at nine o'clock on Friday to walk to ShopRite, saw two young deer standing in the dark cul-de-sac, spotlit by the too-bright street lights, no mama in sight. Spoke to them softly. "She'll be back, hang tight, little ones." Thought: to hell with Brooklyn.
Down the block: said hello to neighbors and their babies returning from the concert in the park, chairs strapped to their backs. What was it? A Jon Bon Jovi cover band. Fitting. In the ShopRite, picked things unlinked by logic, Yukon potatoes, plums, apples, ciabatta rolls, havarti and cheddar, Ronnybrook chocolate milk, a bar of Milka chocolate, Fruit and Nut variety, because S'mores sold out. Reached for the shopping cart behind me, without looking, while studying ice cream options, felt only air. An an older man chuckled to see it. "Keep going," he said. No coffee ice cream. "Shoppers, your ShopRite closes in fifteen minutes." Gave up, checked out, walked home.
The deer had vanished. Inhaled a ciabatta roll with sour cherry jam, without bothering about butter or a toaster), inhaled a third of the chocolate, went to sleep without brushing my teeth.
Woke up Saturday with aching thumbs. Too much phone time in recent weeks. And thumbs hooked into tote bags on both shoulders.
The stacked alerts from the city, that I can't figure out how to unsubscribe from, and maybe also don't want to, this way I still have one foot in the door. The alerts go into a folder that I look at sometimes when I have otherwise reached the bottom of the internet.
Years ago in Moscow an older man sitting on Old Arbat, playing the accordion for coins, told me: "When you think you've hit bottom, there comes a knock from below."
Observed flooding
Flash flood warning
Flood advisory
Air quality health advisory
Risk of rip currents
Flood watch
Rain preparedness
Weather update - rain
Severe thunderstorm warning
Basement preparedness
Catch basins
Canadian wildfires air quality
Spray caps reminder
Cooling Centers
Extreme Heat Watch
Extreme Heat Warning
Heat and Thunderstorms
F train suspended in both directions
NEWSY STUFF
Come to Hearth Gods on Saturday, July 25 at 7:30pm! I won't be reading but I will be there supporting the arts and would love to see you. Reply to this email for the address.
My brilliant friend and teacher, Diane Zinna, has a book out, "Letting Grief Speak: Writing Portals for Life After Loss." Order a copy from your favorite indie bookstore (I got mine at Watchung Booksellers), Bookshop.org, or directly from Columbia University Press, use code CUP20 for 20% off. (Do not give Jeff any more money!)
I was named one of ten finalists for the Rumpus Writing Fellowships! Honored! Congrats to the winners, and thank you, Roxane Gay, Debbie Millman, and the Rumpus team for your support of emerging writers. Roxane writes: "As I am often reminded, there is no shortage of exceptional creative talent in this world. What there is a shortage of is patronage."
Speaking of patronage: my "Junco and Wolf" is in issue No. 33 of A Public Space magazine. It's a beautiful issue, makes a great gift for the reader/thinking person in your life!
Divinity School • a letter every Sunday at sunset • if you’re always looking, after some time you’ll have seen
