THE PERCEPTION OF VALUE: HARTBEATS AND CANDLELIGHT
Emanuel Brown
In the old gym, value revealed itself in nontraditional ways.
if i tally it
every time
my tongue finds cherry
do you still
pull your thumb down my lip
sweet surrender
in the other city
the social concepts that killed me here
stay peripheral
It’s abundantly clear that Gass sweat blood over this novel, every word chosen with the utmost care, a master at work.
I regret inventing t-shirt language model twink size
She decides that maybe being an object of consumption isn’t so bad. She even begins to enjoy the attention. Becomes aroused by the men’s overt enthusiasm for her. She is an edible woman, dolce, delectable; something to be devoured.
In the old gym, value revealed itself in nontraditional ways.
Spit flew from the man's mouth when he spoke, if he spoke.
I’m in the habit of befriending slightly older women. Maternal figures leading bohemian lives within suburban parameters. Seekers abandoned in childhood by dead(beat) moms. Motherless daughters can sniff out other motherless daughters. We wear our stale deprivation like a discontinued perfume.
Love is like a museum. You have to look around, experience things, and then leave.
"[Her Lesser Work] is a collection of mordant and formally inventive stories circling themes of, let’s say, desire and escape within repressive structures."
-Walker Caplan, Literary Hub