We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
We are a public forum committed to collective reasoning and the imagination of a more just world. Join today to help us keep the discussion of ideas free and open to everyone, and enjoy member benefits like our quarterly books.
You could walk inside the heart of a whale.
You could have a cocktail party there.
You could carve your name into the heart.
You could pretend to be one half of a couple
that is deeply in love and carve both names
and no one would know about your lie.
Harold, there are children inside the heart
of a whale at a museum, and they leave
mustard everywhere. I am a terrible
person who allows terrible things to happen.
I know about the walls of muscle ready
to collapse in on them and I will not tell them.
In my head, I am yelling at the children, but in my throat,
Harold, nothing followed by whistles of nothing.
Harold, they will sit in the center
of another animal and find it unbearable.
I will not tell them they are the center of attention
and no one will stop any of this from happening.
I will let it happen, Harold. They will make a chandelier
out of their fingerprints and I will let it happen.
I will watch the light pressed out of them,
watch them compressed into pinholes,
into memories of sad but beautiful pinholes.
Albert Abonadois the Director of Adult Programs at Writers & Books in Rochester, NY. He received a NYFA Fellowship in Poetry in 2014.
Contributions from readers enable us to provide a public space, free and open, for the discussion of ideas. Join this effort – become a supporting reader today.
Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly Newsletter, Monthly Roundup, and event notifications.
Philosopher William MacAskill contends that humanity’s long-term survival matters more than preventing short-term suffering and death. His arguments are shaky.
In her new book, Danish poet Olga Ravn writes with open love, pity, and compassion for her strange yet familiar creations.
Draconian individual punishment distracts from systemic change and reinforces the cruelest and most racist system of incarceration on the planet.
A political and literary forum, independent and nonprofit since 1975. Registered 501(c)(3) organization. Learn more about our mission