Sublime

I was treading water, trying neither to drown nor to swim to safety, just staying in place, because here was the truth—even if I couldn’t speak the truth, or even hint at it, yet I could swear it lay around us, the way we say of a necklace we’ve just lost while swimming: I know it’s down there somewhere. If he knew, if he only knew that I was

his scent, barely there, just soap and clean skin;

Non mi disse mai dove abitava, come trascorreva i suoi giorni. Il mese terminò, ci eravamo visti cinque volte, il giorno appresso avrei riscosso la borsa di studio. La parentesi dei cappuccini si era, al momento, chiusa. «Angelica, posso invitarla a pranzo domani?» Mi guardò sorpresa. Poi consentì. «Va bene.» Si fece dare l’indirizzo del

glacial exhalation.

dissolute,”

palimpsest