Thursday, June 12, 2008

Everyone is leaving or moving. I feel like I am standing still, even though I am moving too. We put the beautiful old oak table my mother gave us up on casters. It's perfect. My sister is in Cameroon, trying to learn the local dialect, drinking beer in the square, working with the fifty wives of the local chief. My parents are in Madrid for a few days before they head on to Italy, where they'll be through the summer. I am in my office. One friend's email offers her room for sublet (she is moving to Israel), another friend's email announces she has moved from Washington Heights to the Upper East Side (we are out of touch; I wonder if she's making lots more money, suddenly). I am in my office. Yesterday I could not help buying fruit; a pound of cherries and a pound and a half of grapes cost $9; the cherries were gone before we reached home. There is a brightness to the sweet of fruit that is never cloying. It is summer. I bought sundresses and open-toed flats. Should we go to IKEA this weekend or wait until the Red Hook one opens next week? My intern asked me what my secret talent is; I said that I don't have one. (This was a lie, so I mumbled about writing things.) (I could never say, I am a writer. I am not working on a novel. I am not working on anything, except work, sort of. I think I am stagnating.) (Please, don't let me stagnate.) Two or three nights ago, I emerged from the train station just as the heat-breaking rain was ending, and a cool breeze came down Eastern Parkway, and all the people coming up from underground sighed together in pleasure.

10 comments:

Sierra said...

EM, write more like this, okay? This is the meat of your blog. I like the itemized lists of what you're doing, how to change the address, but every once in a while it's so nice to see such refreshing honesty. I too am in my office, and I too felt the breeze.

This will pass and soon it'll be your turn to move.

bunny said...

re-read what you have written here and be assured that you are a writer.

Kim said...

I agree with "bunny," you are absolutely a writer. And if you want to get together for a cheap drink (or free meal at Google) this week, let me know! :-)

MoneyMaus said...

I enjoyed this post a lot! (I, too, am in my office cubicle - though I just started yesterday & the road looks LONG ahead...)

Anonymous said...

I don't usually leave comments on blogs, but I'm in the office too... counting down the hours and minutes and this piece definitely brightened my day.

also, you should buy your fruit in Chinatown... I was passing through and got some cherries there, I think they were only $2.50 for two lbs and really good!

Anonymous said...

I think of bloggers the way I think about feature columnists in a newspaper. So, you are a writer....

Anonymous said...

I loved this post. Very much.

I especially like the use of parenthesis at the end. I over use them, and improperly, but certainly not with the beauty that you have used them.

English Major said...

Kim, I'm totally up for a cheap drink this week! Shoot me an email.

Kristy said...

Wow, I just stumbled upon your blog and I LOVE this post dearly! Reminds me of Natalie Goldberg's "first thoughts." Poetic and delightful.

Anonymous said...

This post is so lovely and poetic. You ARE a writer.