“She’s a bitch of the inauthentic; her ego’s in drag.”
Lisa Robertson, XEclogue
S: Call me “spunky” or “feisty,” and I’ll cut off your arm. We made love in a corn field.
T: Are you content with your career? Cold-pressed olive oil from Palestine.
S: A fire-agate ring. I loathe swimming and jogging.
T: She didn’t need a script. The main move in fencing is the long thrust, or lunge.
S: By its very nature, writing is a lie. Do you recall pettipants? Anemia at six.
T: Handsome abstract paintings in deep crimson hues. The sister’s a musician.
S: Honey, I’m home. A combination of approaches seemed to work well.
T: Your social role is changing. Hey, I’m making this up. Selective charisma.
S: Wear socks to bed. Six-burner island cooktops don’t appear in her dreams.
T: Where’d you get that accent? We have new monsters now. Passion makes me compelling.
S: Line by line, page by page. Humanized through our repression–
T: And independent film. That girl’s wound more tightly than a rubber-band ball.
S: I wasn’t always naked. Our Buick’s hardly phat. Just remember to rehydrate.
T: Pick a place to be offstage. Are guilty pleasures pleasures if you take away the guilt?
S: A former beauty-queen contestant who’s crazy for Foucault.
T: Lived trauma is permanent. Soy milk in the fridge.
S: At stationery stores she experienced jouissance. We like having deer for neighbors.
T: Polite and then not. The driving instructor had hands the size of hams.
S: Be sure to plan your journey before setting out. I studied Cuban drama.
T: Moody songs in minor tones. Champagne taste and beer credit.
S: Granddad fished in the Gulf. She devised disgusting phrases like “supermodel snot.”
T: A protean capacity for multiple parts. Snuggle with your sweetie. Unorthodox stuff.
Janis Butler Holm lives in Athens, Ohio, where she has served as Associate Editor for Wide Angle, the film journal. Her essays, stories, poems, and performance pieces have appeared in small-press, national, and international magazines. She discusses the genesis of her experimental piece on The Brevity Blog.
photo by Dinty W. Moore