“cotton sweaters with the American flag, / Oxford shirts, and riding boots.”

“Frankenstein, an early adopter, fidgets / by firelight”

“He hadn’t been sure if he was supposed to fight back or just take the beating, if he could dodge the blows or cover his face or what, but it wound up not mattering.”

“⁠Place a man and a woman in a train carriage together and the mind doggedly closes in—but between him and Katharine there had been something else.”

“Since last summer, Falapishi has undertaken the nightly practice of waking himself with an alarm in the small hours.”

“How quickly / How thick / Midlife pools.”