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The Land
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
-42The Land When the satellite pictures came of the black crust, we knew we were alone, and that our faults had saved us. This is how Venus lived: boiling, sealed, the surface collapsed into the interior, cooled, began again. You walked with your new love on Oak Island.The earth was descending into water, mined with the hollows of treasure seekers. Digging ruined the soil, turned it up, black and gleaming, empty on every shovel tongue. You searched for nothing; you swore you heard ghosts. I could tell you what I know, the theory of a trapped past, as if a haunting was only time stuck, time repeating. Out of our reach,Venus quiets for a cycle.They say dying. I think waiting. I look at her, the one you have found, and I learn nothing about myself except: I was not enough. Gorged, the land we stand upon is sinking.All the ghosts, like us, are running back. -43- ...