Seam

Interviewer’s Note: v. [But wasn’t it the neat narrative]

46 Interviewer’s Note v. But wasn’t it the neat narrative you wanted? The outline of the rape victim standing against a many-winged darkening sky, shadow flurrying across shadow? They tossed me into that river but the river wouldn’t kill me, she said yesterday—you want the darkness she stood against to be yards of violet velvet your mother once cut into dresses for you, your sister when she was still alive. Rewind. Play. Rewind. They tossed— me—river—me—you want the splayed heart of another’s hand clasping yours, to know if cruelty exists, or if it is only love’s threadbare desperation—river—me—river—me—me— ...