In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Traveling Salesman in Providence
  • Elizabeth Powell (bio)

It seemed to him everything was in a strange balance, a suspension. He couldn't leave his wife, though she was cruel. His mistress, half his age, required a Viagric stamina. He didn't want To strap her with an old man, who would become, eventually, sick, foolish. The facts welled up in his aorta and made his blood sick with a restless dying. The autumn air reminded him of something he didn't want, a kind of reliance. CNN rolled on, burning his room with its glow and bitumen, a defiance. He began thinking the old man's thought, it had started at forty, a mood— What was the world coming to? His High Mass of Selling, All week on the road, so tired. In front of the tube, the same old Chinese food. He wanted to elect a life but couldn't. The spicy stir-fry Of what-might-be gave him indigestion, a spinning feeling. So tired. His arches were killing him. Perspiration quenched the dread. At first he thought it was a panic attack, the impending doom Of uncertainty the world exuded right there in his hotel room. [End Page 121] The Haitian cleaning lady helped him to the lobby from his bed Where they sent for an ambulance; it wasn't heartburn or in his head. His inaccuracies left him hanging; his secrets, sweet and accidental, had cost him. Though the prognosis seemed good, he didn't believe in optimism anymore. He would tell no one, a still death silence from his inner core: He would sell the same old story in Boston.

Elizabeth Powell

Elizabeth Powell is the author of The Republic of Self, winner of the 2000 New Issues First Book of Poetry Prize, chosen by C. K. Williams. Her work has appeared in the Harvard Review, North American Review, Hunger Mountain Review, Black Warrior Review and other journals. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Council on the Arts (in poetry and fiction), Arts Vermont Endowment and Yaddo. She teaches at the University of Vermont, Saint Michael’s College and the New England Young Writers’ Conference.

...

pdf

Share