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27 A Photograph is An Argument Did you see the soldier holding the newborn a Dutch brigadier on the Afghan border? I saw a picture on a Sunday morning— page A16. It was creased by my elbow and stained with a tea leaf. When you heard the general make claims about rape— how some women willed it to settle for money— I had to dream him, the stitch of his inseam sewn to perfection. In my dream he tied a ribbon around a rusted machete and tilted the tip towards that bulge in your neck. I used to press my face there to inhale your body. But every photograph is an argument for believing in something without touching or tasting it and every dream betrays the lie. ...

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