You want a day as boring as a shrub,
a high, departing plane the only sound.
A Tuesday or a Thursday would be best.
Like shuffled paper or a ticket stub,
the day should be unstuck from what’s around
it, loose and small, a button in a chest.
No pomp for one who’s walked this way since birth.
It must be in the ordinary ground,
in simple clay and rock spill left undressed,
in ground the raw-boned face of winter earth,
yet blessed.
Grandmother, What Big Teeth You Have
Many years ago, I wrote a piece for this magazine called “Grim Tales.” At the time, I…
Christie’s Compelling Criminals
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Theodore Dalrymple joins…
Lethe
He thought he saw her in the orchid house / and all the flowers seemed to disappear...