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Quote by James Church

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Un cadáver en el Koryo (Calle negra nº 29)

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James Church

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“Now and again, one could detect in a childless woman of a certain age the various characteristics of all the children she had never issued. Her body was haunted by the ghost of souls who hadn't lived yet. Premature ghosts. Half-ghosts. X's without Y's. Y's without X's. They applied at her womb and were denied, but, meant for her and no one else, they wouldn't go away. Like tiny ectoplasmic gophers, they hunkered in her tear ducts. They shone through her sighs. Often to her chagrin, they would soften the voice she used in the marketplace. When she spilled wine, it was their playful antics that jostled the glass. They called out her name in the bath or when she passed real children in the street. The spirit babies were everywhere her companions, and everywhere they left her lonesome - yet they no more bore her resentment than a seed resents uneaten fruit. Like pet gnats, like phosphorescence, like sighs on a string, they would follow her into eternity.”

“She had lived through years of teasing as a child because of her slow speech, first in Babylon, and later in Susa, being told she was a dolt, or worse, a bore, too dull to befriend. By the time she thought of the answer to one thing, the conversation had often moved in a different direction. People her own age had found her tedious, not having the patience to wait until she said her piece. To them, she was hardly present. Not worth the effort of friendship. She had learned to protect herself by not risking new friendships, a habit that had stuck into adulthood. Jadon had been different from the start. He had waited on every word, his easy smile reassuring her anxious heart. Never once had he made her feel unwanted. At times she wondered if he had been born to understand her.”

“Coincidences undeniably imply meaning. I am rereading Hart Crane. I notice the date On which he stepped off that boat Was April 26. Tomorrow is April 26. The year of his suicide was 1932. I was four. I am now fifty-one. One undeniable implication in this case then Is that the year, today, Is 1979. Afterward, Crane’s mother scrubbed floors. Eventually, I may or may not Jump overboard. Are there questions?”