Letter at the Movies (Dry Leaf)
Dear Emma,
I am sitting in the movies, surrounded by the dark. Is there light where you are?
On screen is a man looking for his daughter. He is petting a donkey now. Are you with Stringbean? Is he looking out your window?
I like your window because through it you can hear the crickets at night.
The man looking for his daughter has an invisible companion -- we can hear his voice, but we cannot see him. Like this, you are here with me too, unseen but heard invisibly.
Am I with you, too, over there? Do you hear the secret I am whispering to you, with two fingers over my lips?
Quietly,
Noah
Dear Noah
I have purchased two tickets to All Balanchine I Swan Lake for tomorrow, Wednesday, September 24th, at 7:30PM at the David H. Koch Theater for you and myself. Our seats are in the Third Ring B, Row D Seat 2 and Row D Seat 4. I think they are decent seats for only being $30 each. I hope we don't feel too far away.
Do you know the story of Swan Lake? I can't fully remember it. Let's read it together later.
In my senior year of college, I danced the Dance of the Little Swans in soft shoe with three other girls for my final performance of Ballet III. I didn't invite any of my friends to the performance, because I was embarrassed, but my friends Eleanor and Julia found out and came anyway. Several people I knew who had been in the audience told me they were shocked and delighted that I was doing ballet. I guess I was hiding that part of myself for some reason.
I think watching professionals do the same dance will make me nostalgic. I think it will make me want to take a ballet class again. I also think it will fill us with a sense of magic, the way that live performances sometimes can.
I am extremely excited to see it with you. We can hold hands in the dark of the theater.
With an open heart,
Emma
Blue Note
The pianist’s crisp white clean shirt is dyed blue from the moonlight
The back of his ears glisten so slightly of sweat
Because this song reminds him of his childhood
He was 15 in Cuba, with the water out in front of him
His toe cut open from a rock on the pavement
He sung a tune he learned from his mother to pass the pain
It grew into a scab in seconds, he noticed
The song works
The bassist wears glasses too large to overcompensate for the fact that he looks like both a fox and a mouse
Though he is a passionate lover
You can tell because he smiles at the band at taps his toes.
Everyone applauds
The drummer is sitting on time
smiling at the wind blowing from the other side of the stage
his brother is in the crowd, sitting next to me
he whispers into my ear
“My brother played like that even when he was 13. He’d play before dinner and after dinner we’d throw a baseball.”
I wonder what they’ll do after the show.
We ordered dessert at the club even though I have another in my purse and one more down your throat
The couple in front of us is holding hands under the table
He is tapping the rhythm into her palms
and thinking sweet words about his eternal lover
The couple over there is on a first date, acting formally, wrapped in white
They’re wasian
But the couple behind us is from Japan
Everyone is laughing, playing along, pretending it’s one big joke
Ha ha ha
It’s the music of our generation
brighton beach
You whispered, "treasure chest of my secrets,"
while we were lying on purple coral, at the bottom of the ocean
your cat is a silver green fish passing by
do you think he remembers us?
I want to pull an everlasting scarf out of my pocket
but I left it behind somewhere lost long ago to us now.
I miss the way it kept going
and going
and going
and going and going
I love to wear beads around my neck.
They make me feel like someone is watching over us,
like holding the hand of someone who knows better.
We woke up in the middle of nowhere
with head laid on dust
like that girl from your book
"there must be an angel by my side," whispered a wayward traveler, slinking in the rain
She was right,
the heaven's were opening for us
like bright sun
Even on the days that it rains.
A man with one eye and a woman who has clearly had a child, both laugh in a different language.
Behind a dirty window is a city we’re leaving
the orange sun is welcoming the silver blue moon
the day will be dark soon
and I’ll hold you through the change
email #1
Happy Spring :)
Inbox
| Sat, Mar 29, 12:46 PM | |||
| ||||
Hi Noah,
You appeared in my dream last night. I was at the Forest M train
platform and you walked up the stairs with most of your face
painted white and you were wearing a long tan suede and fur coat.
We smiled and said hi to each other and that was that.
The rest of the dream had nothing to do with you so I won't tell you about it.
The tree outside my window is blooming and it is giving me high hopes for spring.
Just saying hi,
Emma
email #100
| Tue, Sep 2, 6:51 PM | |||
| ||||
Dear Emma,
Happy 100 :)
Email #100
Did you see the white fox waiting for the train, I think it wants something to eat
He is drooling, smiling, and panting, searching for his next
Did you see the two lovers get on the wrong train, I think they’ll figure it out
He took a picture of her as they went over the bridge, he whispered, “look, it’s a miracle.”
Two girls press their hair against each other, laughing quietly, trying to listen to the same song
A million, billion, trillion butterflies flew over their heads. Did they hear them too?
Everyone is pairing off into twos, should we wear wigs and pretend we’re married?
I’ll buy two tickets to Croatia and you’ll pack a red suitcase with the 99 letters we wrote to each other. Can you read me a line from one of yours? I’d like to be there again
Let’s feed each other cigarettes and watch women fish. I’m counting the days until the moon is full again
Lets buy a fish from one of the women, she’ll ask for $20 cash.
We’ll take it home in our backpacks and fry it in the autumn night.
We already made rice in the morning, we can eat it with that.
My heart is sore and swollen from overflowing again and again.
I’ll lay on your chest and tap the rhythm of your heartbeat on your leg so you can listen too.
Then let’s drink 22 beers while I tell you something ridiculous in your ear.
My heart, ear, nose, and tongue are eating you again.
Let’s cut our hair and our nails after the sun goes down to let the fox enter our lives.
While he’s pretending he’s us, let’s run away. Let’s go to a place we’ve never gone
We’ll take our new old car, something beaten by the wall
You’ll play me a CD you found between a nook & cranny and hold my hand to drop me off.
I’ll put a secret note in your pocket.
It says something about you.
He is drooling, smiling, and panting, searching for his next
Did you see the two lovers get on the wrong train, I think they’ll figure it out
He took a picture of her as they went over the bridge, he whispered, “look, it’s a miracle.”
Two girls press their hair against each other, laughing quietly, trying to listen to the same song
A million, billion, trillion butterflies flew over their heads. Did they hear them too?
Everyone is pairing off into twos, should we wear wigs and pretend we’re married?
I’ll buy two tickets to Croatia and you’ll pack a red suitcase with the 99 letters we wrote to each other. Can you read me a line from one of yours? I’d like to be there again
Let’s feed each other cigarettes and watch women fish. I’m counting the days until the moon is full again
Lets buy a fish from one of the women, she’ll ask for $20 cash.
We’ll take it home in our backpacks and fry it in the autumn night.
We already made rice in the morning, we can eat it with that.
My heart is sore and swollen from overflowing again and again.
I’ll lay on your chest and tap the rhythm of your heartbeat on your leg so you can listen too.
Then let’s drink 22 beers while I tell you something ridiculous in your ear.
My heart, ear, nose, and tongue are eating you again.
Let’s cut our hair and our nails after the sun goes down to let the fox enter our lives.
While he’s pretending he’s us, let’s run away. Let’s go to a place we’ve never gone
We’ll take our new old car, something beaten by the wall
You’ll play me a CD you found between a nook & cranny and hold my hand to drop me off.
I’ll put a secret note in your pocket.
It says something about you.
See you l8r,
Noah
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