Brett's Archive
Suffrage
15 May 2007 | Poems
He suffered in silence So he avoided it completely, Though even he hadn’t noticed Until someone pointed it out to him. Not even a friend, just this guy who slurped coffee On the elevator every morning, someone who he’d thought Liked hearing his thoughts on the game the night before, His political views, the next day’s weather.
In the awkward moment That followed—the […]
Bangor Maine
11 April 2007 | Stories
Einstein has nothing to do with this. That was what she had told herself when she accepted a job offer from the Institute for Advanced Study. She told it to herself again when she bought a white, clapboard house in Princeton’s Mercer Hill Historic District. And it was what she had told herself, over and […]
Lost in Queen Anne
7 October 2005 | Poems
There are walnuts or chestnuts or the Puget Sound equivalent lying in the streets of Queen Anne in early October being collected by Goretexed Asian seniors, women mostly, using sticks or canes and orplastic bags
On each block a yardman and dogs with their people - old men or young women, never paired - and Washingtonians who ask for directions and an elegant woman, […]
Observing Social Graces
6 October 2005 | Poems
They are a marvel talking without doubling back statements clear willing to share enthusiasms or poke fun at themselves starting conversations during which they’ll mostly listen, but also at home performing if necessary
For you can’t help but like them despite their good manners and you forget to wonder if they like you, if it’s cultivated or came from ther families, if this is how their families see them, […]
Read ‘Observing Social Graces’
Democratization
29 September 2005 | Poems
In fifteen minutes I can Get Things Done or take an invigorating nap or learn about Sal Mineo’s sadness, Stephen Wolfram’s social gracelessness, what Mark E. Smith is actually saying on those records
The names for things, they’re there the word that describes the smell of foxing, the formula for the chemical reaction that unleashes it, entropy awaiting digitalization
Two Geniuses
21 September 2005 | Poems
Self-experimentation as a source of new ideas: Ten examples about sleep, mood, health, and weight is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius: Seth and Dave, drawing pictures, drawn to themselves and San Francisco, trying to be good and get noticed.
They remind me of everyone I know, just more willing to admit it, working honesty until like socks it loses its shape and slithers […]
Raising Perfection
19 September 2005 | Poems
Because she knew how to get things done she raised her children quickly and easily, almost 50% faster than her college roommate, whose children arrived at MIT late and overbudget
Greasemonkey
6 September 2005 | Poems
I thought it would be like soldering or Latin, worth knowing, but only just, this Greasemonkey another leveler here to change everything
On the computer it was six of one half, dozen of the other, clever for people who like clever
But in our car it was capable of transubstantiation 95 without billboards Deutschland’s HEMI® abominations turned to Yugo and Volga and Citroën […]
Game Theory
3 September 2005 | Poems
Coffee makes me paranoid, but she likes a fresh pot after the shower so I have adapted, learned about burr grinders purifying water, gold filters, quality beans
These scarabs with their unctuous shine Starbucks customers think their local news is informative but Peet’s is too indulgent and what about fair trade, song birds, organic farming, shade
I have been unfaithful and she knows […]
A Soothing Poultice
31 August 2005 | Poems
Like a soothing poultice he said
Not what he would say to his wife, returned now after four months watching her mother die in Texas, the infant a toddler, the girl with her first loose tooth
Or to his wife’s best friend, understanding and loving and abundant with neglect, the quietude of barrenness
But something he’d confess, this steady parishioner, library volunteer, a draftsman good with […]