Finished Miranda July's short story collection, No one belongs here more than you. Isn't the cover nice? I got the yellow and black version from the library and the circ desk clerk asked if it had something to do with the Watchmen. Miranda July is a filmmaker and performance artist in addition to a writer, which I didn't know anything about until...well until now. I youtube'd her last night and watched some clips from her film Me and You and Everyone We Know. One clip was called "poop back and forth forever." Search for it if you dare.
Here are some excerpts I liked:
From "The Shared Patio"
Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person's face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky and praise the light within each person under the sky. It's okay to be unsure. But praise, praise, praise.
From "The Boy from Lam Kien"
I shut my door and listened to the sucking sound. It was the sound of Earth hurtling away from the apartment at a speed too fast to imagine. And as all of creation pulled away in this tornado-like vortex, it laughed--the sarcastic laugh of something that has never had to try.
But my favorite story, and maybe one of my favorite things I've read yet this year, was "This Person." Wish I could share the entire thing. But even though I can't, apparently Amazon can. If the following passage tickles your fancy (or anything else of yours for that matter), click hyeah and go into the preview. Page 53, MFers.
From "This Person"
Someone is getting excited. Somebody somewhere is shaking with excitement because something tremendous is about to happen to this person. This person has dressed for the occasion. This person has hoped and dreamed and now it is really happening and this person can hardly believe it. But believing is not an issue here, the time for faith and fantasy is over, it is really really happening. It involves stepping forward and bowing. Possibly there is some kneeling, such as when one is knighted. One is almost never knighted. But this person may kneel and receive a tap on each shoulder with a sword. Or, more likely, this person will be in a car or a store or under a vinyl canopy when it happens. Or online or on the phone. It could be an e-mail re: your knighthood. Or a long, laughing , rambling phone message in which every person this person has ever known is talking on a speakerphone and they are all saying, You have passed the test, it was all just a test, we were only kidding, real life is so much better than that. This person is laughing out loud with relief and playing the message back to get the address of the place where every person this person has ever known is waiting to hug this person and bring her into the fold of life. It is really exciting, and it's not just a dream, it's real.
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