14 December 2004

out of Oklahoma

T. Cole Rachel writes in the current issue of The Out Traveler: "I went to school my entire life with the same 12 people..."

I recall my favorite poem in Cole's Surviving the Moment of Impact. it's calld "yr so great." I wonder now if this is an actual story or something made up. can there be "a crowded classroom" when there are only 12 in it? & does that matter? I imagine a future documentary of Cole's life in which the other 11 classmates are all interviewd. will the model for Jeremy Squires reveal himself? will he remember the valentine?

& then I return to my own life (surprise     eh?) remembering the making of valentines & valentine boxes in elementary school. a few years ago a classmate found me online & we exchangd recollections. she was a little heavy. she told me I sent her a valentine picturing an elephant on a scale. I had no memory of such cruelty & retrospectively felt awful. I wish I had my own Jeremy Squires story to relate but Cole has done it so brilliantly that I can read his poem & be him for that moment.

No comments: