I’m walking across the street in front of Target
My dad asks me if the Starbucks in Illinois are better
My thoughts come slowly
As my mind and body
Adjust to the world
After reading the rape story in Female Trouble
And listening to A Milli
Both on my iPhone
No, the Starbucks in Illinois are the same
But I think this one is a little different
Then we’re in the truck on the way home
Many hours have passed
More than I’d anticipated
But it’s no surprise
My father travels at an easy pace
He’s an overflowing spring of dawdle
That runs through my sister and I
We stop behind a yellow jeep
And I wonder if Rachel is still asleep
I feel bad for not leaving a note
But figure she would have called if she needed me
It’s past one when we get home
My mother’s asleep on the couch
And Rachel is still in bed
She’s just had a bad dream
And I give her a hug
And kiss her cheek
Allerton Park
I decided to take a trip to Allerton Park with Kiril, Martin, and Bharath. We bought kites, but didn’t use them, though I did blow some bubbles while we were there at least.
The park was beautiful, as usual. It’s really one of my favorite places, and it’s amazing that it exists in the midwest, carefully hidden away. It was a great setting for my conversation with Kiril about pleasure and morality.
One odd feature of the trip was our constant references to Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. Most of my friends, and most people in general, haven’t seen or heard of this film, so it was somewhat surreal for it to filter our collective experience of the park, such as when we were walking through the forest.
After the park we stopped in the small town of Monticello, and my companions were incredibly disturbed by it for some reason. Bharath said the town felt as if it were seething with a repressed urge for violence. I’d been to the town before, and it also reminded me of some of the small towns in Texas, like Brenham, so I suppose that is why I was unperturbed.
Minutiae
- I brought up my conversation with Martin about the ineffability of smell, and Bharath mentioned this book on perfume that touches on “the human experience of scent itself.”
- In the evening I saw this incredible high school jazz band perform at the Iron Post.
