X. Dance of the Western Union Envelope How the Heart Leaps Up More Eager Than Plant or Beast
By Anne Carson
"Devil's share" is the portion of one's goods that cannot be usefully spent
and so gets sacrificed.
But what if the devil is not so stupid.
What if a devil long after sacrifice
starts coming and going on the borderland—
just a crease in daylight.
Disappearance was a game to him,
my mother
unsurprised
when he did not appear for the wedding
and she was careful of my feelings—care
like a prong.
The wedding cake (stored in the pantry) I ate myself
piece by piece
all of it
in the months that followed, sitting
in the living room late at night with all the lights on, chewing.
His telegram (day after) said
But please don't cry—
that's all.
Five words for a dollar.
Copyright Credit: Anne Carson, "X. Dance of the Western Union Envelope How the Heart Leaps Up More Eager Than Plant or Beast,” from The Beauty of the Husband. Copyright © 2001 by Anne Carson. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.
Source: The Beauty of the Husband (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 2001)