Dept. of Speculation

by Jenny Offill

I hate often and easily. I hate, for example, people who sit with their legs splayed. People who claim to give 110 percent. People who call themselves “comfortable” when what they mean is decadently rich.

The idea is to go back to the beginning. In some, God is portrayed as a father, in others, as a mother. When God is a father, he is said to be elsewhere. When God is a mother, she is said to be everywhere.

She thinks before she acts. Or more properly, she thinks instead of acts. A character flaw, not a virtue.