Becoming Duchess Goldblatt

by Duchess Goldblatt

When I edit, I remove the words that don’t want to be there, hand wash them in warm water, and lay them flat to dry. I might use them later.

And we all construct identities for ourselves anyway, right? Online and in real life, we decide how to present ourselves, we teach each other how to behave, and we reinforce for one another which ideas we’re keeping and which ones we’re throwing away. Good manners are a social construct, weekends are a social construct, values and beliefs and democracy, all social constructs, all ideas that we have come to agree to in our various interactions with other humans over time.

When I find myself in need of great beauty, I close my eyes and listen, and it slips in through the side door.

I spilled a bag of ellipses all over the floor. Now I don’t know where anything begins or ends.