Chilean Poet

by Alejandro Zambra

it seemed like they were talking about something and were together, but they knew that really they were talking about nothing and were alone.

the two-hundred-plus enthusiasts crammed onto the dance floor were all dancing with everyone, or else no one was dancing with anyone.

she never stops perceiving communication as a problem; she never stops thinking about words, and sometimes she feels dizzy and would like to fall silent, in Spanish and in English, indefinitely.

we’re never going to know, because this ends here, this ends well, the way so many books we love would end if we tore out their final pages.