‘The dead are—always—masterpieces of literature.’
That old-fashioned boy, that sepia-coloured boy sitting under the walnut table where they’ve set his brother’s coffin, is called James Matthew Barrie, and he’s six years old, and he’s pretending to hide from a terrible pirate. They won’t find him here, he’s sure of it, hidden by the skir…
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‘We meet at various points in the great swathes of the past that neither of us were alive to witness.’
Allen Bratton on a daytrip to a castle with his older boyfriend.
‘Listening to three white poets, whom I suspect are academics, talk about the state of poetry.’
Oluwaseun Olayiwola eavesdrops on an older generation.
‘I’d been dubious about his company at first.’
Sarah Moss on watching Shakespeare with her twelve-year-old son.
‘She didn’t trust us because, to her, tenants were like children.’
Kate Zambreno on negotiating with her older landlady.
‘A moment now swallowed in embarrassment, I asked a question only a young person might ask an older one.’
Lynne Tillman on trying to understand what makes a generation.
