‘The morning Helin walked out to die, she dressed carelessly in a loose T-shirt and jeans.’
The morning Helin walked out to die, she dressed carelessly in a loose T-shirt and jeans. She did not brush her hair. The room she shared with three others in a Beirut tenement stank of sweat. Her daughter Lulu sang on the bed, small hands waving, weaving stories.
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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.
