‘They party in the woods / as if they were meant for pleasure / not timber.’
They party in the woods
as if they were meant for pleasure
not timber.
Cuts heal.
Second growth.
As if this world
were made for us.
Some think so.
‘People piss me off
specifically and species-wise.’
Oh well.
The beer bottle
on the abandoned foundations
of a cabin. Civilization.
Mangy teenagers
acid rain and a sunset.
Who’s done with ‘nature’?
That old sun
just now
blew me away.
Image © wwwuppertal
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
Granta’s poetry editor Rachael Allen talks to Maureen N. McLane about ecology, lyric authority, and balancing poetry with criticism.
‘He did what people told him to do. He was a machine.’
A short story by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker.
‘It’s when things fail to return to normal, that finally you get it: this is normal.’
Gary Indiana on growing older.
‘In those spring nights, I sat by barbecue stalls in the streets of Beijing, reading this novel under dim streetlights while eating lamb skewers.’
