– Goodbye, he called to me over his muscular shoulder. Listen for the explosion tomorrow night. Keep your ear next to the ventilation shaft.
Like the frozen moonlight through the windows of this shack, his pain floods my recognition, altering the edge, color, and weight of each possession in my heart.
51
Kateri Tekakwitha
calling you, calling you, calling you, testing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 my poor unelectric head calling you loud and torn 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lost in needles of pine, tenant of meat freezer, fallen on squeezed knees searching hair for antennae, rubbing blue Aladdin prick, calling you, testing sky cables, poking blood buttons, finger fucks in star porridge, dentist drill in forehead bone, broken like convict stone, calling you calling you, frightened of stew, signals filthy laundry of this mind rubber girls aside, wafer banana skins of vaudeville, black air filled with pies of humiliation, no AC outlet beneath scalped hair, testing, testing the last dance, rubber scorpion on pillow of tit, handfuls of milk flung at doctors, calling you to call me, calling you to pull me if only once, fake proof accepted, plastic birchbark accepted, calling, artificial limb accepted, Hong Kong sex auxiliaries accepted, money confessions accepted, wigs of celanese acetate accepted, come pills, postcards of old-fashioned uncle sucking accepted even as ideal brown Plato, movie seat rubbing accepted, fat stage tease accepted and lap hats hiding hairy windows of underwear accepted, gratefully accepted, astrology boredom accepted, wife limit accepted, cop-gun deaths, urban voodoo accepted, false harem smells accepted, dimes accepted, seance feels up lonely old lady thighs, criminal bridge sales accepted, Zabbatai vote buttons worn in stigmata places, market Moses horns, square earth theories accepted, microscope girdles for Tom that failed, cunt dictionaries illustrated deceptively in vellum fuzz, calling you now, all reasons accepted, rope buttock creases, luminous highway Mary houses, pharmacy visions un-revoked, Zen Ph.D. tolerated, unpolished enemas, no references required, academic fashion ecstasy believed, dirty cars, all my baffled unbelief calling you with bowed physical brain terror, testing 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, unelectric head calling.
52
Phrase-book on my knees, I beseech the Virgin everywhere.
KATERI TEKAKWITHA AT THE WASH HOUSE
(hers the lovely italics)
I bring you linens for washing
I need them until to-morrow
what do you think? Can you get them ready until tomorrow?
they are absolutely necessary to me
especially my shirts
as for the others, I must have them the most late until the day after tomorrow
I want them entirely new and clear
a shirt is missing for me, a handkerchief and a pair of stockings, too
I want this back
I want this costume to be cleared
when can I get it?
I have, too, a dress, a coat, trousers, a tressed waistcoat, a blouse, underclothes, stockings, so forth.
I shall come back again after three days to get them
please, iron them for me
yes, sir. Come to get them
what do you think about the trousers?
I like it. That’s what I want
when will my suit be ready?
after a week
it takes a lot of work
I shall make you a wonderful suit
I shall come to take it myself
no, don’t come!
we shall send it ourselves to your house, sir
good. Then I shall be waiting for it on next Saturday
the suit is dear
the suit is cheap
you are a good tailor
thank you
goodbye.
later I shall get another one
as you like, sir
we shall satisfy you very much
KATERI TEKAKWITHA AT THE TOBACCONISTS
(hers the lovely italics)
Can you, please, tell me where is a tovacconist-shop?
at the corner of the road on the right, sir
in front of you, sir
give me, please, a box of cigarettes
what kind of cigarettes have you?
We have excellent cigarettes
I want some tobacco for pipe
I want heavy cigarettes
I want light cigarettes
Give me a box of matches, too
I want a cigarette-case, a good lighter, cigarettes
how much do all these cost?
twenty shillings, sir
thank-you. Goot-bye
KATERI TEKAKWITHA AT THE BARBER’S SHOP
(hers the lovely italics)
the hair-dresser
the hair
the beard
the moustache
the soap
the cold water
the comb
the brush
I want to shave myself
please, sit down!
please, come in!
please, shave me!
please, cut my hair very short behind
not very short
wash my hair!
please, brush me
I shall come back
I’m pleased
until when is the barber’s shop open?
until 8 o’clock in the evening
I shall come to shave myself regularly
thank-you, goodbye
we will treat you as well as we can, because you are our client
KATERI TEKAKWITHA AT THE POST-OFFICE
(hers the lovely italics)
where is the Post-Office, sir?
I’m a foreign here, excuse me
ask that sir
he knows French, German
he will help you
please, show me the Post-Office
it’s there on the opposite side
I want to send a letter
give me some postage-stamps
I want to send something
I want to send a telegram
I want to send a package
I want to send an urgent letter
have you your passport?
have you your identity?
yes, sir
I want to send a check
give me a post card
how much will I pay for sending a package?
15 shillings, sir
thank-you goodbye
KATERI TEKAKWITHA AT THE TELEGRAPHIC-OFFICE
(hers the lovely italics)
what do you want, sir?
I want to send a telegram
with a paid answer?
how much does the word cost?
fifty pence a word
a telegram for
it’s dear, but never mind
will the telegram be late to go?
how long does it take to go?
two days, sir
It isn’t a long time
I shall send a telegram to my parents to
I hope that they will take it tomorrow
there is a long time and I didn’t get any news from them
I think they will answer to me telegraphically
