Hey Historians Of The Future, READ THIS!!!
I am at my typewriter when a woman comes up to me with a request for a love letter. The reason for her love letter being ordered: the two of them are apart while her partner goes on an extended trip to Boston, Winnipeg and Lake Forest to pursue the subjects of their interest, gender queerness and poetry. While negotiating her order, the woman’s two young sons both wanted to play with my typewriter, ride the bell carts and slide down the railing.
I joined the three of them for lunch in the café and we engaged in a conversation where I learned (and I would like to state here that this conversation was grown organically, and was not related in any way to the delicious Reuben sandwiches served) that artificial butter flavoring is lethal if inhaled. So lethal, that the workers who produce it must wear hazmat suits. Artificial butter like most artificial flavors is a byproduct of genetically modified bacteria. I did not know any of this. However, I do think I might have heard about human organs being printed out by machines and the human ears harvested on the backs of mice, both of which were brought up in this discussion. Side note: I hope the historians of the far future will one day read this blog.
After lunch, I went back to my typewriter to write the love letter. Something for you to understand is that the recipient of this letter is genderqueer and therefore gets a different pronoun than a man or a woman. In this instance they, them, their all refer to the recipient of the letter. Here is the letter:
Dear Winnipeg,
you have yourself a visitor
you have yourself a dragonfruit
you have yourself a starfruit
a bumbershoot
some reals bumblebee honey
a pouring
all across the gender queer conference
with their golden red
sweetness for hot toast
I miss them the most
in the morning
in the evening
in the allthetime.
My adrenals fatigue
without the jolt
of you entering the room
to sit down on the couch of my life
with the two jumping bean
boys a squirming
across the plush cushions.
And Boston, you lucky devil,
getting your back scratched
by the tip of their pencil
and comforted by the warm touch
of their working laptop!
I wish I were you, Boston.
I wish I were a carrot frying in their pan.
When they return, my eldest boy will help me cook the celebratory feast of stir fried Indian roti flavored hummus. All natural of course, no hazmat suit will be necessary.
I am committed to finding my love
inside the River Forest, inside the Lake Forest,
where trees are hewn from pure water,
fishes wishes and fishes kisses.