Status Updates From Still Life with Insects

“at the end—every time—there it is. a reason for telling the story. a point. a punchline. i can’t do any of that. i look inside myself when i’m talking—like right now—and all i see are words. this is unusual, you know, me talking. most of the time i want to say something and the words just aren’t there, like a comic strip character before the words are put in the balloon. i get this dumb look. …”

‘we crawled ashore and lay on our backs, too tired to laugh now, but heroes of our own small adventures.’