Monday, February 23, 2009

The Vincennes Glove and Scarf Company

The very next day the man in the hat met up with Dejesus outside the Waymart, both men anxious to talk with the other. ‘…I have an idea…’ said Dejesus to the man in the hat, both men uneasy and distorted. ‘…we could make our own whores’ gloves…’, ‘…but how…?’ interrupted the man in the hat, his voice quavering. ‘…from the woods beyond the five-mile fence, we could set up a small factory, hire the dogmen to run it and the harridan’s sister to bark the gloves at the church bazaar…’. The man in the hat, hawking up an oyster and spitting it onto the bricks in front of him, barely missing the wingtips of Dejesus’ freshly buffed shoe, said ‘…oh I see, yes of course…yes…’. Dejesus, switching his weight from one foot to the other, his feet cobbled with tiny asphalt stones, said ‘…we could ask the Grünenthal sisters for help, they know more about women’s gloves than…’. ‘…yes…’ interrupted the man in the hat, ‘…more than your average haberdasher…’. ‘…by far…’ said Dejesus, ‘…far by far…’ said the man in the hat. ‘…yes of course…’ said Dejesus, his legs swaying forwards and back.

The Aubonne sisters worked as seamstresses for the Vincennes Glove and Scarf Company. Geneve, the youngest, had long wheat yellow hair pulled into a bun; Genevieve, the eldest, had chestnut brown hair which she kept long in the back and cut blunt in the front, her bangs sharp as Ground Thistle. The vacant lot beside the Vincennes Glove and Scarf Company was overgrown with Giant Foxtail (Setaria Faberi) Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) Ivy (Hedera helix) Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa crus-galli), and next to the lot was a field overrun with buckwheat, spathe calla, (campernelle) jonquil, Mediterranean lavender and clusters of bell-shaped wild yucca, none of which had been tended to in ten or nine years.

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"Poetry is the short-circuiting of meaning between words, the impetuous regeneration of primordial myth". Bruno Schulz
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