I smoked what was left of my pipe and tidied my house. I thought about how alone I would look if a camera was hidden. I folded a few months of laundry and spackled the drawers. I gathered the cobwebs and laid them onto a plate one strand at a time. I imagined a hammock’s day in the mild sun. I twisted the clock to display a time I preferred. I brushed the green-gray scum off the tap that’s been dripping onto the dishes. I wetted the five clay pots that play host to my flowers. I padded the warps in the hardwood in the living room. In the distance, a slammed garage went off like a bomb. I raised my voice to the rodents I keep on the mantle. Felt remorse. Scheduled the next 10 years of dental appointments for me and my dad. Rented the last few films that the master directed before he died. Painted my nails bright black and went out with a leash and no dog. I spoke to the big white oyster that hangs from the sky. I melted a slice of cheese on toast and called that a dinner. I posed a question to my water glass. I believed it would answer. ✦ I smoked what was left of my pipe and tidied my house. I thought about how alone I would look if a camera was hidden. I folded a few months of laundry and spackled the drawers. I gathered the cobwebs and laid them onto a plate one strand at a time. I imagined a hammock’s day in the mild sun. I twisted the clock to display a time I preferred. I brushed the green-gray scum off the tap that’s been dripping onto the dishes. I wetted the five clay pots that play host to my flowers. I padded the warps in the hardwood in the living room. In the distance, a slammed garage went off like a bomb. I raised my voice to the rodents I keep on the mantle. Felt remorse. Scheduled the next 10 years of dental appointments for me and my dad. Rented the last few films that the master directed before he died. Painted my nails bright black and went out with a leash and no dog. I spoke to the big white oyster that hangs from the sky. I melted a slice of cheese on toast and called that a dinner. I posed a question to my water glass. I believed it would answer. ✦
Below is an incomplete list of my published poems, translations, and prose.
Poetry
- “The News” in Gotham Literature
- “a new kind of music” in Volume Poetry
- “Griddle” and “Arjun sits weaponless in his chariot” in the Bennington Review
- “The Jewish longing for wilderness reveals itself” in Image
- “Translation of No Particular Love Poem” and “The Kitchen’s Lament” in Oxford Poetry
- “Psittacine” in New England Review
- “The weather in Brooklyn” and “The Moonshine Economy” in Grist
- “Parallax” in Volume Poetry
- “Martingale” in the Spectacle
Translation
- Quatrains by Jacob Israël de Haan in the Massachusetts Review (Dutch)
- Poems by Eva Gerlach in Five Points (Dutch)
- “Tree of Life” by Avner Perets, forthcoming in Verklempt! (Ladino)
- Two poems by Avner Perets, in Denver Quarterly (Ladino)
- An excerpt from Jaguarman by Raoul De Jong, in Words Without Borders (Dutch)
- Quatrains by Jacob Israël de Haan in the Baffler (Dutch)
- Landscape by Judith Herzberg, published by Circumference Books (Dutch)
Nonfiction
- “Australia” in New Delta Review
- Audio interview with poet and translator Arthur Sze for Translators Note
- Audio interview with poet Margaret Ross for Translators Note
- “Jewish Havens: Amsterdam, The Netherlands” for Public Books
- Jake Goldwasser reviews Ra’ad Abdulqadir’s Except for This Unseen Thread in Asymptote
- “From Aspiring Cartoonist to The New Yorker” in Lit Hub
- “‘Next stop Armageddon’: On Cees Nooteboom’s Leaving” in Cleveland Review of Books
Graphic Narrative
- “Thought Experiment” in Carte Blanche
- “Standard Pest Control” in Florida ReviewNominated for Best of the Net
- “Furniture Arrangements for Your Therapist’s Office” in the New Yorker
- “Situations in Which You Absolutely Must Check Your Email” in the New Yorker
- “Fixing Gen Z’s Etiquette Problem” in the New Yorker
- “Five Raccoons Whose Careers Were More Illustrious Than Yours” in the New Yorker
- “Puppies Who Are Sad for Totally Legitimate Reasons” in the New Yorker
- “What Thanksgiving Dishes Mean” in the New Yorker
- “Some Recent Ergonomic Trends” in the New Yorker
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Set in BhuTuka Expanded One by Erin McLaughlin, a Gurmukhi companion to BioRhyme Expanded by Aoife Mooney, and Inter by Rasmus Andersson.