3.0
The Park
ByPublisher Description
JANUARY
I cooked pasta
with chilies last
night and my
fingers still
burn. It’s how the mind
feels these days,
you say, upon
arrival, and we
sit with this. I
am so angry
I cannot
touch you.
MODERN GODS
Backlit by the glow
from a small passageway,
he kneels into the fog
of yellow light,
head kissing the carpet.
I step around him,
respecting his privacy, when
the mat becomes not prayer
rug but builder’s tool,
a black piece of tarmac laid down
before the bank so he could
peer close, fix the dead
motion sensor so that people
with money could
be seen, all doors opening
for them.
OPEN ALL NIGHT
The park beneath the park
is open all night,
people sprawl
across benches,
this way and
that, one man sits straight up
as if in a pew, eyes
closed, bags at his
feet, rocking to
the rhythm of the park
beneath the park.
You can stroll here,
take your coffee,
you may even on occasion
feel the whisper of a breeze
as we rush into the Mabillon
station, the slatted windows
of this park on wheels
letting you know there is
a world outside, a place
above where
on graveled quadrants
we are not alone, where
a sound beneath every
sound says, we are not alone,
and you can feel it,
like a humming in the blood, how
when there is no hawk falling like
a blade, no wolf loping
into view, no marmot
nosing the cracks in what
we made of its pavement
we are lonely and ashamed.
We are too much ourselves,
and we sit, one to a bench,
sometimes if the stink is too
much, one man to a whole
carriage, riding in the park
beneath the park, erasing the dark
hours in the white electric light.
Download the free Fable app
Stay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
Rate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
Curate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesStay organized
Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.Build a better TBR
Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building toolRate and review
Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tagsCurate your feed
Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Park Reviews
3.0
Maris Catherine
Created almost 3 years agoShare
Report
“Really stunning. Four stars.”
Readbyian
Created over 4 years agoShare
Report
“Not for me.
Most were too self-indulgent.”
Steve Quinn
Created over 4 years agoShare
Report
About John Freeman
John Freeman is an American writer and literary critic. The former president of the National Book Critics Circle, Freeman is the editor of Freeman’s, a literary biannual, author of two books of nonfiction, The Tyranny of E-mail and How to Read a Novelist, and of one book of poetry, Maps. Described by Dave Eggers as “one of the preeminent book people of our time,” he has also edited two anthologies of writing on inequality, Tales of Two Cities and Tales of Two Americas. The former editor of Granta, he lives in New York, where he teaches at The New School and is Distinguished Writer-in Residence at New York University. The executive editor at LitHub, he has published poems in Zyzzyva, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and The Nation. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages.
Other books by John Freeman
Start a Book Club
Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!FAQ
Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?
Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?
How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?
Do you sell physical books too?
Are book clubs free to join on Fable?
How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?
Books Similar to The Park
Save to a list
0
/30
0
/100
Private List