Ann Quin's Tripticks

Letter to Ann

[To the uninitiated: this Substack is where you can follow my attempt to read every book Dalkey Archive has ever published. Every time I finish a book, I write a 200-word epistolary poem in response.]

Ann, I’m on the couch your books on the shelf above me. But also careening round the globe, laptop open, phone in hand, traveling at the speed of 3G.

Nobody expected what happened next

Don’t take this pill if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant

Things are only getting hotter on Love Island

I am a Nigerian prince, and

If your erection is too crooked

My moderate-to-severe psoriasis

Heart attacks, blindness, kidney failure, and death have been known to

***

Bug infestation in my office. University has no money for maintenance, janitors, union says I can’t do the work myself. On the weekend the bugs magically vacuum themselves up as I organize, recycle stacks of papers that felt important once.

Rubrics to reuse

Lists of people to email

Trainings to take

Books to read (Keep!)

Recommendation letters to write

Meetings to schedule

Calls to make

***

Daughter in her room, texting friends. Online I’m soon distracted with things to buy, next-day shipping at my fingertips.

Saucony Lone Peaks, size 12

Trotzig’s Queen

Dust buster

Maxx graphic novels

Fire-resistant safe

Hiking pants I can wear to work

LEGO Star Wars

Sour gummies

Kettle bells

***

I fall to my knees, prostrate.

Matt