Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"Clay has strong opinions about everything. Americans: materialistic, all they care about is money. Colombians: dangerous. Artists: insane. Poets: not interested. Gays: unnatural. Death: no such thing.

He sits beside me in the jardin in Mexico because it’s sunny here. He is searching for light, to banish demons, doesn’t even want to say the name devil because that conjures it up, makes it too real. His body is large, American midwestern, substantial. His hands fold and unfold in his lap. I am visiting in this town alone, newlyunwed. I study Clay’s muscular forearms, attracted, shocked by every word that comes …

"David, Richie, and Raven were all together in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, because Raven lived here now, and Raven was dying. I met David and Richie one night at Tio Lucas bar about halfway through their visit. Next day Raven drove past the three of us out walking in town and asked them later, “Who’s the babe?” It had been a while since I was called a babe, and I liked it. We had one week. This created a glow around us, intensity to our time together that was a miniature, more frivolous mirror of Raven’s urgency. At …