Ghost : Landscape by Kristina Marie Darling & John Gallaher Book Preview

7/25/2019 Ghost : Landscape by Kristina Marie Darling & John Gallaher Book Preview

1/16

GHOST / LANDSCAPE

KRISTINA MARIE DARLING &JOHN GALLAHER

B L A Z E V O X [ B O O K S ]

Buffalo, New York


2/16

Ghost / Landscape

by Kristina Marie Darling & John Gallaher

Copyright 2016

Published by BlazeVOX [books]All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without

the publishers written permission, except for brief quotations in

reviews. Printed in the United States of America

Interior design and typesetting by Geoffrey Gatza

Cover Art: Sea Lights by Frances Seward

First EditionISBN: 978-1-60964-240-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015958568

BlazeVOX [books]

131 Euclid Ave

Kenmore, NY 14217

[email protected]

publisher of weird little books

BlazeVOX [ books ]

blazevox.org

21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10


3/16

17

CHAPTER TWO

We must have known there was no going back. There

wouldn't be another field full of thistle, and no more ivy alongthe gates.

That morning, before our windows had been broken, you

asked about the lock on the door. I realized it was only a

matter of time before the alarm sounded, which always

seemed out of place in the dead of winter. So the next few

hours are going to be devastating, and you're the one who hasto drive us through the snow.

Now our train leaving the platform, another dead pigeon near

the tracks.

Back at the old house, that corridor still goes on and on. Not

one painting on the walls, and not a single worthwhilephotograph in any of those boxes.


4/16

18

THERMOPOLIS AS A CONCEPT

The scenery is used to being blamed for such things, red,

beige, and more red with some yellow. And blue and blackand white.

Im busy looking at everything Im looking at. It rises and falls

as I sit and stand. Its shadowy or bright or neither, really.

Navys and grays. I expect great things from it.

A little jump and its leaping. There on the bluffs overlookingthe town I see it leap as Im looking at it leaping.

If, late in summer, its late in summer, then its late in summer.

That weird feeling of being cheated when the forecast of bad

things happening doesnt come to pass.

Darling. Yes, darling.


5/16

19

THERE WAS NEVER A THERMOPOLIS

I tried to phone you, but wed reached the very edge of the

meadow. Now a felled tree, some thistle. It all reminds me ofa book I read, the one where the field only seems endless.

In the book, everythings haunted, even the flowers.

Especially the flowers. And the chapters aren't numbered, so

you forget exactly where you are, and where you placed the

key to the room that holds all of your things from childhood.

Maybe thats why I dial the number again and again. It goes

without saying the book was right about the landscape, the

way it darkens one tree at a time.

By now the receiver feels cold in my hand. My face gone pale

with all this thinking.


6/16

20

THE PRACTICE

Weve each killed someone, but its been so long ago we no

longer remember the details, like what it was over or what wedid with the body. Thats fine, we think, as forgetfulness is a

kind of pardon or fresh innocence. And maybe it never

happened. Maybe its just something weve dreamed up out

of guilt for how nice the view is from the patio and infinity

pool. There are times though, in our love-making, where our

hand will slip, and the thumb will find itself at that little

indentation at the base of the neck and itll feel so familiar,like a reflex. Maybe we shouldnt go through with the

renovations to the guest house after all. No, thats safe, were

sure. Maybe we shouldnt sell the rental property or look

inside the freezer we keep forgetting we keep in the basement.


7/16

21

SENTENCED TO

After the affair, after the bank robbery, and after weve each

done our jail time, what will be left? You never seemed tohave a good answer, even though youd mention Goethe and

Kierkegaard, trying so desperately to sound convincing.

Beyond the window, the trellis has fallen into disrepair, and

the little strands of ivy along the gate are coming undone.

The guest house, too, looks like it might be haunted. Maybe

we shouldnt plan our escape route just yet. Maybe we should

each buy a house in a different city, leaving all that paperworkin boxes at the bottom of the lake. Youll see me again at the

conference, and think of how familiar Ill look, as though

youd held me at gunpoint in a dream you kind of remember,

but have already half forgotten.


8/16

22

WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME SAY

While were doing it, its what were doing, as a little salute to

the crowd. After a time, though, it starts to look like a parkinglot, but thats still before we have a name for it. Then we

name it something springy, because we dont really like

parking lots all that much.

You age more slowly as your speed increases. Maybe thats

why parking lots seem so dismal. But when youre late for a

meeting, a parking space feels like an award.

The crispness of the grass along the sidewalk is also

important, and lends an air of futurity to walking into the

home or building. Im going to do OK here, we think. Things

are under control. We can lift it up from the edges and look

underneath. Its like looking into a mirror.


9/16

23

A HISTORY OF THE PASTORAL

The only difference now is that the trees are covered in ice.

One by one the branches seal themselves off, disappearing

into their darkened rooms. Soon the foliage around our

house is made of mirrors. Perhaps thats what invited sadness

into the yard to begin with. You noticed the flowers looking

not quite morning, not quite yellow. Still I stutter and try

to name them. The naturalists Latin dead weight on my

tongue.

A frozen bird, a branch snapped in two. Bonjour tristesse, I say

to the meadow. But the landscape no longer remembers me.


10/16

24

LANDSCAPING

Were looking out the kitchen window, and we have this

opportunity to go back and undo our errors. But where do westart? We mowed poorly around the trees. We didnt marry

well or have pleasant children. Maybe that time in sixth

grade and the dance was coming up? I should have asked

someone. The name comes back to me sometimes when Im

trying to fall asleep, when Im done with ideas. Where are

you now and how can I get there?


11/16

25

THE CHAPTER ON REGRET

I tried to phone you, but the snow went on for miles. That

was the beginning of winter, a year of thin trees and that oddsilence. Soon the trellis is iced over, the entire garden covered

in frost. The flowers so perfect theyre no longer here.

As a small child, I had always imagined unhappiness would

be easy. Now the windows on our street darken like a kiss

goodnight. No matter what number I dial, you never seem to

pick up.


12/16

26

IM KIND OF GLAD I DIDNT KNOW THEN

WHAT I KNOW NOW

I hate jellyfish, because I just read that theyre immortal.Same thing for a hydra, though Im not sure exactly what a

hydra is. Nothing should be immortal if I cant be. By I I

mean all of us, I guess, but the argument never gets that far

before I abandon it for slamming a door or punching a wall.

Not really slamming a door, but you get what I mean. There

are consequences to these things, punching walls, hating

jellyfish. There comes a point where ghosts stop being scaryand start looking like birthday cakes. We used to dress up and

scare each other, right? Looking back, its a kind of ceremony,

and rising up over the neighborhood.


13/16

27

LANDSCAPE WITH DEMOLITION EQUIPMENT

At first, I didnt quite understand. How you could call that

darkened room nostalgia, as though naming something isnt akind of violence. Now the door groans on its hinges. The

trellis has fallen into disrepair. Around us, the trees have

cracked straight through with a strange longing. I suppose

you never said tending the annuals would be easy.

One by one, I try to forget what the various flora are called.

Confession: I dont really enjoy gardening. Ive never kept asingle flower alive.


14/16

28

THE CHAPTER ON MIRACLES

Theres this commercial we used to laugh at where some guys

on a riding mower going around his yard and either hestalking to the camera or theres a voiceover narrator going

down this list of things, things he owns, and then hes like

please help me or something like that. It was either a

mortgage company or a debt consolidation company

commercial. And that was the joke, and we laughed, like I

said, but the guy was perfect sitting there, a yard spirit,

bouncing around helplessly on the riding mower like a babyin a car seat, suddenly innocent.


15/16

29

AT LEAST IM NOT AS SAD AS I USED TO BE

The television set blinked off and at first, neither of us quite

knew what to do. We swept away the bits of glass, untangledeach of the wires. Still there was no voiceover, no narrator to

describe the various features of the garden, so all I could do

was stare. Out the window, a broken lawn mower, a field of

dead lilies, the same inhospitable landscape.

Even then, you insisted oblivion is a kind of sainthood. I

found myself laughing, but couldnt remember what hadhappened just before. Now everyone else seems to have

married well and had pleasant children.


16/16

30

THE MINOR RISKS THAT PEOPLE WORRY

TOO MUCH ABOUT

Its the kind of thought you have when youre out shoppingwith a friend at the mall, and you realize that the natural,

chemical-free food and clothes are more expensive than the

unnatural, chemical-laden ones, and sure, you realize, of

course, its always like that. The food courts full. Were

talking about yardwork. Think of the yard like the brain of a

teenager. You can say the mismatch in the maturation of

annuals and perennials leaves the yard open to risky behaviorbut also allows for leaps in ground cover and adaptability.

We agree thats kind of funny, but well need to work on it a

bit before we try it out on anyone. Were grilling later. Cool.

68 or so. And how do you like your steak?

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Ghost : Landscape by Kristina Marie Darling & John Gallaher Book Preview