Notes on Matt Rassmussen’s “After Suicide”

But together we decide
which way the dream goes

like spilled water on a table
we carry across the room.

I wait for the phone to ring
while the cord sprouts

and a receiver blooms
like a black cucumber.

*

KAREN—

SARAH—

DENNIS—I like the way you put this, esp. "planted-ness". Yes, it is sure-footed, but I want to get to an idea: sure-footed, so nothing should go wrong. There's compulsion here: no, don't even think about it, not one misstep, Mr.

KAREN— 

DENNIS—How you would plant your feet very carefully as if walking at the edge of the cliff, or the rim of this grave.

KAREN—

DENNIS—Why so? One possibility is that the enjambment gives that "so" the quality of an adverb. Such as: I love you so. I hate it so. "No one is calling so." The absence must be qualified: there is an absence of intensity, perhaps of warmth.

KAREN—

DENNIS—That's one good thing about putting these up on the blog. You can always revisit the source along with your notes. When it's . . . safe?

KAREN—