Category: Liturgy
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12.10: The Liturgy
#10 Liturgy for the Memory That Lingers(for the tricks the past plays on the heart) I. The Scent That Refuses to LeaveYou open a closet door,and though the clothes are gone,given away to someone else’s life,the scent of the one who wore themstill hangs in the air like a held breath. Strawberries and cold cream.Tobacco…
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05.10: The Liturgy
Episode 9 Liturgy for the Lawyer’s Quiet(for the facts that sit in silence) I. The Office That Holds Its BreathFenella steps into the lawyer’s office,a room that smells of old paper,dust settled into the bindingsof books no one has openedin decades. The man himself is elderly,his hands marked with the slow workof documents,his eyes the…
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28.09: The Liturgy
Liturgy for the Answers That Yield More Questions(for the pacing, the waking, the silent photographs) I. The Floor That Knows Your FootstepsYou have worn a path in the carpet.Back and forth,as if the fibres might rearrange themselvesinto a confessionif you walk them long enough. But they do not. The carpet only holds the shape of…
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2209: The Liturgy
Liturgy number 07 Dead Men Don’t Drown “Liturgy for the Sea That Refused”(for the man who became paper, and the wave that said no) I. The Reduction of a Man to PaperThey gave you a file.Not a body.Not a burial.Not the salt-scoured bonesthe sea should have surrenderedafter the proper amount of grieving. They gave you…
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1509: The Liturgy
Liturgy for the Proof in the Photograph(for the moment the past confirms what you thought) I. The Search Through the Silent FacesYou spread them out like evidence;photographs that have waited in drawers,their corners curled, their colours fading,their smiles fixed in a time you never lived. You are not looking for memories,but proof.A face. A shadow…
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0709: The Liturgy
05 Liturgy for the Unintended(for the moment the ear catches what the heart was not meant to hold) I. The Ear That Catches What Was Not MeantIt begins with a moment,an answer,a voice that carries wordswith informationIt arrivesbefore you can close your ears. You did not seek it.You did not want it,but now it is…
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3108: The Liturgy Episode 4
Episode 4: Dead Men Don’t Drown — Liturgy for the Antique Shop(where the dead linger in the objects they once loved) I. The Shop That Holds the PastThe antique shop breathes softly,beeswax and dust holding the warmth of roomswhose fires went out years ago. Objects wait for hands that will not be theirs. Silver has…
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1708: The Liturgy
Episode 3 — Liturgy for the Charity Van(for those who sort the belongings of the dead) I. The Van at the Door The charity van pulls up.The driver is kind but level,practised in the art of receivingwhat the living can no longer hold. Fenella watches him load the boxes,each one containing a fragmentof her grandmother’s…
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1008: The Liturgy #2
Liturgy for the Inherited Weight(for those who must sort through the past) I. The Objects That Remember Every object in this house carries a memory,one we pressed into itwith our hands, our habits,our refusal to let go. The chipped mug she dropped at seven,her grandmother kept using,as if the crack were not a flawbut a…
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0308: The Liturgy
Liturgy for the Dogs on the Windowsill(Rye Harbour, Sussex: where the sea keeps its secrets) I. The Threshold of SaltThe house faces the harbourthrough windows etched with winter’s salt,the brine of decades pressed into glasslike a watermark of all that has been lost. Salt in the hinges.Salt in the frames.Salt in the hems of curtainsthat…
