Ducks, Newburyport

What a huge and sustained piece of writing. Literally a tour de force.

attics and basements kind of cry out for anarchy, I think, and maybe it’s not right to thwart them,

the fact that if you have no memory, you get bulldozed by people with better memories than you,

the fact that whenever one of the kids goes over to someone’s house for the first time, I ask the parents what their gun situation is, the fact that I absolutely hate doing it but you have to, for what good it does,

the fact that how people live with themselves, the fact that I can hardly live with myself and I never tried to deform anybody or pollute a whole ecosystem just to make a buck

the fact that once you’re a mom you start to notice how people waste their freedom, waste it,

I’m scared anything could happen, anything, from finding a rotten egg to us all being obliterated in one second by a nuclear holocaust, just reduced to soot silhouettes against the wall, but a walk helps

the fact that I’m kind of stuck in a rut, but life sure is easier that way,

the fact that, according to Stephen Hawking the human world will end within a thousand years, but I think it could be a lot sooner, and my response to this is to make more pies and read recipe books

the fact that whales will be glad when humans disappear in a thousand years, if they somehow outlast us

the fact that you need to be just hungry enough, and cheerful,

the fact that there’s about to be nuclear war and they don’t give a darn, and I’m arguing about who should pick up the dry cleaning

the fact that my three wishes would be lots of money, a pension, free healthcare, oh, and a swimming pool, which is a fourth wish, but I could pay for it out of my own money,

the fact that people can really pull some crazy, well, stuff on you of you’re not careful,

jellyfish will proliferate and congregate oil will run out solar power won’t there will be reality and virtual reality the police will shoot citizens for no reason and Taser them

the fact that I don’t know why every single person on earth has to take their own personal photo of every tourist site

the fact that I always put my eggs in one basket and it works just fine for me, the fact that, in my case, putting eggs in separate baskets would smack of overkill or paranoia, or incompetence, since the basket I use never seems to get too heavy or full or anything, the fact that even with back trouble and a Band-Aid on one finger, I still seem to manage to carry a full basket of eggs from the coop to the pantry without trouble, touch wood, no problem, whatevs,

the fact that nobody’s safe in America

People had no playfulness. They were clumsy, methodical, repetitive creatures, graceless and brutal – and full of exasperating un concern. She would like to show them who really ruled the world.