T H E   E M P E R O R

Positive attributes : “As the years go on, it feels less real, more like a bloated Greek myth. Eventually all gods are forgotten. Poseidon still churns among the salt and bile, creates chaos where there should be peace. The spectators find new arenas. But Athena only forgives — she never forgets.”

Negative attributes : “If the gods do exist, I hope they destroy this state.”

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September 2018 : Tampa, Florida

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Keywords : “Sweat. So much sweat. Clammy hands as I entered arrivals, imagining him standing there with fresh sunflowers like he always did. Except for the time he didn’t.”

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Life Situations : “I guess I came back here for an art project. Hmm. It felt more like digging my finger into an unsure wound. I was unsure whose wound it was.”

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In Reverse : “This was all real though I do doubt, sometimes, the feel of that clear water, and its thin trail out of his eye corner.

[…]

At what point does legend become reality? What did I actually remember?”

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As a Yes or No Question : “A rich story never dies — it lives on in permutations, both beautiful and terrible. It exists as something outside of myself, an epic winding its way through wetlands and fraternity rows. The tide eventually returns.”

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