Woman Ironing, by Edgar Degas

Elegy for Overachieving

October 24, 2024

[fiction]

You’re alone. You’re alone in a house in the woods. You’ve been running for some time.

[fiction]

Dear Sir: As requested, I shall begin by providing background information about myself. My name is Vernon Lantry. I am fifty-one years of age.

[poetry]

Before we knew, we heard— // the horses shot in the pasture, // clamor receding along the fence line like snow.

[fiction]

I took the truck down the rough, narrow trail, rounding the final rutted bend out of the woods and onto the rocky beach surrounding the lake.

The Rumen