knowledge – Ivy

“Talent. I don’t have talent. I have willingness. What talent?” As a kid, she had always told the raunchiest jokes. As an adult, she could rip open a bone and speak out of it. Simple, clear. There was never anything to stop her. Why was there never anything to stop her? “I can stretch out the neck of a sweater to point at a freckle on my shoulder. Anyone who didn’t get enough attention in nursery school can do that. Talent is something else.”

– Lorrie Moore, in her short story “Willing” from her collection Birds of America.

I’ll admit part of me swooned when you referenced Mauss. But part of me almost felt violated.

I sometimes feel too well-known when people read the same books as I. I feel like they have a part of me that way and I, by extension, have a part of them by knowing what they’ve read. I start to associate them with the work. They become part of it

It’s not the same with movies. There’s just something about books.

But that’s the very spirit of the gift, isn’t it? You give me part of yourself and I’m indebted. I give you some of me and you’re in my debt. And you know how I feel about power exchanges.

It’s funny to remember you as you were before you existed, subtle visitor. You know how I’ve suffered getting accustomed to you.