Nate Logan
Lake Cathleen
The diner’s hitching post is rented this morning: a horse, GRIEF stenciled on its hindquarters, grazes idly. “It’s not the ocean you hear in a seashell,” a child tells the waitress. The history of a pepper sauce reads like a murder mystery. Raincoats drip on a coat rack; we name the puddle Lake Cathleen.
Ypsilanti, Baby!
I’m sitting at my desktop and click “travel” on the welcome screen. Earlier, in line at the chandlery, my dreams seemed small. A man ran a candle under his nose like a cigar. A woman, unsatisfied with coin flips, asked each browser, “What do you think would look better in the library, this candelabra or this medieval torch?” She wafted toward me and in a panic, I dropped the antique snuffer. I discovered that it was OK to live without complications: a picture of Kim Cattrall on the bridge wearing nothing but pointy ears. We’re going to let the dominoes topple, enjoy a slice of pizza we can find anywhere.
Nate Logan is the author of Inside the Golden Days of Missing You (Magic Helicopter Press, 2019). He teaches at Franklin College and Marian University.