Congress Avenue Ends at the Sea
It is a short walk. It is a very long walk. Congress Avenue runs south over the river and then, at the end, instead of the capitol, there is water. Gray. Tidal. Smelling of kelp and brake dust.
The streetlights keep going out into it on pilings.
You can see four things from here. A lit tower on a headland, turning. A trail going up a hill that is not on any map you own. A long low building with a green door and a sign that says CABINET. And a hedge, taller than the hedges in town, with a graveyard singing behind it, one flat note held.
A bus arrives and does not open its doors. It waits, the way a person waits to be asked something.
- Walk to the light on the headland.
- Climb the trail. Found in a drawer “The wind has a smell of wet stone and a man's cigarette, though there is no man.”
- Try the green door. Found in the bin “It is possible to see the light and still hit the rock.”
- Go toward the singing. Found in the seam “It is the best conversation you have had all week.”
- Turn back up the avenue, to the block of doors. Found in the chute “A thing is allowed to be two places at once if you let it fold.”
The book · Colophon and credits
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