Return to site

Man

a man falls from the sky. a man tries to swim from europe to new york, just for crazy fun. a man builds the world’s highest tower. a man disappears. a man lives for 40 days in a box hanging from a bridge. a man holds his breathe for 17 minutes. a man helped dig up the sidewalk outside our house to lay the lines optical lines for high-speed connection, and a man put the sand and blocks back into place. 

a man dismissed a lovely woman he, in his drunken state, professed to to adore. a man abandoned his babymamma, and another one (or the same one?) impregnated a new one. a man looks starry eyed, a man wants attention, a man is a boy who wants a hug. a man put on an orange robe, forsaking the lux of life to raise tigers, or elephants. a man raises his dulled machete to slice the thick skin and meat away from the tusk where it enters a dead elephant. a man shoots a girl for reading from a book. a man chops another man’s hand off for being starving and desperate. a man holds a baby blasted to death in war. his army-issue goggles can’t hide his tears.

a man reaches out his lonely hand to a woman for comfort when he’s at his most lost. a man can’t look her in the eye.

excerpt from '88 ~ a love letter to an island' by alva