Lisa Olstein is the author of Radio Crackling, Radio Gone, which won the Hayden Carruth Award, and of Lost Alphabet (Copper Canyon Press, 2009). A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, Olstein has been widely published. She serves as associate director of the MFA program at the University of Massachusetts and is a cofounder of the Juniper Initiative for Literary Arts & Action.


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That Magnificent Part the Chorus Does about Tragedy

by Lisa Olstein

There is a theory of crying that tears are the body’s way of
releasing excess elements from the brain. There is a theory of
dreaming that each one serves to mend something torn, like
cells of new skin lining up to cover a hole. I’m not one to have
dreams about flying, but last week we were thirty feet above the
bay—this was where we went to discuss things, so that no matter
what we decided it was only we two out there, and we’d have
to fly back together. I’m not one to have dreams where animals
can speak, but last night a weeping mare I’d been told to bridle
wanted me to save her.

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