Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

Jennifer Connelly
Sestina.

BY TERENCE WINCH

- - - -

 The boy returns home with blue hair.
 The dog understands everything we say. 
 He is wearing an lampshade around his neck. 
 His left hind leg is stapled closed. 
 The veterinarian says there is no reason for God
 because the universe is just a dog's dream. 

 We can all agree that Jennifer Connelly is a dream. 
 Almost naked, in a thong, cloaked in her long black hair, 
 her every move is proof for the existence of God. 
 The boy with blue hair is not willing to say
 why his lips are sealed, his mind made up, his door closed. 
 I am not wearing a lampshade around my neck. 

 My wife once owned a jacket with "Great Neck"
 printed on the back. Before we met I had a dream 
 about her name. I waited until the restaurant closed
 to tell her she had dazzling movie-star hair. 
 In fact, she is just as beautiful as, let us say, 
 the astonishing Jennifer Connelly, so help me God. 

 The boy and the dog are friends with God. 
 They claim they feel his hot breath on their necks. 
 Unfortunately, they don't like what He has to say.
 I'd like to take this occasion to daydream
 briefly once again about Jennifer Connelly's hair
 and the rest of her: extraordinary. That's it. Case closed. 

 When I got to the church at midnight, it was closed
 tighter than the eyes and ears of our good friend God. 
 Frankly, in that proverbial foxhole, I'd take Madalyn O'Hair
 over the Pope. The boy's upstairs playing bottleneck
 guitar. The dog is drunk on painkillers, dreaming
 that if he could talk, he'd know just what to say. 

 O Jennifer, there is still so much left to say 
 but my time is up, it's late, everything is closed. 
 I want to crawl into bed, past the dog, and dream
 of the sex palaces of Heaven, where everyone is the God
 of love, and you and me and my wife are racing neck and neck
 with the erotic angels of Paradise, but I win by a hair! 

 New Orleans, like you, is now a dream. Maybe I'll call this "The Hair
 of the Dog," who, by the way, has become an incredible pain in the neck.
 What more can I say, except that in Waking the Dead, you played God. 

 

MORE SESTINAS

 

- - - -

MAIN PAGE   |   ARCHIVES

 

Memories of Amanda Davis

 


Red dot denotes content that is new today.

Black dot denotes newish content.

McSWEENEY'S STORE

SUBSCRIBE TO:
McSWEENEY'S
THE BELIEVER
WHOLPHIN

FUTURE McSWEENEY'S BOOKS

THE AMANDA DAVIS HIGHWIRE FICTION AWARD

INVITE A McSWEENEY'S AUTHOR TO SPEAK IN YOUR TOWN OR COLLEGE

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

McSWEENEY'S-RELATED EVENTS AND VARIOUS TOUR DATES

ORDER INQUIRIES AND ADDRESS CHANGES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
FOR BOOKS
FOR THE QUARTERLY
FOR THE WEBSITE
FOR WHOLPHIN

McSWEENEY'S INTERNSHIPS

CONTACT US

- - - -

LETTERS TO McSWEENEY'S

LISTS

McSWEENEY'S PREDICTS

McSWEENEY'S RECOMMENDS

NEW WHOLPHIN FILM

DAN LIEBERT, VERBAL CARTOONIST

JOKES BY BRIAN BEATTY

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW

SO YOU WANT TO BE PRESIDENT?

DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS

DISPATCHES FROM A HUMANITARIAN JOURNALIST

DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

PHILIP GRAHAM SPENDS A YEAR IN LISBON

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

DISPATCHES FROM THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AT THE MET

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

SONGS OF ENEMIES AND DESERTS: LIVING WITH THE SUDAN LIBERATION ARMY

LAWRENCE WESCHLER'S EVERYTHING THAT RISES: A BOOK OF CONVERGENCES

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

ABOUT WHAT IS THE WHAT

ABOUT BOWL OF CHERRIES

ABOUT COMEDY BY THE NUMBERS

ABOUT JOHN BRANDON'S ARKANSAS

ABOUT MICHAEL CHABON'S MAPS AND LEGENDS

LETTERS FROM AN EARTH BALL TO, OR CONCERNING, SEAN HANNITY

DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY

ADVICE FROM A PERSON WITH A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY

DISPATCHES FROM THE NBA ENTERTAINMENT LEAGUE

JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

B.R. COHEN'S ANNALS OF SCIENCE

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DISPATCHES FROM ROY KESEY, AN AMERICAN GUY MARRIED TO
A PERUVIAN DIPLOMAT LIVING IN CHINA


STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL