Timothy McSweeney's Header Image

- - - -

Dave Eggers' The Wild Things is available for preorder, in regular hardcover and
limited-edition fur-covered.

- - - -

O Light, Red Light.

BY CATHY PARK HONG

- - - -

 Girls! Girls! Girls! Batted molas eyelashes at boned molish chap,
 But lika Greco Frieze, him stood in cold puddle o red light, 
 Spite One Girl! Curdling she finga, 'Come bwoy, Come, don' G'won.'
 Toto sum Girls! curdled dim fingas attim but he maki no choice. 
 Only browsed 'till sighed 'nut'a day.' Went back, spillim seeds 
 onto hotel carpet, lone, wit only zuzzing cable, a suite nocturne. 

 Ai fife, he warbled, Ai la lune triste nocturne. 
 'E capered down to karaoke lounge to singsong, a sloshing chap, 
 At hotel, quaffing Singapore Slings wit pomegranate seeds. 
 Next day, 'E kem back to de Girls! ta fes de garnet light. 
 Fished outtim haisimap pinga, but brined bine choice 
 E sterilized, and de Girls! chortled 'G'won home, batty bwoy, g'won.'

 Him moist eyes be anime anemone, he g'won 
 back, pining Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles," a blarny mon nocturne. 
 Him catcha "desertitis." "The sensation of feeling deserted after facing too many choices."
 Infectim neurotic forest like SSRI pips: him pinga all chap. 
 So, 'E turn to return to him hum-a-day life, to fes domicile's wan light
 dreamim o him progenies chortling attim wasted seeds. 

 Ai, wine o consciousness fermented frum brain's wadder, what seeds
 sprout in de desert? What yields? We labor por him joy. Neva we g'won. 
 Nary, we work ovatime, shaving de tourist's cuticle 'til dead o light. 
 Crooning our macaroon troats de 99th nocturne, 
 But, you, non! Tourists kennot be slaked, dim troats be chap 
 Lika duck wit chokelace dat kennot feast on fish o choice 

 We offal da finest sampla plate bouquet o choice, 
 But desertitis cankas digestion, destertitis like intestatus, whateva you've see'd
 Yea desire reined, saddled like apaloosa wearim chap. 
 G'won, g'won, g'won, g'won, g'won! 
 In him suit attire, He whom cannot be sated, snored nocturnes
 In him town's train station tru eve's descending light. 

 Fraid o failure, fraid to fessim wife in halogen light, 
 De act o returning a requiem, neva a choice, 
 But dawn's aubade caressim prickle cheek, singing away nocturne. 
 Doe banished, he can come back to him life, begin afresh, aseed, 
 De tourist's privilege be dat he can return, always return, doe frum desert he g'won. 
 'Wake up, ole chap, wake,' a janitor clap in him ear 'til janitor hands all chap. 

 Eye-crust y feral mout, he wink out o nocturne to janitor's flashlight. 
 A pitiable kinda chap but he habba choice ta gwon home, me covet dat choice. 
 When dim ideas seed in us, how do we'um return, when we can only g'won. 

 

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

THE BEST AMERICAN NONREQUIRED READING

McSWEENEY'S MONTHLY MAILING LIST

BOOKSTORES WITH A McSWEENEY'S DISPLAY

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

TEDDY WAYNE'S UNPOPULAR PROVERBS

REVIEWS OF NEW FOOD

DISPATCHES FROM MANILA

DISPATCHES FROM MOSCOW

AND HERE'S THE KICKER:
MIKE SACKS'S CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMOR WRITERS


SARAH WALKER SHOWS YOU HOW

DISPATCHES FROM AN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER
WHO IS TRYING TO GROW A MUSTACHE


DISPATCHES FROM A HANGDOG BANKRUPT

DISPATCHES FROM THE ANACOSTIA

DISPATCHES FROM THE CAPITAL

DISPATCHES FROM INDIA

THE WINNER'S CIRCLE WITH ERIC FEEZELL

BEN GREENMAN'S FAKE CELEBRITY MUSICALS

SEAN MICHAELS LISTENS TO MUSIC IN MONTREAL

SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES

KIDS' LETTERS TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

STAINED TEETH: A COLUMN ABOUT WINE

DISPATCHES FROM THE WINGS AT THE BALLET

YOUR MONEY, YOUR JOB ... YOUR LIFE, WITH ALISON ROSEN

KEVIN DOLGIN TELLS YOU ABOUT PLACES YOU SHOULD GO IN EUROPE

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

THE CONVERGENCES CONTEST

ABOUT THE CONVALESCENT

ABOUT GOD SAYS NO

ABOUT UNDERGROUND AMERICA

ABOUT THANKS AND HAVE FUN RUNNING THE COUNTRY

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

DISPATCHES FROM ADJUNCT FACULTY AT A LARGE STATE UNIVERSITY

E-MAILS SENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FLAG-FOOTBALL TEAM


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

JOHN MOE'S POP-SONG CORRESPONDENCES

INTERVIEWS WITH PEOPLE WHO HAVE INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL JOBS

FLIP: A COLUMN ABOUT SKATEBOARDING

OPEN LETTERS TO PEOPLE OR ENTITIES WHO ARE UNLIKELY TO RESPOND

DISPATCHES FROM A PUBLIC LIBRARIAN

MICHAEL IAN BLACK IS A VERY FAMOUS CELEBRITY

DAN KENNEDY SOLVES YOUR PROBLEMS WITH PAPER

STEPHEN ELLIOTT'S POKER REPORT

- - - -

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL