Literary Hub

room for a counter interior

room for a counter interior

what if there were a room. or if there weren’t. where violence, history
and euphoria met within and preceded a body.

to regard such a body would be to take up a series of imagined objects
and to imagine those objects as facts. you might hope whatever was
there carried to the end.

what if the room were a state in constant motion. as geography. a
receding afternoon. as singular desire. two ravaged hands to light an
obscured interior.

the room recognizable through uncoupling from the body. in relief. as
building.

during the first half of the drive to massachusetts, my lover and I argued
via text . this is ridiculous, she said, we can’t argue about a vibrator right
now.

harvard university’s carpenter center is the only building in the united
states designed by le corbusier. “because of this distinction, he strove to
incorporate each of his five principles of new architecture.”

principle one: the replacement of supporting walls by a grid is the basis
of a new architecture.

from south street station, I walked to club café for a three-whiskey lunch.
the fake plants and desperately lacquered tables felt appropriate. I
spoke with ariel.

I wanted the day to feel plain. even that desire expressed itself modestly.

principle two: the absence of supporting walls means the house is unrestrained in its internal use. principle three: by separating the exterior of the building from its structural function, the façade is free from structural constraints:

elbowed crease. grecian jaw. how the eyes fell—you may take these objects as facts.

further principals become unnecessary.

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