Tracks to Clementine

On Not Becoming an Almond
(with Special Nod to Sarah Ruhl)

Steps to reducing melancholy:

1. Open the refrigerator and discover a can of Guinness which resides in a similar state of melancholy.
2. Remove the Guinness from the fridge (taking care to close the door), open it, and pour it into a pint class.
3. Retrieve Octavio Paz's Eagle or Sun from the bookshelf.
4. Gather pint glass of Guinness and walk with beer and book to your front porch, taking care to leave the door unlocked.
5. Place the beer on the porch rail, place self on wooden bench, place feet on wooden chair and open book to "My Life with the Wave" ("Mi Vida Con La Ola").
6. Read the printed-in-English odd-numbered pages to self and the printed-in-Spanish even-numbered pages out loud.
7. Consume the Guinness.
8. Pause as passersby pass by, not because they will hear your inadequate pronunciation of Spanish, but because they might be too far away to hear you at all and therefore think that you move your lips when you read silently.
9. Re-read the sentence "Ciertas noches su piel se cubría de fosforescencias y abrazarla era abrazar un pedazo de noche tatuada de fuego" until you are certain it refers to you.
10. Return indoors and begin to write heat-inspired smut.

You are now not an almond.