Claire Fuqua

PLANS FOR BRINGING BACK A DEAD BABY

1. Hang wind chimes, consisting mostly of sea urchin shells, over your bed when the moon is waxing.

2. Buy a small, brightly colored bird.  A parakeet, a canary. Care for it well: birdseed, small bells.  After a time leave the cage open, all windows, all doors.

3. Eat pomegranate seeds, bursting each with your teeth, losing none.

4. Give odorless flowers to strangers or acquaintances: mailman, checkout girl, cabbies.

5. Build a shed behind your home.  Paint it lemon yellow (interior only). Allow no one in until cobwebs adorn all corners.

6. Take a ferry somewhere. On the return, stipple water with sugar.

7. Fill a basket with sequins and swallow them. Fill a basket with flour and set it beside your gate.

8. Awake to a recording of bagpipes.

9. Feel the run of your collarbone with fingertips. Touch feet to head and laugh (louder than needed, longer). Crack every available bone in your body. Forget everything else you have done.

Location:	Providence, Rhode Island
Email:	fuquac@newschool.edu

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