from Cockaigne by Matthew Olzmann (poetry, ’09)

A prose piece by Matthew Olzmann (poetry, ’09) appears in Virginia Quarterly Review Online:

from Cockaigne

It was actually a good year, the year before the downfall, a surprisingly good year in our little town. It was a year of bread on the table, a year with a new IPA in our glasses, a year with friends who visited with great frequency. There was laughter, that year, and uncontaminated water flowed from every faucet. In general, our children were kind, that year, to the animals they found in the forests, and I held your hand as we walked through the park. … continue reading here.