Photoshop® (the shortest novel imaginable)

Photoshop® (the shortest novel imaginable)

I die fast in this city, outside I die slow
Everywhere I am is just another thing without you in it
“Fashion Coat,” The National

Prologue

i tried to Photoshop® myself

back into the picture

from which you cut me

the process was tedious and slow

because i work from dream and memory

haunting me like welcomed ghosts

Chapter 1

i have been hit twice by cars while cycling

and i cannot remember anything about them

Chapter 2

i remember every moment

from the first time we made love

every detail of your apartment

the position of your bed in the room

the Salvador Dali rose poster i gave you

hanging on your wall near the door

the flush along your neck and face

and every word shared between us

Chapter 3

i remember The National concert in Asheville

and that you were not there beside me swaying

Chapter 4

i remember reading At Night We Walk in Circles

wanting to highlight in blue this sentence:

“Nothing is more deserving of one’s respect,

he told Monica that night, as they lay in bed,

than two young people who’ve found each other.”

i remember i could find only an orange highlighter

and that i could not share about any of that with you

Epilogue

i have discovered that Photoshop®

cannot fabricate the things that matter

especially when the things that matter

are no longer possible and no longer there