Late Summer

09/17/2022

Late Summer

After getting back from Pittsburgh in early September, I was disappointed to find that the summer humidity showed no sign of waning.

Soon, I thought, as I ran through the park.

Except I wasn't sure that I wanted summer to end. It was difficult to see the autumn memes circulating online -- sweaters, pumpkin lattes, Halloween decorations -- without feeling doubt and possibly even regret. It seemed like everyone who wrote for prestigious publications like ____ and ____ had enjoyed a picture-perfect summer marked by trips to the beach, fresh tomatoes, and backyard barbecues at their homes in Brooklyn. I didn't feel jealous, exactly -- I understand that this kind of cheer is an annoying construct -- but I did wonder what I had done this summer.

I remembered that I had done ordinary things, like sitting in the garden with the cats. Stephen and I had planted some new things in the garden, which had been exciting, and we had watched a few things wither away, which was less exciting. I reminded myself that I liked the summer. It was nice to spend time in the garden, to run in only one layer of clothing, to sleep with the windows open, and to wake up early and see the light. I reminded myself that with so much sickness in the world, it was also nice to have survived.

Just a few months ago I could go out just after five in the morning and see. Now it stays dark until after six, which is a source of a little bit of dread as I think about running in the winter. But those will be the runs -- with the wind bitter cold on the river -- that will make me crave the spring. What will it be like in 2023?

One morning a few days ago, the humidity disappeared. Summer was over. I missed it and I didn't miss it. It felt good to run in the cooler air. I remembered what it was like to be fast. But I also knew that I wasn't nearly as fast as I once was.

Every season has its sadness, which makes you look forward to the next one.

Posted at 09:08 AM in Expression, Science Projects | Permalink

Comments

The comments to this entry are closed.

#gods

ORDER HERE

A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH, AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE

A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.

In this colossal new novel from the author of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest into the nature of faith and resistance in the modern world. With each turn of the page, #gods will leave you increasingly reborn.

Praise for #gods

“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten, author of The Infernal

“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth, the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison, author of Yoga Bitch

“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious. His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.” —Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America

“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural, #gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach, author of The Bend of the World

The Metropolis Case

'It’s to the credit of Matthew Gallaway’s enchanting, often funny first novel that it doesn’t require a corresponding degree of obsession from readers, but may leave them similarly transported: the book is so well written — there’s hardly a lazy sentence here — and filled with such memorable lead and supporting players that it quickly absorbs you into its worlds.'

-- The New York Times

Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine

Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.

Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past

Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.

Video: The Chaos Detective

The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Search

Matthew Gallaway

Expression//Reaction//ScienceProjects

09/17/2022

Late Summer

Comments

Search

Elsewhere

Google Analytics