from Letters to Kelly Clarkson

 
Dear Kelly,
 
I was moving one square of air from one corner of the country to another, I held that square in my mouth or cheek so I could still talk, breathe, even sing while holding it. I slept with it in my mouth, so even my dreams had that square of air in them. And in the shower, and while running and coffee and taking the bus. Once in a while if the bus jerked forward the square would shift forward or to the other side, across my tongue. I tried to keep my jaw very level with the square although I knew this probably wasn’t necessary, but it gave me a certain comfort to imagine the square in abeyance. It was more difficult to hold the square in my mouth in some countries than in others, not because of anything inherently about those countries but because of the manner I assumed within them. On long plane rides, while changing currency, on a new transit system the square might tilt and with it my head.

JULIA BLOCH