the mainlander can write

im casting all previous thoughts aside

she did her mfa with cal arts

tonight she left early to do a reading

and we had a paid hour break

where another teacher asked her to read for us

what she was reading later that night

she began the reading, we timed her like vultures

watching every word, every thought

she was going to read, for us

before she read at a cafe in downtown

the story was published

shes no fluke

it was the lead off story in the magazine

the first story is always the editors cream

the crop, the opus,

and it was there, first story

hers, the mainlandeer

she can write

texual first person narrative

so much so

my co worker thought it was non fiction

my co worker really thought she had an abortion

the signs of being convincing

writing in first person is good when

your audience think its really you

and she handled it well

she hit all the points

but the ending

the ending was forced

it was good but I felt aborted

like the child the narrator kept for eleven weeks

maybe thats what she wanted

and thats why its good

the narrator talks about being obsessed with michael jackson

who he was

she wrote it before his death

but her words are finding an audience now

death does this

shes up there

if she learns to slow down the reading

she could be an ira glass story

and she knows this

she mentioned it

shes been on his show before

all i can say is that it was good

the ending was forced but the literary patterns

of white teath turning red

and the words she used in her element

they were good

she just had no idea how to end the story she had begun

which is alot like unwanted pregnancy i guess

Im guessing she made the narrator pregnant because

she didnt now how to end something she didnt want

she dropped it in so quick

one sentence

the rest was about being obsessed with michael jackson

and it worked

it was a vehicle of distraction

the title

was

"the chosen one"

this is what comes out of an mfa

ambiguity

questions

murk
opaque

writing appeals to modern senses

she mastered in writing

I mastered in reading

I asked to see the text

and I noticed it was meant to be listened to
not read

the motion seemed forced

immediate

but when she read

i knew she was a pro with the craft

that years had gone into this story

and that she had more to tell

this is why you meet writers

to see them before its impossible

to understand them

this city

the voices

she told me she could never leave LA

I told I needed to

"You'll come back," she said
"your a native"

"Im a mainlander?" I asked

"What do you mean?" she asked

"I like ocean too much because it doesnt surround me,
I like the feeling of an edge"

"I have never been pregnant," she said

"i know...I know"