Wives

He filled his wife-shaped hole with

more wife, another wife, a younger wife.

It was one country-sized ego against another.

Roger Silver, you are a handsome iceberg, said

the old wife years before the new wife. The world

said nothing.

The new wife grew out of a woman

into his king concept. The representation

of his life's potential. A shiny voucher of re-

newal. The old wife grew old, but as a woman.

She learns that it's not easy for anybody. There

is relief in this.

We have a chance to be something alive, he said

on his death bed, the new wife lost to him

much sooner than expected. None of this

is very hard to believe. It's not
an exceptional life,

which doesn't mean it didn't happen.