VIII. TANGLED NECKLACES: When the hips protrude it’s a sight, and we don’t mean to look but we do. Our aunt who is shaped like a mountain got these looks and she’s handed them around. Her bowed legs when seen in heels were like a bastion or a lighthouse. What does it mean to hold a face with both hands and to spread a face, to see it without time or memory, or wine? Two necklaces tangled up, impossible to rescue but we pick at the knotted gold with our fingernails for they must be undone.

NOTES & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

“The Balcony” (p. 40): The verse about an extension cord, grape jelly, and hominy grits is a reference to the film Ganja & Hess, 1973.

“Three Months of Banana” (p. 50): The mentions of Muhammad Ali riding a horse in the streets of Harlem are from the film Black Rodeo, 1972.

“Forty-Seven Days Ago” (p. 70): In conversation with Sophie Calle’s Exquisite Pain, 1984–2003; “Peach” (p. 93): In conversation with Calle’s The Giraffe, 2012.

“There’s D’Angelo’s Gap” (p. 82): Paul Hunter directing D’Angelo is from MTV Making the Video, Untitled (How Does It Feel), 2000.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Danielle Dutton and Martin Riker for seeing something in this work, my first work, and for shaping it. To Laurie Sheck who gave me encouragement, counsel, and consistent care. Gratitude to Rachel M. Simon, Ashley C. Ford, Val Vinokur, and Katie Kitamura. To my peers, the earliest readers of these stories, especially Leia Inji Carter and Yasmin Zaher (for the bees). To Asandele Sondiyazi, Callie Barrons, Luthfun Jui Nahar, Natalie Fletcher, Ruwa Alhayek.

To the women who have shared their hands: Tiffany Mellard, Jessica Sanchez, Courtney Wheeler, Vanessa Stair, Jenna Hanchard, Gabriela Suriel, Kendra Williams, Ilaria Carratù.

Clark Scully, for everything underlying and for the rest.

Alla mia famiglia, per la luce.

And to all the places that have kept me.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Giada Scodellaro was born in Naples, Italy and raised in the Bronx, NY. She holds an MFA from The New School. This is her first book.

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