giant electron telescope and pointing it toward deep space. We never know what
our mad invention will reveal until we peer through the viewfinder. We do know
that the efforts and imaginations of many are required to bring our collective
dream into focus every six months. In the case of the current issue, “Humans ‘N
Nature,” over forty people helped to calibrate its searching eye.
For the majority, it was their
first time in Conduit, but for a dozen
contributors it was their second or third or fourth time between our covers.
Last week I mentioned the joy of finding a wildflower among the weeds. Another
great pleasure is to champion, over time, a writer whose work we admire and
whom is, presumably, fond of us.
Mark. Three of our issues have featured her prose poems, including “The 10
Stages of Beatrice,” which can be found below and in her forthcoming book Tsim Tsum (Saturnalia Books). To our
enormous satisfaction, “The 10 Stages of Beatrice” was selected by Heather
McHugh for the Best American Poetry 2007.
Beatrice and Walter B., inhabit a world fecund with Old World charm and inanimate objects of mysterious significance, and, in the process of
rendering this world, Sabrina Orah Mark has created a timeless fable full of
longing, humor, and tendernes
— William Waltz
THE 10 STAGES OF BEATRICE
Stage 1. — Belonging.
In the first stage
Beatrice is precisely labeled and timed. She is able to divise complex graphs,
answer questions in the order that they're asked, and construct coherent
narratives without nostalgia or actual fear. There is no display of loud
sobbing, nor are there visions.
Stage 2.— Happy.
Beatrice, during the second stage,
believes she is alive. The possibility that she is not alive, in this stage,
never enters her mind. This stage is only possible if the spectacle comes to
town.
Stage 3. — Walter B.
This stage is also called "the
latch stage." It is Beatrice at her most historical and strange.
Stage 4. — Romance.
Beatrice is hunted, captured, and
softly strung to a tree. In this stage words are used to intoxicate, supply,
and deceive. These words are rarely interesting. Gifts are exchanged that are of
no use.
Stage 5. — Dread.
Beatrice is covered in feathers and
twigs. She believes she is a nest. This stage, if it occurs in winter, is also
called "The Babies."
Stage 6. — Slice.
The sixth stage often appears in
Beatrice's hand like a long instrument with a blade at the end. She will eat
cake, during this stage, until she has visions.
Stage 7. — Cryptozoology.
In the seventh stage Beatrice wears
a green dress with large white pockets in which to store the evidence. If this
stage is mingled with the second stage, ecstasy is achieved.
Stage 8. — Crowded.
Beatrice is behind glass. In this
stage Beatrice is blurred by the humans who observe her without caution.
Stage 9. — Poland.
Beatrice gathers her grandfather
into her arms. She recites him from his memory. The ninth stage sounds like
this: tsim tsum, tsim tsum, tsim tsum.
In the final stage Beatrice watches
Beatrice feed the babies with a spade.
— Sabrina Orah Mark