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A recorded reading of “Ghost Dog Facing an Empty Chair”. If the player does not load, use the original audio source.
The ticket bore two timings stamped, at dawn and almost noon; the clerk looked through me like a pane— he hummed our borrowed tune. A jingle from a brand that died in worlds that touch our street; a stranger caught the tune and walked and kept the off-time beat. My childhood dog came back one dusk and took the other stair; it settled by an empty cup and faced an empty chair. I tried to post a border guard, I tried to bar the door; I failed, and found I sang along— we came in on the four. The moon wrote silver on the sink, the house warmed into swarm— Tell me, kettle leading choir, How many names can a mouth keep warm?
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