Difficulty Swallowing

Some things in life stick to our throats. Whether it’s the crumbs of memory or modernity’s unsavory realities, we often reach for water just outside our grasp. We bite our tongues in defense, trying to swallow the shoulder-chip we realize isn’t a mirror: it’s one panel in a 99-cent store disco ball keychain, still tacky from the choking advisory.

It might not make sense to you, but this was meant to be beautiful, to make you want it so bad you could taste it—a perspectival ambrosia, those p...