Inventory #140: I Await the Devil’s Coming by Mary MacLane

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REGARDING CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DEVIL

Which crossroads should I begin walking toward & which direction do I face once I get there & how will I know it’s you & should I wear anything in particular & is there some sort of signal & remind me again what we’re trading & is it an even exchange & what if I change my mind & nevermind just touch my soul & you’re not as bad as they said & better looking & you blend into the night & now so do I.

Inventory #139: Robe

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REGARDING THE DEVIL IN EXILE

“Can I be that thing which I am—can I be possessed of a peculiar rare genius, and yet drag out my life in obscurity in this uncouth, warped Montana town?” –Mary MacLane

Inventory #138: Gel insoles

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REGARDING COMFORT IN EXILE

Modern equivalent of ancient banishment: Do a bad enough thing & keep doing bad things & be celebrated.

Inventory #137: Powder

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REGARDING THE ELK ON THE ISLAND OF CORSICA

If your antlers weighed
ninety pounds & spanned twelve feet
you’d be extinct too

Inventory #136: Tinted moisturizer

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REGARDING QUALIFICATIONS FOR EXILE

It’s no secret:
just fall in love
with a queen.

Inventory #135: Letters from a Stoic by Seneca

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REGARDING EXILE

Alone on the island
of Corsica, Seneca wrote
a letter to his mother

Inventory #134: Guitar strings

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REGARDING COMPARING YOURSELF TO A POP STAR

“Nature’s wants are small, while those of opinion are limitless.” —Seneca

Inventory #133: Film

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REGARDING PAPARAZZI

I’ve seen paparazzi standing on cars in Manhattan to get a shot of Katie Holmes exiting a coffee shop. I’ve seen paparazzi run in front of oncoming traffic in Los Angeles to get closer to Halle Berry on crutches. When I was little, I told my mother I wanted to be famous, but not like Michael Jackson famous.

Inventory #132: Rose incense

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REGARDING SMOKING OUT THE ENEMY

Your mission: to face evil. Your method: fire. Look, now: your enemy is warming her hands in front of the fire you made. She’s inhaling! Is your enemy the girl or the smoke or is the girl made of smoke? Either way it’s evil and you must look into her grey eyes for eight seconds. Go & light this cigarette in the fire & blow smoke in her ash-covered face & walk away & wash your clothes & be lighter.

Inventory #131: The Idler Wheel by Fiona Apple

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REGARDING TAKING SEVEN YEARS TO WRITE 10 SONGS

My friend, who had never written a book but longed to, said, I’m still in the living part of my writing career. So spend seven years doing… what? Feeling? Talking? Drinking at bars? Falling in love in Europe? Spend seven years making ten songs perfect, making twenty poems somewhat perfect, making a novel imperfect, then release. Repeat until the years add up and up and up.

Inventory #130: Mighty Be Our Powers by Leymah Gbowee

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REGARDING FINISHING A STORY & BEGINNING ANOTHER

“The customs people never open my suitcase. This is the voice for peace, some official always announces. Step off the line. Come, collect your bags.”

Inventory #129: Enough About You by David Shields

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REGARDING STORY AS WINDOW

“When I’m looking at you, wrote the soap fan to the soap star, Are you looking at me?”

Inventory #128: “A Christmas Memory” read by Truman Capote

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REGARDING THE INABILITY TO WRITE FICTION

You’re either born telling stories or you’re not. You either want to write it down or you don’t. You either have characters that speak to you or they’re mute forever. You’re either obsessed with your own memories or you make up a story to arrive at the truth inside your memory. You either get caught lying or you’re celebrated for it.

Inventory #127: Green beret

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REGARDING INTERROGATING A VILLAIN

CH aims interrogation lamp in V’s face.

V: I can read your mind, you know.
CH: Oh yeah? What’s my name then?
V: Chelsea Hodson.
CH: How’d you know that?
V: I already told you.
CH: Is that why you did what you did?
V: My soul is evil, and so was his when I was done with him.
CH: Why did you put that man in danger?
V: Because I couldn’t stop reading his mind.
CH: What did his mind say?
V: That he was going to be the star of the movie.

CH turns off interrogation lamp and leaves V alone in the dark room.

Inventory #126: Cape

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REGARDING BEING THE VILLAIN

I wrote a screenplay, do you want to read it? I’m the star and writer and director. It’s based on a true story—my life. Here’s my elevator pitch: I put a man in danger and I will never change. Good, right? I hate when characters go on some complicated moral journey. That’s just not my life, you know? So my movie is one long climactic scene in which I am the villain, I am always the villain, and the man just keeps not getting saved.