in: misc

Cold as an execution dawn

I read these a long while ago, but recently was reminded of them during a call with a friend newly moved to Seattle. This short short story and poem go together quite well, I think. I would recommend first the story, then the poem.

The short story is called “The Overcoat”, by Gina Berriault, I imagine after Gogol’s original (“The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol; which is great and quite different in setting and spirit). I could not find a pdf of it anywhere, so I’ve attached images of the pages here from a huge short story anthology (Ann Charters). I particularly love the opening paragraph, cataclysmic rains, cold as an execution dawn.

And then, the corresponding poem, by Franz Wright: “To Myself”. The final stanza and its sort of comedic but not at all facetious bent, it won’t always be like this, I am going to buy you a sandwich, … Which, perhaps I am drawn to because I have (largely subconsciously) spent a lot of time and energy attempting to comfort myself. Grad school being the (big) identity crisis that it is for me.

Edit, 07/14/2025: I realized today that this thing heavily smacks of House of Leaves, and that I must have at least subconsciously realized this, since it’s pretty obvious in retrospect. See one of main characters, Johnny Truant.