Good Thinking

My daughter was cleaning her room and came across an old issue of a literary magazine that she and my son put together when they were in elementary school as a gift to me. They called the magazine Good Thinking. The opening page of one of the issues of the magazine reads as follows:

Good Thinking is published whenever the editors decide to publish it. Sometimes they are too busy to publish anything. This is the third issue of Good Thinking. The editors welcome contributions from anyone who is a child. Work contributed will not be returned and might be lost. The editors apologize in advance for your lost work. The editors would love to hear from you. The editors sometimes republish poems from past issues. They do not ask for your permission to republish your poems. Sometimes the editors discover typos in Good Thinking. The editors apologize for typos but do not correct them. Please send your poems and stories and artwork to Good Thinking at the address below.

How Many Wives?

I've been traveling way too much lately. I come back from cool places, and I remember the silliest details. What the cab driver said. Or what the stranger who ate lunch at the same airport deli was saying to his wife about the meaning of life. Take the cab driver in Providence. He was young, maybe in his twenties, from South Africa. He said he grew up in Paris and was writing a memoir about his life. He was going to tell about all the countries he lived in. He also wanted to tell the world how limited Americans are. How they don't travel, for example. They don't even go to Europe. They only speak English. What do you know about Africa? he asked. I admitted I didn't know very much, but that I had recently watched a film about Swaziland. I said that the king of Swaziland took a new wife every year.

What's wrong with that? the cab driver asked me. Africans do that in many countries, not just Swaziland. And why not? At least king is honest. At least his wives know where he is and with whom. In your country men take lovers. Think about Bill Clinton. He could have married Monica and his other women too. But Americans don't accept that. It's very silly.

How many wives do you think you will take? I asked. Oh, he laughed. It all depends of course. I'm not a king.

Reading in New York City

Sunday, December 6, 2009
5 pm

Nin Andrews
Miranda Field
Rachel Zucker

CAKESHOP
152 Ludlow (between Stanton & Rivington)