Contributions by Gerry LaFemina

In the back of the closet where I keep the things I’ve given up: the smoking jacket, the cardigan, the bolo tie with its black string and its silver and turquoise clasp, the cowboy boots I bought at the spur of the moment, among those costumes and props of another life, there where I’d hidden …

I have a shovel, blueprints, and a big enough backyard. I still don’t own a pistol.