My father told us stories every night about strange little ani- <br />mals that came out in the dark. When my father was away, my <br />mother read us fairy tales that always ended in marriage. <br />Sometimes, when I missed my father, I slept under my bed in <br />mourning and the mice crawled all around me. <br />* <br />I stand at the window of a bridal shop where huge dresses <br />hang ghostly in the dark. At the back is a collection of veils <br />like a row of sleeping jellyfish. One whole wall of the shop is <br />a mass of white cloth. The wedding dresses are enormous. <br />They are twice as big as me, and bigger than any woman on <br />the street. <br />* <br />This is the year that everyone is trying to fly around the world <br />in a balloon. I don't know why.<br /><br />Eula Biss<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-father-told-us-stories/
