About this story
Lucian Gregory, the loudest anarchist in the crowd, dares you to admit you do not take him seriously, then swears to prove himself with his sister Rosamond as witness. Sworn to secrecy that night, you follow him to a riverside beershop for lobster the room should not be able to afford, and the table starts moving before he can explain why.
How it opens
Sunset pressed violet, green, and burning red over Saffron Park's crooked roofs.
Lanterns glowed among small trees in the garden of the Gregory family.
Lucian GregoryArt begins where law ends, and every honest poet knows it.
Rosamond GregoryA poet of order is new enough to earn the garden's attention.
Choose
A poem needs law enough to remain itself from one line to the next.
Chaos is common; exactness is the rarer miracle.