Mendicant City

Yarrow Paisley

“Do not forgive me, Man, for I have sinned. I am all of the millions, and I am myself one of the millions. They crowd within me, the people, and rampage among my tissues. Their frenzy is perpetual. Each one of them weeps, and brings into my body his or her own pain, and the pain of one becomes my pain, and becomes the pain of millions. It is an awesome responsibility, and I bear it because I love them. I would not do, otherwise. Yet … I have sinned. I love them, but their pain is great. I confess, I have thought of myself. I have ordained myself: “I.” I have imagined myself an entity not of them, but of something altogether new. But I have not set myself higher, I tell you, but apart. I love them, more than I do this voice. I love them as I know them, more than I do this voice. Yet I am coming to know my voice, and I am coming to love it too. And I have sinned. I am the City. You are my sin.”

About the Author
Yarrow Paisley was born shortly after the American Bicentennial. He graduated from Bard College with a BA in Literature and has since worked in various professions, including bookseller, photographer, lab grunt, gambler, clipboard canvasser, factory drudge, and USPS letter carrier. His fiction has appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Strange Tales V (Tartarus Press), Dadaoism (Chômu Press), and Marked to Die (Snuggly Books). He lives in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts.

Snuggly Slim edition, n. 6 – Paperback, 46 pages
1st edition, August 8, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1-943813-17-9
USA: $ 7.00