in the privacy of a table

surrounded by negotiations

they are candidly yet

unprofessionally confessing

to the Swedish agent:

see, the publisher is an old

man and to be honest

he also behaves like one

so even though he wants to

make female voices heard

I can’t come around with

this kind of daring book, but

when we’re talking classics from

the 70s I might convince him

because he doesn’t feel

threatened by dead women