Something has Changed

It’s as if
We had left our house for five minutes to mail a letter,
And during that time the living room had changed places
With the room behind the mirror over the fireplace…

W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety

"'This is a God-given signal! If this fire, as I believe, turns out to be the handiwork of [], then there is nothing that shall stop us now crushing out this murder pest with an iron fist.'

It was then that [] turned to me. 'God grant,' he said, 'that this is the work of the []. You are witnessing the beginning of a great new epoch in [] history. This fire is the beginning.'

And then something touched the rhetorical spring in his brain. 'You see this flaming building,' he said, sweeping his hand dramatically around him. 'If this [] spirit got hold of [] for but two months it would be all aflame like this building.'”

                               D. Sefton Delmar, London Daily Express 2/28/1933

My pleasant things in ashes lie

And them behold no more shall I. 

Under the roof no guest shall sit, 

Nor at thy Table eat a bit. 

No pleasant talk shall 'ere be told

Nor things recounted done of old. 

No Candle 'ere shall shine in Thee, 

Nor bridegroom's voice ere heard shall be. 

In silence ever shalt thou lie.  

Adieu, Adieu, All's Vanity.

                               Anne Bradstreet, Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 18th, 1666

When the house burns one forgets even lunch. — Yes, but one eats it later in the ashes.

                               Friedrich Nietzsche, BG&E

Rebecca Peel is a writer, curator and artist living between Portland, OR and New York, NY. She received her BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2013.  Rebecca founded Amur Initiatives Media and Research Group in 2013, and has most recently exhibited her personal work in Portland, Toronto, Columbus, San Francisco, and New York City. She will be completing a collection of her own written works within the year.