#43: Deixis Downlink
A monthly correspondence: April 2024
Deixis Journal Archive
An excerpt from Bilal Bikile’s “Sand, It Gets in Everything”.
Featured in Deixis Journal No. 1
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“They sat beside each other in a quiet little juice bar in East Hollywood. The chrome stools they sat on allowed them to rotate their seats to face one another when they spoke and to turn away when silence overcame them. Sweat glistened on her now tanned face after a long morning in the park with the sun peeking through the leaves she’d laid beneath. He, overcome with exhaustion, felt a potent juice would wake him up, or at the very least cool him down, so they stopped for one on the way back to their Airbnb. This juice bar was the only one they found without a line creating a perimeter around the whole block. He looked through the window towards the restaurant across the street where a line extended down into the gas station near the crosswalk.
“You think people enjoy waiting in lines here?” he asked.
She lifted her head from her straw, replying sluggishly, her words rather full. “I don’t know if they enjoy it, more so they don’t mind waiting for something they enjoy?”
“Like delayed gratification?” he proposed.
“Delayed gratification, right,” she replied.
“I don’t know if I’d agree,” he said. “I can’t help but feel like Los Angeles residents are not the very patient type.”
“Yeah, I guess, but you never really know,” she said, swirling her cup in the air before taking another long sip.”
Remembrance
By Halima Abukar
Remember/ the scent of vanilla as it enveloped you that evening
/ before the sun went down/ and later/
They said why didn’t you/
remember the sight of the pregnant moon
/from your bedroom window?/
Remember this/
Remember /the light switches that were stained with turmeric/
masks that you adorned yourself with to enhance beauty
And remember/ the sound of the birds/ chirping along the streets/
Rousing you from a restless sleep/
it is All not in vain/
follow the sound to the Source/
clear the air/
and once and for all/
We will be free.
Deixis Book Club
Not a real book club (yet), just a bit about what we’re currently reading.
Bilal recently read the book, Six Moral Tales by Eric Rohmer
Six Moral Tales, the novel, I hadn’t known existed until stumbling upon it at Lang Books in San Diego. Eric Rohmer is the director of well-known films such as The Collection, A Tale of Summer, and my personal favorite, My Night at Mauds, one of the six moral tales. This text provides a newfound perspective in which to experience this monumental set of stories. Nearly 80% pure dialogue, the conversations, just like the films read fluidly on the page. The characters dance seamlessly with their words, challenging one another, dissecting meaning, and picking each other apart to assist the other in confronting themselves. The novel format provides an extra element of imagination, truthfulness, and more meaning to me as a fan of his work, providing a feeling of tangibility and a more intimate relationship with Rohmer’s work.
- Bilal Bikile
An Excerpt from My Night at Mauds (From Six Moral Tales) by Eric Rohmer
“You know what bothers me most about you? It’s the fact that you’re evasive—always slipping away before anyone can really reach you. You refuse to assume responsibility. On the one hand you’re a shamefaced Christian, and on the other a bashful Don Juan. Which is a bit much…”