Understories. Tim Horvath

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      UNDERSTORIES

      TIM HORVATH

      BELLEVUE LITERARY PRESS

      NEW YORK

      First Published in the United States in 2012 by

      Bellevue Literary Press, New York

      FOR INFORMATION ADDRESS:

      Bellevue Literary Press

      NYU School of Medicine

      350 First Avenue

      OBV A612

      New York, NY 10016

      Copyright © 2012 by Tim Horvath.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper, or broadcast.

      Bellevue Literary Press would like to thank all its generous donors—individuals and foundations—for their support.

This publication is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

      Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.

      The following stories were previously published, sometimes in slightly different forms or with different titles: “The Lobby” in JMWW, “Urban Planning: Case Studies Numbers One, Two, and Three” in Sein und Werden, Circulation by sunnyoutside press, “The Understory” in Carve, “The Discipline of Shadows,” “Urban Planning: Case Study Numbers Four and Seven: The City in the Light of Moths,” and “Altered Native” in Conjunctions, “Planetarium” in Puerto del Sol, “A Box of One’s Own” in Mad Hatters’ Review, “Internodium” in Everyday Genius, “Pocket” in DIAGRAM, “Urban Planning: Case Study Number Five” in Alimentum, “Urban Planning: Case Study Number Six” in Wigleaf, “The Conversations” in The Collagist, “Tilkez” in The Normal School, and “Urban Planning: Case Study Number Eight” in Fiction.

      Book design and composition by Mulberry Tree Press, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America.

      FIRST EDITION

      135798642

      ISBN 978-1-934137-49-9

       For Mary Ann and Ella

       Contents

The Lobby

Urban Planning: Case Study Number One

Circulation

Urban Planning: Case Study Number Two

The Understory

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Three

       The Discipline of Shadows

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Four

       Planetarium

       The Gendarmes

       A Box of One’s Own

       Internodium

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Five

       Runaroundandscreamalot!

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Six

       Pocket

       Altered Native

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Seven

       The City in the Light of Moths

       The Conversations

       Tilkez

       Urban Planning: Case Study Number Eight

The Lobby

      Welcome! Please stop at the desk for a moment to sign this waiver. Though we wish you to enjoy the architectural apotheosis that surrounds you, since you are a mere pedestrian onlooker (henceforth “voyeur”) rather than a lessee (henceforth “resident”), you are subject thereby to certain restrictions and provisions. Continued presence in this lobby constitutes tacit acceptance of the following terms and conditions:

      Management cannot be held responsible for any physical or psychological damage pursuant to the perceptual intake of this lobby, including but not limited to hyperventilation, fainting, seizures (epileptic or non), hives, acid reflux, anomie, ennui, generalized anxiety, mania, lethargy, manic lethargy, chromosomal ambivalence, rugburn (psychosomatic or otherwise), stiffarm, etc.

      Note that any form of recording, photographic, videographic, sketch pad doodling, or representation in any traditional or untraditional mode of painting, whether in vogue or otherwise (this includes Impressionist, Postimpressionist, Rococo, pre-Raphaelite, prelapsarian, Expressionist, neo-Expressionist, neo-Lascauxian, agitprop, Dadaist and Surrealist, Mamaist and hyperrealist, Futurist, installation, uninstallation, Pointillist, smudgist, etc.) is strictly prohibited. Failure on the part of this document to anticipate new developments and/or movements in the arts not covered by the aforementioned does not exonerate voyeur from attempted portrayal.

      Note that remembering is strictly prohibited, current research being staunchly ambivalent on the representationality of memory.

      At the request of residents, no description of their habitation shall be given in ink, sound waves transmitted from vocal launching apparatus to aural landing pad, sign/gesture, semaphore, biophysical reenactment, encoded encapsulation, or telekinetic approximation. Failure on the part of this document to anticipate unprecedented forms