I am in some kind of exhibition hall
and there are TVs everywhere
playing bits of interviews
with pianists.
Just you wait, I say to my companion, who is
someone else’s boyfriend that has
snuck along with me to this exhibit
for some reason.
Just you wait, and in a minute
he’ll pop up. And just as I predicted,
soon enough, my long-ago step-dad is being shown in all his 1990s glory, winning
the Tchaikovsky piano competition and
saying a few words.
A group behind me starts to mutter
to each other,
they clearly know this artist and
his masterful pianism.
I catch the tail-end of what a
female-presenting member of the group
is saying: “and that’s how he alienated everyone in his life,
including me.
He has no room for people in his life.”
Yes! I say out loud. Exactly!!! I feel
vindicated; my companion - someone else’s boyfriend -
doesn’t care.
Jude Jones
Jude Jones is a non-binary former academic with expertise in learning and memory. They are currently writing a collection of essays on mental illness and their work has been featured in The Anti-Misogyny Club. Their newsletter Everything is Temporary can be found at https://noneverything.substack.com/