The Cul de Sac

The word cul de sac stems from the Latin “cul,” meaning, to find oneself in a contained circle, drinking a cold beer and looking at the hot stars. Sac is that which literally encapsulates the one who is culled, allowing for little to no movement outside of or beyond the cul de sac.

Imagine a twelve year-old girl. No, actually, imagine yourself when you were twelve. You’re using a skateboard for a pillow and staring into the sky. This was before you had memorized the names of constellations which was before you had forgotten the names of the constellations you had memorized.

(To be contained. To contain. To constellate. To be constellated.)

Perhaps, though, you’re well into your thirties, and you’re in the cul de sac again, and there are stars and arms, and you are imagining being inside the arms because your mind has gotten smaller and you have forgotten that you could, instead, imagine being inside the stars. Go back to the stars. Remember when they burned for you.