The Dinner
Octavia reached out to Ursula
not long after she arrived,
"Can we meet for dinner soon?"
Ursula did not immediately respond.
Was she ready for "dinner?" What
did it mean, after all? Food? Eating?
Where? She was so busy, getting used
to this new environment, not
at all what she had anticipated,
though what was it she had
anticipated?
Don't worry, Octavia responded,
as if she knew the question,
I was astonished myself at first,
all these new stories, schemes
and dreams filling me with promise,
even though I understand readership
is unlikely, let alone publication!
No matter! She said in the way
she had, of getting to the point.
Ursula nodded to herself,
ideas already swirling in her vision.
This is what Octavia did to her,
and what Ursula gave to Octavia--
these bursts of energy, words,
worlds, for that matter, spirit.
So why not dinner? And talk?
They had time, the menu didn't matter.
They filled the vast emptiness
with their conversation, constellations
of their own making, sparking
the deep night sky.
N. Nye
N. Nye writes primarily fiction, and worked with Ursula Le Guin at
her 1992 Flight of the Mind Writing Workshop for Women in
Oregon.
Art
by Briget Heidmous: https://www.briget-heidmous.com/
