Echoes of a Theme by Brutalist Architecture, and: The Many Worlds, Infinitely Saturated

Echoes of a Theme by Brutalist Architecture, and: The Many Worlds, Infinitely Saturated John Gallaher (bio) Echoes of a Theme by Brutalist Architecture Saint William of Perth who died circa 1201, also known asSaint William of Rochester, because why limit yourself,is the patron saint of adopted children. I like that, someoneto intercede, so that things aren't just against you, and the adopted childcould use that, only in this story the childSaint William adopts goes on to murder him. And here we are,in the Brutalist architecture of courts and clerks,as a formal address to God in God's language of silence,in which God never stops speaking.The way the frame is an answer to where you stand, who you are,or seeing is an act of imagination, these long stringsof chopped-up philosophy. And so here's Loki, trickster god, cast as Thor's adopted brother in the movies,with his hodgepodge outfits and crooked crown. To even think it,I'm sorry. I should be thinkingall different things. The adopted child grows upsaying "I'm sorry" and "thank you." Dear Saint William of Perth and Rochester, I'm feeling ungratefulthis morning, 2:27 am, unable to sleep. We are all trembling light.The survival story, the love story, the mystery story,the transformation story, the creation story. The storythat breathing tells. I wanted too badly to leave nothing outand now look at this mess, sprawled across my life of omissions. End Page 145 The Many Worlds, Infinitely Saturated Sometimes it was as if I were in a dream and trying to perceive reality; then again I felt as if an invisible twin brother were walking beside me, the reverse of a shadow … —W.G. Sebold, Austerlitz The coincidences. My birth mother was named Patricia, andmy adoptive mother, Kathleen Patricia. They both went by Pat.When they adopted me, they renamed me John, whilemy birth mother went on to have another son they named John.It becomes a kind of hat. Something to addto my hat collection. Like Jung's "synchronicity," or "Synchronicity"by The Police, or the multiverse, with this replica worldin which I grew up as Eric, and the family calls me Marty.I hate it. I call it a cartoon name. And Marty deals with itor Eric does, with this anchor or sailwhere they say names foretell your future, always adding up to infinity,like a coastline. It's understandable.We live at least three-quarters in fantasy. Or call it a lens. I'm driving Eliot to school right now, in this life,where I'm John. "Johnlife." There's this enclaveto the south of town we pass each morning. Near the entranceis a spillway which, after heavy rain, swells with sewage.The idea that the wealthy drive past the washed up sewage of the townto get to their enclave makes him laugh. He prefersto be called Boyd now. In the replica world, Eric sympathizes with thatin a JC Penny in Portland, where he's sittingin the center of three fitting room mirrors, reflectinga fan of Martys behind him, spread outlike gray blue wings. Somewhere out there is a lifewhere no one calls me Marty. When I get out of this family, he thinks,no one's ever going to call me Marty again. End Page 146 John Gallaher John Gallaher's forthcoming collection is My Life in Brutalist Architecture (Four Way Books 2024). He lives in northwest Missouri and co-edits Laurel Review. Copyright © 2024 Pleiades and Pleiades Press