← the bell jar: victoria lucas
FILE 13 OF 17 / —

unremarkable

  • NO ACUTE FINDINGS
  • SUBJECT ACCOMPANIED
  • RESULT: UNREMARKABLE

“The kindest word I ever got, and I almost believe it”

CASE NOTE

Written in the sections of a medical report: findings, observation, impression. The scan comes back unremarkable, the word doctors use for good, and she reads it twice in the parking lot.

Someone stays. He makes the coffee wrong and tells her about his day, and she answers the dinner question as if she were being assessed. The ordinary morning Part I asked for arrives here, and she is still learning how to read a kindness.

LYRICS / TRANSCRIPT

Findings

Nothing to report today

No fever and no event

I woke, I ate, I answered messages

I can't say where the hours went

The scan came back unremarkable

Which is the word they use for good

I read it twice in the parking lot

Like something I misunderstood

Observation

You stayed

You made the coffee wrong again

You stayed

You told me about your day

Second Findings

I keep a version of the leaving

Rehearsed and ready in my mouth

So when it comes I say it first

And nobody has to work it out

You ask me what I want for dinner

I answer like I'm being assessed

Old habit of reading every room

And I can't read a kindness yet

Impression

If the story is the damage

What am I without the plot?

Someone's ordinary morning

At three, I smile and watch the clock

At four, I ask your hands to stay

Wasn't this kind of private language

Always miles away?

The thing I built my name on

Didn't visit me today

Residual

Nothing to report today

And nothing came to take it

You stayed

And I let the evening happen

Final Finding

Unremarkable

Unremarkable

The kindest word I ever got

And I almost believe it

Hidden Outro

I love you.

PUBLISHED CREDITS
ARTIST
Haylie Ferguson
EDITION
the bell jar: victoria lucas
LABEL
Maison Oblique Entertainment
STREAMING LINKS ARRIVING