Our Lady of the Artichokes and Other Portuguese-American Stories (Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction)

168 Pages·2008·1.72 MB·English

by  Katherine Vaz

Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction Editor: Hilda Raz
Our Lady of the
(cid:66)(cid:83)(cid:85)(cid:74)(cid:68)(cid:73)(cid:80)(cid:76)(cid:70)(cid:84)
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and other portuguese-american stories
Katherine Vaz
university of nebraska press · lincoln and london
Acknowledgment for the use of previously published
material appears on p. xi, which constitutes an
extension of the copyright page. The photographs
“The Holy Ghost Cape on the Ground,” “The
Artichoke Scene,” “The Holy Ghost Cape with
Attendants,” and “The Net Mural,” all by Michael
Trudeau, are reproduced with permission; the pho-
tograph “Pear in Bottle” is used with the permission
of Susan Seubert/Botanica/jupiterimages, 475 Park
Avenue South, 4th Floor, New York, New York,
10016 / [phone]. All other photographs
courtesy of the author.
The writing of this book was supported in part by
The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Har-
vard University and the MacDowell Artists Colony
in Peterborough, New Hampshire.
© 2008 by the Board of Regents of the
University of Nebraska
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vaz, Katherine.
Our lady of the artichokes and other Portuguese-
American stories / Katherine Vaz.
p. cm.—(Prairie Schooner book prize in fiction)
isbn 978-0-8032-1790-4 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Portuguese Americans—Fiction. I. Title.
ps3572.a97o87 2008
813'.54—dc22 2008009969
Set in Galliard.
Designed by Ashley Muehlbauer.
For my Christopher

When I die, my son,
Let me be the child, the little one.
Pick me up in your arms
And carry me into your house.
Undress my tired and human self
And tuck me into your bed.
If I wake up, tell me stories
So that I’ll fall back asleep.
And give me your dreams to play with
Until the dawning of that day
You know will dawn.
—“One midday in late spring”
by Fernando Pessoa

Contents
Acknowledgments ............................xi

Taking a Stitch in a Dead Man’s Arm .............. 1
All Riptides Roar with Sand from Opposing Shores ....15

Our Lady of the Artichokes .....................35
My Bones Here Are Waiting for Yours .............53
The Man Who Was Made of Netting ..............67
The Knife Longs for the Ruby ...................87

The Mandarin Question .......................105
Lisbon Story ............................... 115