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Sherman Alexie

Ten Little Indians

For Diane, Joseph, and David

For Christy

Love — bittersweet, irrepressible—

loosens my limbs and I tremble.

— Sappho

The Search Engine

“Well, you know,” the young man said to the young woman, “it was Auden who wrote that no poem ever saved a Jew from the ovens. ”

“Oh,” the young woman said. She didn’t know why he’d abruptly paraphrased Auden.

She wasn’t sure who this Auden person was, or why his opinions about poetry should matter to her, or why poetry itself was so important. She knew this coffee-drinking guy wanted to have sex with her, and she was considering it, but he wasn’t improving his chances by making her feel stupid.