“Prozac” by Michael Martone
Unsplash image by Corbin Mathias @cdm
Prozac
Indianapolis, 1996
I was a student at Butler in the 70s and hated every minute. The carillon there played a clunky rendition of “Back Home Again in Indiana.” Walking across the gloomy campus, clouds pressing down overhead, I’d whisper with the tolling: Back home again in Indiana where the sun refuses to shine. Indianapolis was Naptown then. Its downtown nothing but rust-stained war monuments and mausoleums, insurance companies and empty parking lots. Its beltway always filled with trucks and cars going nowhere slowly. Years later, Susan Neville invited me to read at Butler. She met me at my flight’s gate. You could do that then. Walking to the car, I saw a new skyline in the distance. She drove me downtown on the new expressway to a new hotel in the old but newly renovated Union Station. There was a new arena, a new stadium. The one high-rise bank building had been eclipsed by higher-rising bank buildings. The sun, the sun was out, and the sky was sky-blue. “Susan,” I exclaimed, “what the hell happened?” She paused, rounding a southside curve.The Eli Lilly complex hove into view.“Prozac,” was all she said.
Fort Wayne-born author Michael Martone will join the Booth 19 Launch Party this Saturday at Tube Factory artspace. He will read from his new memoir Table Talk and Second Thoughts from which “Toothbrush” was taken. Booth is a literary journal published by Butler University, and its staff is comprised of faculty, students and alumni from the Butler University MFA program.
From the Booth Facebook page: “This celebration of Indy's rich literary community will feature tables and live readers from the Heartland Society of Women Writers, the Indiana Writers Center, Etchings Press, and more. In addition, Indy synth-pop musician and singer-songwriter Jennasen will perform a live set with us at the funky and gorgeous Tube Factory Artspace.”
The event is free and open to the public.
When: Saturday, April 6 - Doors open at 6 PM, readings begin at 7PM.
Where: Tube Factory Artspace - 1125 S. Cruft St. Indianapolis
Sponsored by Big Car.
