The Economics of an Etch-A-Sketch Body

Abstract

The Economics of an Etch-A-Sketch Body Sarah Sword (bio) The Etch-a-Sketch promises to be permanently erasable, but it isn't. You think you can keep reinventing the highway, but you can't. You pinball around the country like you will never run out of quarters, like you can keep starting over, like the high scores are just past that bumper target, just past that tollbooth, just past that twirling metal flag. You think you can shoot down I-75 in your silver Omni and not leave a trail of aluminum dust, not scratch the glass surface of the road. And even if you did, the Rand-McNally Atlas promises more interstates. But eventually there aren't. David Ricardo would say that resources run out: the Atlas is soaked through with places you have already seen, the classic red frame encloses a dull mirror, not a drawing surface. Your body hangs like a black dress [End Page 33] appliquéd with tiny mirrors, inside out. Haven't you had your fill of men who etch themselves into your skin? Eventually your resources just run out and you are left with the jangle of loose change in your pockets, hopefully just enough to put together for a clean slate. Sarah Sword Sarah Sword lives in the shadow of the National Cathedral in Washington DC, where she is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maryland. She finished her PhD in mathematics at MSU in 2003 under the direction of Dr. Christel Rotthaus. While at MSU, she studied poetry under Diane Wakoski, and won a couple of Jim Cash and Swarthout poetry prizes. Copyright © 2005 Michigan State University