Run On: Fragments of a Cold Morning

Have you ever drowsed through the night with a sleeping infant on your chest, and you love your child but you just want him to get a little bit of sleep, and you want to get some sleep too, but that’s sometimes impossible, and you’re lost in a fog of exhaustion and dreams and love and maybe you did sleep a little, but now you’re wondering if you’re a bad father because what if your baby fell while you slept, and you’re thinking about your own parents now and how they’re gone, and plus there’s all that lovely free-association stuff that happens when your mind is fragmented and sleep-deprived but still you need to go for a run, a quick run on the lakeshore even though it’s cold but maybe, just maybe…can you go for a run? Run-On is a remarkable literary work set in one night and morning in the life of a young father. It deftly captures the quiet moments of drama inherent in even the most tranquil domestic scenes—particularly the angst a new father must face when torn between the gentle but unforgiving bonds of love and the normal human desire to get away from it all, just for a little bit.