Here's the title story from Amy Hempel's new book, "Sing to It," a book causing waves: At the end, he said, No metaphors! Nothing is like anything else. Except he said to me before he said that, Make your hands a hammock for me. So there was one. He said, Not even the rain--he quoted the poet--not even the rain has such small hands. So there was another. At the end, I wanted to comfort him. But what I said was, Sing to it. The Arab proverb: When danger approaches, sing to it. Except I said to him before that, No metaphors! No one is like anyone else. And he said, Please. So--at the end, I made my hands a hammock for him. My arms the trees. That's the story in its entirety. James Wood compares Amy Hempel to Grace Paley; Paley was another writer of fiction who sometimes blurred the line between fiction and poetry. Paley has a famous story, "Wants," in which a marriage has ended, and the separated partners meet on the steps of a library. That...