1723 1 0
|
Either they got married in the church dressed in their mothers’ bridal gowns, gaudy and ancient dresses with off-white lace faded from years of hanging in the attic, or they snuck down to city hall...
|
172332
|
”My goodness how that child nurses hope,” Edward’s Grandad would often say, “were it not for her where indeed would this family be?”
|
172331
|
“Tell me again,” you whisper softly, “about the songbird.”
|
172310
|
you and i exist
outside of the chaos and noise
entwined in eternal embrace
|
172242
|
I think for a second that I should have called my husband out to witness this thing, but I am instantly made aware of why I have not.
|
1722148
|
And she's dying like someone who's tried living and failed.
|
172233
|
Karen likes to make a big deal about life experience. Specifically how much more she has than me. What that actually means, she's never made clear. The definition changes and mutates as the years go by, always in her…
|
172200
|
The sound of drums blared from down the street. Car horns tried to fight the sound. Mayumi and Keiko saw the size of the crowd walking past them increase.
|
1722107
|
I threw my hand / at the gearshift/
the car glided off.
|
172285
|
They are plastering on lipstick in pay-to-enter toilets
around the corner from the mosques, where old men
sit on back streets selling toilet seats, spices by the
shovel, flashlights, and Audrey Hepburn t-shirts
|
172231
|
I almost forgot. Her nipples taste like that syrup from a can of peaches. The kind you aren’t supposed to eat if you are 18 or older. The kind that adds baggage to the hips and I’m certainly not about to take out an insurance policy on my ass.
|
17221812
|
He spends his Sunday morning spraying WD-40 through the straw-like stream attachment at the expansive paper nest of beige and ivory striped wasps.
|
172155
|
Is it you with that fucking gold and platinum yacht?!?
|
172100
|
The money stank on the table. Money is dirty she said, one of the dirtiest things. So many people touch it. This pile of brine would not explain its reek, only demanded that we accepted its stench as requisite. It had to have been the cash that stank, prior to its arrival…
|
172150
|
In a little dirt church at the end of the world stands the ikon of an unrecognized saint.
|
172111
|
Paul had come to Hawaii, like many young haoles from the mainland, to party. Partying proved to be lucrative for him. By early October 1982 he had done well for himself in Hawaii, living in a country house with sprawling lawns that held back the jungle foliage…
|
17211310
|
Fortunately, when the bird hits the sliding glass doors in our den, I know what to do.
|
17212214
|
Over the years, his face
began to alter
|
172121
|
I didn’t always have this metal thing poking out of the top of my head. I used to be a self-respecting farm animal amongst a barnyard of toys, but then the kids grew up.
|
17211212
|
They'd taken so much: ivory, rubber, copper, gold. Wealth for the grabbing. No remorse.
|
172100
|
I woke up around 6 pm today. As always, mum would wake me up. I have this special bond with my bed and parting with her during my most vulnerable is anathema to my nature. Thrice mum would pull my feet and thrice I would groan hoping she would go…
|
172132
|
The most beautiful possible thing is to deprive all places of their meanings.
|
172111
|
“Man, that Fats just nothin’ but a powerhouse, nothin’ but ‘Jesus Rolled Away the Stone’ and them Cats his apostles.” La KeeSha replied, “Ya’ll a real Blues Daddy now.”
|
1720185
|
The day you came home, after three extended tours in Afghanistan, I wanted to welcome you at the bus station, but I was afraid you'd attach yourself to me again.
|
172000
|
You know what parents have to do to get an Xbox? They don't just stand in line and someone hands them an Xbox, OK? That's sacrifice. They have to sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice. I mean, I chase alpacas a mile every night in subfreezing conditions,
|
172082
|
Entering that darkroom is like slipping through the barrel of a rifle.
|
1720127
|
Val walks through the world, absorbed in the day to day. A plainspoken narrator drones on in his mind. The nondescript voice marks time to the beat of Val's banal footfall, hums along with the whir of Val's modest, midsize sedan. The narration is loudest in the twilight…
|
172022
|
We have a responsibility,” she says, “to enrich our local business community while delivering quality products to customers.” She had brought over some application forms for the Better Business Bureau, and we sit at the big table and fill them out, marki
|
1720117
|
He said stuff like
‘Crikey that's a knife',” she said, “it was bad, really
really bad.”
|
172000
|
I went out behind Parker's house and saw Darrell's tent set up in the grass. The flaps of the pup tent were open. I could see him through the mosquito netting. He had a Coleman lamp burning and lay on his back in his underwear on top of his sleeping bag.
|
