1703 1 0
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It's difficult to remember, much less write down, the hard times you thought were unforgettable when you have a full stomach. It's hard to remember that dirty little room you rented in that house, from a Bosnian landlord, on 27th avenue and Missouri. The…
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17022010
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Practice has perfected disengagement.
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170220
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I was thinking everything was OK, until one day I woke up and realized that I was living on an entirely different planet, and you seemed like a complete stranger to me. I was feeling so ashamed of these feelings, that I couldn't even tell you about them. I couldn't…
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170252
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The past operates with incredible gravity. Powerful, efficient, deceptive. Thin, sleek cords sent out by it attach themselves to your back, your legs, your buttocks, the back of your head. Resist. Walk. One leg after another. Easy does it, like a baby. Do
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17021211
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I walked to work back then...
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17021212
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Your mother is a great and dying bird. Once, she tended her grand feathered nest. Once, she preened.
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170266
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At night, I wake up, and Daddy's in the bathroom with a hanger in his mouth....
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1702114
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My spooky cat got out again. Under the deck she ran. Out came the hose that chased her about. Fur spiked, tail pointing, yowling, she hissed at me, and back in the house she pranced. It's been two days now. She slithers out for food after…
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1702106
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Rarely is Quay Street so clean,
Monday in rain,
Neactain’s ticking over with
Slow jazz and crosswords,
Stout and steaming anoraks.
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170165
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You may think you've tasted envy, but yours was just a sour sip of wine at a civilized wine-tasting. Mine is bottom-shelf, well-brand gin in a biker bar with miss-the-urinal piss stains on the floor.
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170100
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I walked around the mountains and the gravel roads that once were my home. The rain made tiny rivers in the clay that ran hard and fast, and I splashed in them until my feet were saturated and my hair was stuck to my face and in my mouth salty and I cried
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170130
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“Listen, Mother – you’re my ticket out of this burg and I’m not about to cash it in!”
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170100
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He took off his sombrero and playfully placed it on my head. “And really, don’t be upset. You’re fine. There’s nothing wrong with loving your cat.”
He was right, there is nothing wrong with loving your cat. But there is something wrong with owning a di
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170155
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What does she have / that I don’t have / that I can’t buy / for myself?
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1701167
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170111
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so I tighten hands with my castaway and say/you failed to impress in your folded peacock dress
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170121
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I knew nothing about the letter at first. When I came in that morning and smiled and said good morning, it was a genuine smile and a heartfelt good morning. But the letter, which had arrived the previous afternoon, was already doing its corrosive work of
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170187
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170167
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I start with a morsel of truth, then hide it with lies...
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170100
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This summer they had reached their fifth anniversary, the landmark they’d dubbed the Bacchanal year. Instead of exchanging gifts made of wood, they’d bought expensive wines and champagnes and emancipated their bodies of clothing for two straight days. The
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170033
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Her whole life was lived between high tide and low tide, moments of giggling grandeur and moments of sheer emptiness.
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1700168
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Her clothing style varies from grunge to glamor and . . . she always looks good.
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170032
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I have committed to nothing. Therefore I have committed to something. The first sentence is now moot, and this story will eat itself.
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170000
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When you have lived with pain so long, you grow old and the old man inside of you takes over. That’s just the way it is.
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170041
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Each drip off the corrugated plastic sheeting made a tinny sound that he could hear from deep within the damp sleeping bag and layers of blankets where he was trying to sleep.
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17001810
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It’s Sunday- no need to shave-/
but shave, I do. A little act//
of discipline in the discipline/
of routine.
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1700127
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The fish would need a name, but she didn’t know how to tell if it was a boy or a girl. Did fish have penises?
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170074
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You're a good dog, she whispered to him, a good brave dog. Her face was tight with soap.
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170032
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All I wanted was to love her.
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170000
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Back when they were younger, David was always gushing about every little thing in his head, and his openness appealed to her as much as his muscular frame did. But after that year they spent apart, he was always ... smiling. Smiling and vague.
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