2116 9 2
|
“Dad’s a dick,” my sister said. I nodded. He threw $20 on the candy counter for one small bag of popcorn and told the girl to keep the change.
|
2116 20 10
|
|
2116 13 13
|
Talking about a Friend Over a Cup or Two of Coffee “Their first fight was over school lunches. Free school lunches. She taught Kindergarten in a public special ed center for emotionally disturbed children. The…
|
2116 16 9
|
Sometimes you can't sleep.
|
2116 11 4
|
I sink until water saturates my lashes, waiting, breathless, for the words to stop.
|
2116 36 26
|
I watch my mother and my daughter, each wondering in her own quiet way about where this story will go next.
|
2116 8 2
|
Later that night, he lay his shivering children in his own bed, the bed that betrayed and abandoned him just a few years ago. It will protect them now.
|
2115 16 17
|
what smells like love may not be love at all
|
2115 10 10
|
Only the occasional kindness of a stranger,//
The curve of his back, a slope rushing past me,//
Is luminous, the coin pressed in my hand . . .////
And yes, I beg.////
I open my palm//
As Jesus did.//
|
2115 8 4
|
... we both know how we go to fresh air like fish, gasping.
|
2115 4 3
|
...I grew up in a provincial town which at the time had no bookstore and no library — no library even at school...
|
2115 4 1
|
“There’s cheap land at Cudlee Creek perfect for breeding long-haired rabbits,” he added. “They can’t jump high so fencing costs are low.”
|
2114 0 0
|
They got out wearing their crisp brown Army jackets and khaki pants; she saw the cross on the lapel of the officer's shirt and just knew. These men brought sad news from faraway places.
|
2114 10 4
|
Ma tells me not to put a tampon between my legs. For fear of cotton fornication.
|
2114 8 5
|
I ask for your patience with this form message, as it is part of a system that ensures
every submissive ex lover is considered separately, since I am involved in a lot of anonymous sex.
|
2114 6 2
|
You longed to rip off her butterfly wings and watch her scream in agony. You ached to carve the steel from her eyes.
|
2114 4 2
|
When you finally got blood from the hard stick
You spotted the backflash of red
And said Thank God. The woman’s legs and arms
Were everywhere, and you were in the middle
Holding her down with one hand while wielding
A butterfly in the other. You stuc
|
2114 0 0
|
So this is what hate feels like. I glare at her, across the room standing there with him. Tall, blond, slender, perfect complexion, adorable smile, and bright eyes; and him and his lean athletic build, soft square jawline, charming smile, deep blue gree
|
2113 4 4
|
Eventually, all the windows on the street went dark, each small house cloaking its occupants in a world unto itself, soundproofed and emotionally remote.
|
2113 20 6
|
The book has known many women’s hands, something erotic and frequently checked out from our local library. Its cover depicts a man and a woman, both with improbable if not impossible bodies. I believe the term is bodice-ripper.
|
2113 0 1
|
“I heard your dad took out the Dairy Queen drive-thru,” said Pat.
|
2113 16 13
|
no one likes a bitchy cowboyhike up yer britchespull yer brim down'nshut up and ridestop making petsout of peevesand idolsout of gossipinsteadmake a hobbyout of yer horseand fer godsakesseason that saddle
|
2113 10 8
|
hooves moon dark latch eyes rope / Bess the landlord's daughter, the landlord's blackeyed daughter / gun breasts dress shame shouts blood blood blood
|
2113 2 0
|
I made my way quietly out back and sat in Helga’s whitewashed porch swing, listening to the first faint sounds of big band music drift out of Helga’s open windows and into the cooling summer air. The darkness was moving in slow from the east, interrup
|
2112 20 18
|
|
2112 16 11
|
He runs a mail-order business from a storefront and distributes a catalog of disappeared things.
|
2112 0 0
|
Alysia stopped for a moment. She knew what she was going to say, but held back her words and thoughts. Chisame took advantage of her hesitance.
|
2111 11 6
|
The voices he hears are God and the Devil and he knows the difference. Therefore, he is not mentally ill.
|
2111 11 6
|
Down South now means August cold snap,
the forties roaring my wool cap
off my head.
|
2111 1 1
|
. . . hands before your face, heart without blood . . .
|