Stories tagged loss

The Signed Edition

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Now I see it! She broke up with him and he left a whole stack of the books she had given him out on the sidewalk where I found this signed edition of your novel because she had once given him a copy of your book signed by you for

Betrayal

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My brother Herb married his high school sweetheart right after completing college. This was a girl named Beryl, whom he'd met originally in Mr. Reinert's marching band at York High School in Elmhurst. I remember one day in particular in the middle of the

Rebirth

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To be fair, I have to say I learned things from Lisa, certain things about sex and how to use my body effectively, to use what I had to the best effect, though it probably would have been true to say that about any girl who might have been the first girl

LEAVE THEORY AFTER THE UNGODLY SNOW

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Their crush moves to open underfoot a hatred for fire-colors, same when animals bed down and smell ashes dreaming,

Boysenberry Jam

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The pantry door squeaked slightly when opened. It sounded like an admonishment. After all, he wasn’t hungry. But he stood there, in his threadbare socks and drawstring pants, staring at the life she had accumulated for them.

World Trade Center

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I can feel the souls of those who perished here They’re still here like old kites hanging in the sky tattered, but they won’t come down or can’t come down just yet because they haven’t fulfilled their unborn promises t

Sunday Morning

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Six/Sex The day he was served with divorce papers in the driveway...

Sunday Morning Series: One

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Without my glassesI can almost bear to look at youyour dark ringed eyesfilled with some failing hopeyour jaw, tightened against the tideof harshness you want to spewthe skin on your neck fallinglike unfolding crepe origami.Sitting with your folded armsa picture of…

Two

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I move about the kitchenbriskly, smoothlypans and whisksflying in my handsefficient harmonypeeling, choppingbringing the ingredientsto their kneesin pleasured gratitude.It is the world I occupythat occupies and sustains me.Will anyone in the Worldknow me when I leave…

Three

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I bounce aroundon hobbled kneestripping all thatI have known tobe myselfmy nose and eyesrunning their newknowledgeinto my sleevethe sofa armthe towels that cannothold it.And he sitsgazing into the distanceoblivious.

Harv & Julianne

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Harv and Julianne He has woken here now, on this bed, and on this particular day, many times. His fifth year in the cabin, his fifth December in Helen, his fifth, he is sure, of many…

Eleven

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After months of barrenbowls and plateswe sit down to a shared feastwhich tastes like ashes in my mouthas I wonder if I have starved myselfall year just to watch him suffer.

Gifts

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I got out of your car and walked up the brick path to my apartment complex. In the doorway, I turned and waved to you. You honked the horn, a quick beep beep, like a teasing wink, like a promise, and then you drove away.

Stupor in the Rearview

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When in the richness of your presenceI laze around and yawn and turn,it holds me fast, my very essencebecomes a part of your lost past.And when I stand alone to thinkof what is vanished, mine or yours,I see but still your nursing drink;your hand on wine, then song, then on…

Dream of Burying My Grandmother Who Has No Grave

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We buried her upright, in the stance of warriors.