CONSTANT EXPOSURE to the elements without the option or luxury of shelter is thought to cause one’s physical and mental well-being to deteriorate. Nineteenth-century Mountain men were known for having grand delusions such as feuds with neighbors who were never there or even visions of grizzlies tearing them to pieces while they slept. Such is … Continue reading Humphrey Catskill: Undone
HE WOKE UP in a place that he did not recognize. The sunlight, entering through a large curtainless window, illuminated the room entirely. The whiteness of the walls further increased the intensity of the sunbeams; everything was immaculate, an almost sterile environment, even the carpet had a clean and pearly nuance to it. The furniture … Continue reading The Last Paragraph
A THICK LAYER of unnaturally gray dust coated the studio, a reminder of the decay and horror that now coated the world. Instead of silken pointe shoes, she strode across the wooden floor in black boots scuffed raw from use. Glass crunched underfoot; it might have come from the broken window, the window she had … Continue reading The Barren Barre
DULLEN SKIES BEGAN to turn from overcast to burdened by clouds that amassed beyond cobbled streets and slanting homes as I approached a memory only to be revisited once more. But it is in glasses of sparkling libation that true vulnerability arises. Suffering guised by confidence and consumption. We spoke in parables of reflection as … Continue reading Prinsengracht
IT IS BENDING into the wind as it passes from left to right across the darkening skyline. Angles overlay flatness. A black spider on a gray blanket. White darts spike the firmament. Then land and arrange themselves on the lamp posts, beaks jabbing, heads wrenched backwards, framing screams. It, the thing describing the arc of … Continue reading The Portal
VIC SHUFFLED OUT of the Ellensburg bar at 9 p.m., weary from the booze and the cross-state drive that began in the morning. He needed to crash and recalled a rest area before reaching Snoqualmie Pass. His mid-90s Chevy Impala glided over a recently paved surface and the engine had a low and restful hum. … Continue reading Cascade Crest
Every angel is terrifying. -Rainer Maria Rilke part one, the rabbit county and the angel that never was I ENTER THE LONG winding roads of Prince Edward County. the destination is a house built on the water, industrial chic, and with Art Deco paintings and ornaments. I know I will pen belles lettres at some … Continue reading The City Beautiful
WHAT MOST PEOPLE don’t realize is of the forty-nine of us on average to be struck by lightning each year, nine out of ten victims survive. It’s not many, but enough to be a majority statistic. Enough that support groups exist for survivors. You know the ones I’m talking about: A loose circle of fold … Continue reading Struck
“WE SPECIALIZE IN GRIEF,” Doctor Henning said, “or should I say removing grief. Until now, only time could overcome human grief, and even then it did not fully eliminate it. Time would, and will, dull grief. It will wear away the edges, but the blade is always there. Our Nanobots, however, will remove grief the … Continue reading Some Time Ago
MAGPIES PERCH ON the branch of a golden Linden. I sit at the edge of my bed and watch the magpies dive and soar. I stay in this space of autumnal beauty. I slide across to the window. Tree roots bulge out of concrete like varicose veins. It is the end of the world. I … Continue reading Neurotransmit