FINN HAD BEEN FOUND on a street corner near Ellie’s office. Thankfully, she didn’t have to pass that spot on her walk to work, and each morning she determinedly avoided looking in that direction. Instead, she’d concentrate on the smells of toasted bagels cutting through the winter air from the bakery, or the thump of … Continue reading Finn’s Corner
Pretty cool for a kid who watched too much Disney channel and threw so many peace signs at Polaroids my Nana had to give me a nickel to stop. Amoebas with attitude sashaying through a sea of autotuned pink, pinky promise pink, gum-poppin’ pink. Now muted tones like bone, ecru, beige. I’m afraid I’m plain … Continue reading The Pink Cheetah Print Coat
ELEANOR JACKSON STUDIED her body in her closet door mirror. She had avoided looking into this mirror for several years and always had it covered up by clothes hanging from a row of hooks above it. But now she removed the clothes and inspected her body in fascination. A waist that had expanded over the … Continue reading Rewind
Stag beetle, antlers raised Corpse mounted in resin. Preservation,nature’s baby, a human oddity, a body on displayon the desk, half paperweight half treasure. Palmed under the guise of sanctification (isn’t it beautiful?) — here is your forensic proof, the crime so, so long ago now a shadow on the waterline, the vessel submerged. Stag beetle, … Continue reading Funeral
I’m trapped between a rug and a hard place. This shiny floor keeps reproducing. I’m clinging like barnacles to the sinking ship. It is always moving, but where is it going? The captain is a bat out of hell. Wizzing through dark caves. Are you always moving? Young folks watch Tik Tok. Then they break … Continue reading Real Humans
STANDING IN LINE for our food stamps, I thought of my new love, a tiny Asian stripper with two young kids working it in a KCDC housing project polluted with bloody gangsters while trying hard to make it out – killing rats and the resident sewer roaches, wanting that degree from the community college, somehow … Continue reading Surviving It All
Couldn’t look the cashier in the eye as I placed Diet Coke and cheapconcealer on the counter while Heather hid another lipgloss in her hoodie. Later, our loot spread out on her living room floor, she said to me, Not wanting to get caught isn’t the same thing as being a good girl — my … Continue reading Goods
SHANNON IS SEARCHING for the barcode on a box of trash bags when a commotion breaks out near the self-checkout registers. A male voice, strident: “—coupon says buy two get the third free! It’s right here, I’m looking at it!” Dennis’s voice, low and soothing, indistinct. The customer: “It’s only expired by a week!” The fluorescent lights … Continue reading Ant Mill
After Stephanie Kirby The dead baby stepped off the train,Found no one waiting, no one holding aSign printed with a name to be recognizedBut not remembered. Somewhere anIrregular machine beeped. The dead babySaw our broken smiles split as we triedNot to be alone with each other. You, me, And the dead baby. Overhead lights … Continue reading Together
You appear in a class photo of everyone you’ve ever known, garbled knot of your expression. Your guide is a chance operation. Your colors, red and gold. Your parents were pole-sitters, rag-pickers. They found you in a basket of gestures. You’ve been keeping a scrapbook of sticks and grubs, swatches from a sanitary landfill. Like … Continue reading Sooth Saying