I DIDN'T REPLY to Jacob’s last text message to me, but I did show up to his funeral. I’d spent the entire morning deciding what to wear. A lot of the clothes that I once wore don’t quite fit me the way they used to in high school. Is wearing black to a funeral mandatory? … Continue reading What Do I Wear to My Friend’s Funeral?
I’m burning twenties like a kid with ants in his pants and a magnifying glass. Memories of Hendrix in a rainbow shirt glance off the refrigerator magnets in a ricochet blaze of Saturday sun between seasonal showers. In each life a senator will betray a Caesar, a song will dictate loyalty and a serious contender … Continue reading Inflation Is A Flagrant One
Blindness did not deter him from shuffling every day down the path along the Canal at Buckeye Lake to Harry's Bar for a few beers, white cane, a gift from the Lions Club, extended in front of him like a giant ant feeler. Perpetual attire consisted of shirt, pants, Romeo slippers and soiled cardigan. He … Continue reading Grandpa Mohr
Cryonics n. the process of freezing a body at the moment of its death with the hope that it will be brought to life at some future time. ~ The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary This definition was like a sick amen burned into Reggie’s synapses. It was a prayer already dead and robbed of spirit before … Continue reading The Glass Slumber
Sitting here at the dining room table sun bouncing and shifting through the curtains with sleep still left in the panes — wide-eyes gaze at Farview Park. Some Du-ragged, some hooded, sagging pants with creaseless Jordans Kings and Queens spring and splash on the half court. A white tee hulks a half-moon chuck from behind … Continue reading After the Virus, Royalty Came Back to Rule the Land
My youngest daughter requests facts. Floral-printed cards litter the counter, attempting to temper our loss with calligraphy in pastel hues. Grief is a journey, curved letters proclaim. But no map exists for this dark forest. No charted stars beckon from the endless, inky night. Trail markers blur; the path doubles back on itself, creating an … Continue reading While Seeking to Understand Her Brother’s Death
I wake up dreaming, undress myself to go out into the world. Cars are being driven in the ditches; the roads are all empty. On the sidewalks, dogs are walking their owners on a short leash, and a thoughtful bee just returned pollen to a weed. I try to get my boyfriend to look outside … Continue reading I Wake Up Dreaming, Undress Myself
I worry about: gardeners spading through the worm's afterlife ghost geese tormenting the park's clairvoyant toddlers daffodils mown down, lingering to announce spring the after-death hive-mind of army ants a river of unfinished business the size of the world — letters unsent — words unsaid tumbling over the edge if they go anywhere, how can … Continue reading Alternate Hauntings
Extraterrestrials — we chart the topographies of feeling. We abducted grief, poked and prodded: found nocturnes, saline solutions, saxophones thrown through broken windows. The cartography shifts. Lost, we erase memory. Light-years distant from even ourselves, we miss most the missing time. — MARK L. ANDERSON Mark L. Anderson lives and writes in Spokane, Washington. He … Continue reading Close Encounters
Let’s take a break. Let’s take five. No, seven, in honor of the seventh day. No, in honor of the cigarette, which takes exactly seven minutes to smoke all the way down. Let’s call it quits. Let’s take a liquid lunch and not come back for days, weeks, months. Let’s not and say we did. … Continue reading Quits