Shopping for the Sometimes Submerged
You resurface. Your hair feels like a trawler net. Caught within it are shells, splinters of shipwrecks and shards of glass from broken messages in a bottle. At least this is the way it feels to you, when you finally dinglehopper your fingers through it. The store lights seem too bright. They still seem to […]
EXPIRATION DATE
I remember you, she says, looking right through me. The deserted sky flares into tourmaline blue, ballet slipper pink, and flushed merlot, covering the valley like paint. It is the long cold season and the winds swirl, throwing her voice so that it seems to come from somewhere else. I have imagined this moment, ruminated […]
Dad’s Manila Envelope
My dad lifted himself into the parked wheelchair. “The day I can’t do this anymore you’ll be pushing me out on a gurney straight into the stove.” “Oh come on, Dad, you had a great checkup this year.” “Thank you, Margaret, you look lovely in that saucy sweater. Cashmere?” I’m not Margaret, but lately he […]
The outcome
“That girl’s been sitting out there on the wall all morning,” my mother says. “What does she want?” “Nothing,” I say. Another one. It’s a blessing Mum’s so forgetful these days. I could go and tell the girl she’s trespassing. But like the person who stole the donor profiles from the clinic and put them […]
Frozen Spear
It’s so sharp it could kill you. Every year it snows, and the icicles hang down from the roof. They are beautiful, these icy teeth. Some are small, stubby and murky. The water creating them dirty and brackish. Some shine, glinting like crystal. Almost as if you were looking through warped glass. Many are thin […]
Come! Meet My Family
My family is different, wonderful really, but different. They don’t ever argue or correct each other. They never say a harsh word to one another or reprimand another’s child they just stop speaking to each other for very long periods of time. These quiet times are almost never over real injustices, only perceived ones. It […]
Tiny Fridge
Max is a hard man to slice. Damn muscle-bound steroid freak. Paula yanks the cleaver free from his ripped torso. Dull as a butter knife. She could use a good bone saw right about now. She throws open the kitchen drawer in search of anything sharper, digging past the plasticware and Burger King condiments, the […]
Lil Nas X ft. Billy Ray Cyrus
Lil Nas X was over the moon. That morning, the newly minted 20-year-old awoke to a call from his new manager – ‘Old Town Road’ had gone number one. Not on SoundCloud. Not on iTunes. Billboard. The Hot 100. The ultimate pissing contest of pop success since as far back as anyone could remember. Lil […]