I’m staring at a grid of tiny faces. I click and I click and I click and highlight the boy speaking, Arlis. Arlis tells the class his mother is asleep on the couch. Then he picks up his pad and moves it around the room and sure enough, there’s a lump of mother on the couch. I recognize the frantic… Read more →
“Gwendolyn ran up the stairs to the roof.” Randall backspaced, deleting “to the roof.” He hesitated, then deleted “ran up the stairs,” and stared at the computer screen. He’d heard that Flaubert could spend an entire day on one sentence, but this wasn’t exactly Madame Bovary. “Gwendolyn teetered on the edge of the roof.” Randall backspaced again, leaving him with… Read more →
Women called me a she-wolf. In their lack of understanding they claimed I foraged for prey while the blood of my last innocent still dripped from my fangs. Local moralizers stood ready to oust me from the place of my birth but rather than run, I strengthened my stance and insisted that every man, however unconscionable his upbringing, however frightened,… Read more →
Once a Winter Carnival Vulcan lungedat me from a parade, a red-suited devilin ski goggles, and rubbed his stubbled faceon mine, leaving grease paintand fear behind. In New Orleans,a Mardi Gras jester in jingle-bell capsqueezed a bystander’s breastwhile bedecking her with purple beads. In a land of make-believe and magic,people spin on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,listen to “It’s a Small… Read more →