Hanging the Family Photographs
Master this concept: Nothing is ever really parallel. And this one: It doesn’t matter. No matter what “it” is. How about: Your children aren’t your children. And this: There’s no single word for adult children in any language. Consider: Gaps/oversights/ insufficient oversight. Remember: The pictures will never be straight. And: No one thinks to write who’s who on the backs.
Plum Scarf
I guess I’ve been wondering, said Aunt Luisa, why you had to go and take my plum scarf. What do you mean, your plum scarf? my mother replied. My mother was wearing the plum scarf as she said this. I had never seen a plum outside of a children’s book. I thought it might be something like a dam—something little… Read more →
I Want to Show the World its Poison
(1) Yesterday in our town forty seven pedestrians observed symptoms of seasonal depression sometime between sunup and inevitable sundown. Of them, twelve coped with a half-panic whose queasy threshold is hard to tell of, and let’s not forget the new hires, a couple mangled on a conveyor belt. It’s a small town mind you, and the poison being out of… Read more →
Host Community
The agreement takes place between the host—a location— and a business that leaves mercury and lead, perhaps, the agreement preceding the construction of a factory. A set sum and a guess of what will happen when the plant opens are accepted. One host, my old home, agreed to “no visible plumes” but got three. On a clear day— or not—the… Read more →
Digital Disimpaction
CW: Mentions of violations of sexual privacy, scatological and sexual/kink content Digital disimpaction is a procedure wherein one uses one’s fingers to dislodge or otherwise aid in the removal of stool from one’s rectum. I say “procedure”, but it’s more a last resort after an hour of straining. The first time I hook a finger gingerly into my anal sphincter… Read more →