“What will I do when something happens?” asks June. “Something happens” always means death. It is a strange euphemism. It means, “What will I ever do when Maria, the love of my life, is no longer here with me.” I said something similar to my therapist when everything was going well. Teeny was still alive, if confused and moving slowly,… Read more →
“Lucifer’s back.” Dad stood over the bloody python writhing on the bottom of the swamp boat. He tapped his bat against his boot and stared at the yellow splotch-patterned snake. “This is one of Lucifer’s offspring,” he said. “I knew he was back when we saw that hog.” I didn’t want to think about the hog. “Hey, kill that thing,”… Read more →
When me and Rudy heard about the old Chancellor’s kidnapping tax we was like blitzkreiged. What a gruntworthy opp, we thought, the good ship lollypop bearing down on our pissass resources like a cargo hold of T-rexes and bloody hell. We’d do a quick snatch and jab, I says, sting like a butterfly, and make righteous the whole thing, do… Read more →
A careful man in a black coat walked into the main office for the Department of Psychological Sciences and notified the secretary that the toilet on the fourth floor had overflowed. The man gesticulated with long fingers, describing the problem with as much delicacy as the situation allowed.(1) The elderly secretary, Dolores, nodded and asked questions. (2) Her years on… Read more →
The text of these pieces are from a traditional children’s hand clapping game from New England. Whenever it’s shown, women will start chanting the rhyme.
Peeling off wallpaper Remembered from childhood It was easy It fell away But we couldn’t find anymore When we finished We saw the pocked naked plaster underneath At our feet Were curls of paper A prayer
I saw you there, crouched on the ground, cradling your knees in your arms. You in your long white robes, dirty at the hem from walking the sandy streets. You with your skinny long body, gaunt face and wispy black beard. You with your hands covering yours eyes, like if you couldn’t see, it wouldn’t be true, like somehow you… Read more →