Today We Talked about Our Pregnant Wives Today we talked about our pregnant wivesover a cup of teaand stems of hyacinthin a vase on the kitchen table,we talked joyfully, without complaining,about those timeswhen their agile bodiesturn into workshops,into labs of alchemists,where storms of divine powerrage, entangling elementsso unknown—that’s when it seemsthat our lives have been […]
The monsters of my childhood have died— my father with his wishes that I had never been born,my mother with her cup that cutthe thin flesh of my hand,bleaching my heartas white as a ghost’s,or that stranger whograbbed my then-bodyso gently that I still confuselove with rape –they’ve all died. I ranfrom one funeral to […]
At a Love’s Length I dream ofa balconied fling;you know the one,as in the movieswhen I go out for a smokeon the balconyand on the balconyright acrosssmokes a hottie.our eyes meetand a spark jumps overour glowing cigarettes.I see her again:our hands touchwhen we throw outthe garbage outside,we both strain to dropthe beer bottlesin the glass […]
Tact I’d rather not walkthrough the garden againin summer whenthe marsh is beingburned. Is burnt up. That place is nothing.Nothing was seen.The water was all olderand under entirely.Up out of its details— where, were it wet, an animalmight like to get stuck—came the need to namewhat’s done still, and done to. I say the names […]
Water wants Who wouldn’t / wish we could / say, nobody diesany more at sea / the way they did / in the past, livesgone over fishing / treated as chattel / sickened in steeragea letter if lucky / left for the water / numbers forgottenleaving for want / of choice, forced / in other […]
Everyday Cat Hair and Snags The year I scalded everyfeeling I had for you down mythroat with Moroccan mint tea,because I was (and will always be)a little more than what is allowedto be loved, I quickly learned,like a chess player, to lookfor the move that is ten turnsbeyond where we are in themoment. It feels […]
The House of Bygone Times When I wasn’t very bigI remember how everyone smoked, everywherethe mothers gritted their teeth—or sometimes notThe fathers worked and didn’t come homeeven when they were at homeThe mothers wore their hair in rollers, got fatter or thinnerThe mothers stirred vats of food, drank coffeeand the only excuse for a break […]
Two Musicians in the Family, or, My Ancestor Ruins His Career by Buying a Barrel Oregon I like this most of all the family lies.Great-grandfather, or great-great if you like, sold fruit to sailors at the dock – but thriftand all my fathers’ bloodlines never mixed: in matchstick fingers watch a paycheck burn.It’s not our […]
Holden Tyler Wright Sapphic Saints The wedding dress is wedding dresses. The invitation makes this clear, Rita and Beth full-on kissing in the photo, both draped in elegant white. All attendees will please wear a white, wedding-style dress, it reads. I explain this to my husband over baked ziti. Thursdays are pasta night, Tuesdays […]
Liz Ulin The Children’s Department Twisting his head from side to side, Timmy smears a trail of mucus across the department store window. “Whoa, rockets.” Dorothy checks the address scrawled on a scrap of paper in her hand, and pulls her son through the revolving door. “No toys today, Timmy. We’re here for school […]
