Al-Amira
It was a while since her mother had chided her, ‘La Tet-harak La tenam,’ don’t shift - don’t fall asleep.A miffed Salma leaning against her brother’s donkey...
Pretty Faces
The wind is an old friendI can always count onto blow me a path acrossa sea of radiant sunflowers.When I stroll down the paththe stalks of the flowersmorphs...
We Walk Larry’s Trail Talking about the Virus, and Socrates’ Death
Nothing new, Crito, said Socrates,just what I am always telling you—wild cherry, box elder, crab apple,the red bud is a nitrogen fixer,after these beautiful...
Time Travel is More Complicated
When they were young, I read to my childrenevery night, first together then separately,as their tastes and reading levels parted.I don’t know why. It’s what...
Notes on a Napkin
I’m the only personwho is eating alonein this casino buffetThere are eighteen couplesseven groups of three andfive tables of four or moreThe hustling wait-...
The Holler
The holler is a small valley nestled between the mountains. It is where the light of day filters through branches of towering pines and ancient oaks. It is...
Sophist’s Swoon
Retro Bar & Grill’s Grad Student Night held pantheons of personal ideas and their ideal persons—one of whom would’ve gone on and on about personhood and...
Middle Class Anxiety
When asked why poor and middle class people vote against their own interest, President Lyndon Johnson said: If you can convince a person he is better than...
Tree Top Tenor
Singing his arias from the topof a red bud tree like a tenorhoping to shatter glass, I unplugmy earphones and listen to hismockingbird riff of blue...
Proclamation
In the quantum world, another you, breathing free.Deeply inhaling the night-blooming flowers anddancing on a moonlit beach, you twirl,sounding a note that...
It Was Long, Long Ago
It was long, long ago ---A melancholy sky drapes low over this Sunday Cornwall village.A light snow begins to clothe nearby hedgerowsturning the village road...
Yarivah Eavesdrops by the Boys’ Bunkroom
after John Dryden and Miguel Antonio Caro Aeneid IX translationsShe leaned against the cabin sill—her calf love lost—While Foshie chickenscratched frenzy,...
A Visit from a Cyclops
Perfidious behaviorhas been reported to methat I can put an end towith the blinkof my one good eye.When evil runs rampant,I can spew lightening fireand...
Blink
The honest to Godlast thing she eversaid to me was Ididn’t even knowthat Van Dyke Parkscould play the accordionThen she walkedthrough the door withthe cock-...
James T. Chadbourne III Has an Adventure
James T. Chadbourne III woke with a smile, his large brown eyes popping open to reveal another glorious day. It had been a good night, with some solid sleep,...
Shoulder
I. SacramentFor my First Communion I receiveda bible, its cover embossed with a goldJ in scripted ink; a rosary, pinkglass ready for my contrition;and a...
On (Not) Writing During Quarantine
Five weeks ago, our friend Vic brought us his blue Betta fish to look after while he quarantined outside the city. It arrived sealed in a pickle jar, which...
Something to Wipe Off
“Maybe Jo Nell would know,” Mom said when I asked about my Other Brother.Jo Nell was Dad’s cousin. They were brought up together like siblings, and I’d spent...
Living Bread
Masters all, magic-makerswho only believethey are shadows--The grand illusion.Take a crumb now, and breathe it wholeyielding yeast-like powerso it grows...
To sleep. Oh yes, to sleep
Incessant retrieving, memories weavingthrough the boggy moors of the mind.Insomnia’s contempt with its sleep contretempsunravels one’s thoughts to...