The old woman sat on some front steps, playing catch with herself with a bright orangeball, tossing it high with her right hand, catching it in her left, tossing it less high with her left,catching it in her right. A man, pausing to light a cigarette, looked at her and laughed. She tossedthe ball, caught […]
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I was never meant to carry these twins with me. They sprung up on me, latching onto me like apair of weights I couldn’t stop lifting. Baggy clothes and sweaters three sizes up used to concealthem, but I’m well into the stages where there’s no hiding them anymore. Now that they’reshowing, people are beginning to […]
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My daughter Lily disappears into a cardboard box and emerges as a terrifying T-Rex. She attacks, roaring, and eager to eat me, her own human mother. Neighbors on the sidewalk observe us, me, an Asian woman and her child, playing chase in the yard. To them, we are plainly a pair. They don’t know I […]
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It starts with crickets. We lie in the forest and she sings about colors. Silver and purple at twilight, rubies of emerald glowing. There is nothing to back her voice, only crickets. The words echo and the moon fills up her lungs. Sunlight comes in shafts during the day, she reminds us as we watch […]
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The blow-up castle blooms like a ghost in their backyard. It’s bubble gum pink. Mara’s boyfriend can’t see it, gives her a look like not now, please when she points out the kitchen window. His mother is here for Christmas. They’ve removed certain books from their shelves, have taken down Mara’s paintings of naked women […]
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VAGABOND CITY 