My boyfriend had no interest in scaring me until I began working with the Devil Boy. After that, he—my boyfriend, not the Devil Boy—paid careful attention to me, planning and executing little jolts. Frightening me became a sort of art. He started small, with silly, generic gestures at first, anything that would elicit a reaction: …
The dog seller hawks mangy curs across from me at the flea market. Misty brings me a cherry slushie like she’s a woman who takes care of her man. Don’t think I don’t notice she makes a big show of it for mister dog seller. The son of a bitch wears clean overalls. He’s bigger …
The world encouraged me to completemy doctorate in shamelessness. “You’ll hurtto not be part of all this interfaceand commerce,” I was warned, thoughas soon as I declined I was rewardedwith a loneliness so pure that my earscould not be found by bothersome words,and my blood felt fed only by the airand the light that lives …
I’m certain that morning I heard wasps droningbeneath each floating, sunlit surface.The billowing high-peaked tents staked virgin spaceas if they were the early outposts of an empireon the rise. Here was a scene nothing in Chauceror Blake or my continental tours had prepared me for.How unlike the bored bewitchment I’d glimpsed in that pigeon-eyedChancellor of …
In memory of our contributor Naira Kuzmich, and with the permission of her family, we’d like to make her full essay from Issue 13.2 available now. (Use the arrows at the bottom of the PDF embedder to scroll through.) See more essays from Issue 13.2 by purchasing a copy in our online store. Digital copies …
