Hayley Graffunder

Star Lake, July 2003It happened overnight, like waking to the first snow: each tree branch bowing under sudden weight, covered, every inch, in caterpillars. They wormedaround by the hundreds. Rocks appeared to vibrate, bark looked to be swimming in algae. My cousins & I spent the day sawing their fuzzy bodies in half,just to make …

Of course, it’s empty now, the library, besides glass blown from window frames, books warped & torn over years of weather bursting into the dark building. Doom & I release handslike we always do when taking stock of a new place, or an old one made new by storms, as we step through one of …