dear talking stick dear death rattledear scissors for snipping sutures from the lipsdear bloodtide test laying a severedclam body on the tonguedear vacuum dear words suction void before formation dear specks of dust in a fabric bagdear rabbit silent screaming dearprey animal desperate to frighten the predatordear car ride brake slam fists on the steering …
Virginity was the currency of being wanted, I learned from the local seminarians who preached abstinence in our public high school.By then, my boyfriend’s dick had already been everywhere except inside me, his wanta tremolo. I’d trained my stamen on Sharpie markers before his mouth was on me at fourteen. We fumbledin a tent in …
She was gullet-hungry & nearly skirted the plastic jaws smeared with local peanut butter, but they clamped shut as she scraped by, breaking both hind legs. We woke to relentless scratching in the kitchen, 3:00 a.m. clamor as she dragged her body along the valley between stove & sink. We’d chosen quick-kill traps & already …
A fox ran in the forest at nighttime. It was midsummer. The cool air was pleasant on its face. An owl hooted at the moon and the clouds. The fox crept up to a nearby creek. It drank the tepid water and stared at its own reflection in the creek. The reflection of the moon …
A man in a Pink Floyd shirt was stuck in a box. It was a cardboard box. He started punching at the box. Eventually it gave in. When he jumped out of the box, he realized he was being shipped to England. The man in a Pink Floyd shirt had never been to England, even …
A man in a Chicano Batman shirt punched a wall. It was a big wall built by a small man. The man in a Chicano Batman shirt didn’t have gloves on as he punched the wall. His fists were like bronze statues. He gave the wall a couple jabs. He gave the wall a right …
It was Kate’s idea to begin with: the apple on a string, drummed against our floor, swung into walls and chairs. But I tied the knots so well we never had to stir from bed. We ate the bruised instrument at dawn, left no evidence,let the sounds terrify our parents. Sharp raps: knocks from another …
with text from D. H. Lawrence’s novella of the same name If there are destinies of splendour after all our doom of littleness and meanness and pain,I can’t see them.I have to guess that the man who wrote those wordshad no more of heaven in him than you,save that he was a mysticand gave himself …
based on an Edo-period Japanese tale This flesh born of fruitthis fruit born of soil & rain & nitrogenThe old man ate nothing but peachesto sweeten his seed lay down in the rushesfor the old woman to pluck!Momotarō, the peach boy sprung full-toothedfrom the cloven flesh, fuzz on his lipall his life never beardedplunged his …
over dumplings & rice, Nancy says you’re welcomeas she considers her ancestors & the goldsthey left, a mug of oolong clenched in her hands, tight claws. for the plants & their leaves you steep, the anti-oxidants, the paper, the bark, the silk of the insects. you’re welcome for the gunpowder, for the color unfurling across …