Mother Protector
P9 looked across the glen planted in golden grain and past the hillside with bean poles in neat rows to the path over the ridge where the Northern Group would come. The soil was less… Read More »Mother Protector
News
Bastet and the Setting Sun
I lay on the couch so long the fabric, once brocade, fadedentirely to bone. Memory of rose and aqua, twist of marigold. And then, not even the memory— just cross-strings, weave blown out to dust, dull… Read More »Bastet and the Setting Sun
Hope Hurts
My wife, Jo, had a cancer no research hospital could identify. “Only two percent of cancers are of unknown primary origins,” Dr. Rita, her oncologist, informed us. “Christ. I knew being an overachiever would kill… Read More »Hope Hurts
Breviary
“Someone’s father is dying in there! We cannot call her names. We have to be nice to her,” I overhear Mrs. Valencia tell our small sixth grade class. I am in the adjoining room, alone… Read More »Breviary
The Duration of a Sentence
We sat at the cafe, separated by a slab of wood and two ceramic cups. I took a sip—the coffee tasted bitter. On the sidewalk people were exclaiming as they found their friend or their… Read More »The Duration of a Sentence
Four Step Walk
The moss of dead bark fallsthrough the meadow grass,scattering red dragonflies. Bony driftwood brancheslisten to the passing cloudsand hold their breath. Sleeping love is acrescent on the sofa—clutchingyawning pages to her stomach. And the little… Read More »Four Step Walk
Grassland
Is it true that grassesgrow forever. Is it true that stalks remember the hands that touch them, that their roots will drink and drink from soil as though the water would never end. Is it… Read More »Grassland
Melancholy (A Gram of &s)
A Gram of &s form is based on the daily word game found in the puzzle section of many syndicated newspapers. Each line ends with one of the eleven words derived from the title word. … Read More »Melancholy (A Gram of &s)
House of Honey
I am a simple creature: I see free shit, I take. So when I spot the filing cabinet, alone on the curb, FREE sign taped to the drawers as the online post described, I don’t… Read More »House of Honey
You Have to Wake up at Four AM
So you want to go to bed early, for once. You send the cat to bed, and close the door to the bakery you have in the back of the house (the one that opens… Read More »You Have to Wake up at Four AM