Our father studied geology and psychology. Was a science teacher, until students proved alien. A stint in the Air Force as potential NASA pathway. Gravity defeated him, exacted its price for warp speed.… More
Our father studied geology and psychology. Was a science teacher, until students proved alien. A stint in the Air Force as potential NASA pathway. Gravity defeated him, exacted its price for warp speed.… More
But today, Gary leans forward, breathing emotionally like a heavyset wolfhound, pained, invites me animally into his personal funk (I don’t mind the intimacy, I’m in a good place in my life now), and pulling me in close with his big brown furry eyes—they’re frame-draggers reflecting morass—he moans, “It’s over. It’s over.”… More
K’s spending the night at mine because this time his pop has beat him real bad. It’s come out that K’s mom had another kid before she ever met him and K’s pop’s furious, been on a helluva bender for days, which only ever leads to one thing. Fists.… More
i came along like an accident, just after my mother’s first miscarrage. i dropped into her life like a toy from a claw machine. who’d thought she’d win a prize, much less the one she wanted.… More
And in that moment Hamish’s effervescence collapses into a droplet of unremarkable liquid, a blank face, straight back, the boy that Dick recognises but wants to know more about. So he says, “Yeah. Fuck Reading.”… More
I last touched your skin six weeks ago. Except… I didn’t really. That skin I touched you with has been shed. This body has never really touched you. That moment is gone and it could only ever have been kept alive by renewal, by touching you again. And I can’t. You’ve slipped through my fingers forever.… More
I am writing this to be able to edit my own story as I edit the shallow articles magazines demand from me. My words are a mirror made of scrawny spider legs called letters on an immaterial paper I plan to bury in a blue memory stick labeled “IRS-docs-1994.” Who would open such a dreadful promise after I am gone?… More
I prayed to the Hair Gods, and they, in their mysterious follicle wonder, sent me an angel dressed in DOC tans with a lazy eye who offered shampoo and conditioner.… More
In time, it may occur to Juhani that his ex never said she wouldn’t sleep around. Eveliina says other things: Tapio’s in good shape, Kaarina has a sexy septum piercing, Lilja’s in a polycule. But during this evening sauna, Eveliina isn’t saying very much.… More
He takes a drink of his beer and a handful of cashews from the little silver bowl in front of him. Normally, I’d make a joke about him having nuts in his hands, but that doesn’t seem appropriate.… More
My daughter ambles away from the little boy carrying two toy guns and a toy crossbow in a tiny toy holster, calling “Hey, hey” to her at the playground beside the bay. I usually encourage her to introduce herself, explain what she’s doing and invite other kids to join in, but today I don’t.… More