Six weeks after giving birth, one morning Beth lacked the strength to lift a hair dryer. Soon tugging a diaper tab spiked piercing pain. Her immune system assaulted her muscles. A drug cocktail restored her somewhat but with cruel side effects. Meanwhile, a book about the disease offered this on page two: “A good carpenter can extend the doorways in your house to accommodate the wheelchair.”… more
Category Archives: Essay
My Father’s Son
Essay by David BarkerI’ve written it a thousand times and never gotten any further. My father is a murderer. My father is a murderer. We haven’t seen each other in two decades but it repeats in my head like a mantra I cannot shake. If half of me is him and he is a murderer, what did I inherit? Who am I if I am some of him?… more
Waiting for It
Essay by Joseph BardinThe speaker says something about are you doing what you want in your life, or are you believing in yourself, or something along those lines, and I may as well have been struck by lightning, because the answer, I realize, in no uncertain terms is no, I’m not.… more
Compliance
Essay by Mileva AnastasiadouSomeday we’ll talk about us, but today is not that day.… more
Soft Talk
Essay by Elaine BuckleyI just started talking to myself. I’m not sure it’s a good thing.… more
Four Essays
Essay by Trey RhoneI have a ritual before I get my haircut. I take off my nail polish. Earrings have to come off, too. The rainbow lanyard that hangs from my pocket must stay inside my car. Most importantly, my voice must get deeper. Queer folks aren’t as welcome in these parts. Only the manly men. Only the straight men.… more
These Days
Essay by Corey MillerToday my eyes are filled with drywall dust. The gypsum fire deterrent bonded by thin cardboard breaks easily with the prying crowbar. The new house gutted and needing more work than expected; holes in the sheathing from pests and soggy with water damage. I just wanted something to go our way, for once, Amy says.… more
Pain
Essay by Myles ZaveloIt’s 2006 or 2007. George W. Bush is our president. I am eight or nine years old. Uncle Dave, my mother’s younger brother by a handful of years, is my official introduction to pain, because Dave is in a great deal of pain. Some accomplishments. He’s not drinking anymore. He’s not wetting the bed anymore.… more
Man to Man
Essay by Jason SchwartzmanIn the voice of this charismatic stranger, basketball is a mystical game you can control before the ball is even in your hands. There’s a way of feeling out the court, of knowing where to stand. He generously shares his knowledge with me, as though, like the sun and the stars, it belongs to everyone.… more
