September 2020
In this issue
Contents
Still the ‘A’ Train
Not too many memories here, in these chic walls caught in the daily grind. But between the walls there are those truths—whistling through the subway..
The Mosque
“You shouldn’t wear red. It’s not slimming. You need dark colors to minimize your weight. Are you listening to me?” Margie walked away from Vivian’s..
Pretty
Kyle used to be pretty. He used to stop them in their tracks. He pretended he didn’t notice how mouths hung open and brains whirred..
57 Ways to Talk About Your Time
You did not want it. When it came you’d have to enter that veiled, silent place where the women lived, and the things you loved—the..
The Mistaken Time Traveller (circa 2010)
I set the time coordinates for May, the year 2020, ten years from now,I made the jump but, much to my dismay, to a parallel..
E-Love
What you seek is seeking you, Sara reads, a languid smile on her 26-year-old lips as she flips through a faded blue notebook and pauses,..
Frangipani behind the Ear
We return to the Grand Pacific Hotelin Suva, Fiji, but it is not the way it was or what we thought it was:the cold lobster almost..
Keep Her Out of the Tent
There’s a temporary campground, with a tent,billowing-white, just off Sprague Ave. in Tacoma. Keep your daughter home. Make popcorn with salt,buttery-warm. Let her watch the..
Retreat
The tiny cottage in the woods is abandoneduntil the woman whose husband drinkstakes refuge thereafter a bender,without regret.The woman loves her husband,and this is how..
Contours of Affection
A pedicure is an archaeological expedition, if those feet belong to your mother. A part of this country was your beginning of history. A faded..
Apprenticeship, Oil with China Bristle Brush: “Landscape avec des Moutons” #5
(Rosa Bonheur, Rue des Tournelles, Paris 1836) My easel billetedbetween stove and painting chest,Most mornings Papa teachesat an atelier for young ladies,later portrait sittings–a Portuguesefactory..