March 2022
In this issue
Contents
The Princess: A Parable
‘Who am I?’ The Princess asked the breeze. She asked the coloured waters, she asked the jewelled sky. She leant against the tree trunks, and sought her answers there. All she saw was beauty, all she saw was life though she didn’t recognize it so.
Butch Learns to Write
The student teacher was substituting that day in 11th grade English. This pleased Butch Warner, a tough guy who resented authority. He expected a lame..
Suitcases
Brenda sat on the edge of the bed in her dead father’s room. She could still smell his piss. The staff at the nursing home..
Mrs. Munro is Heading Home
Each day, after breakfast, but before lunch, I’d see her old car making its way up the dirt road, great clouds of dust surrounding the..
In Hopes of Returning
There is a Japanese folk tale about a palace under the sea, a palace made of crystal and ruled by a Dragon King, where time..
A Long Time Ago, at a McDonald’s in West Columbia, SC
The McDonald’s, bright and beautiful,is a coloring book filled in bya comic book artist. Yellow doesn’tstay inside the lines of the GoldenArches. Yellow doesn’t spill..
Shaker Dreams
We should do everything as if we had a thousand yearsto live and as if we were going to die tomorrow.-Mother Ann Lee Down below..
Outside the Laundromat: A Forward
Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, 2008 In mottled cotton, shambling toe-heel, toe-heel,Bass-ackwardsWith Zen concentration and breathing down the neck Of the square’sPath, sinking under the shards of bruised..
Clothesline
I blink at sky, fiery yellowthis time of afternoon, as I unpinlaundry flapping in an intermentbreeze like flags of surrender. Clothes have wrapped around themselves,knotted into..
An Ad I Wrote As A Child for a Ghost to Live in the Attic
I show my dead grandmothers the map I drew: here is woman, there is queer, here is my dot on gender ave. Wish you’d braid..
The Girls, The Ladies, The Rack
My best friend, Lee, and I have shared nearly 50 years of friendship. We have supported each other through childbirth, are godmothers to each other’s..
Postcards
Before the 2021 fall election, I agreed to write messages on 100 postcards to a list of strangers in Virginia to encourage them to vote…