1 In the sink of the prison cell, where we get our drinking water and brush our teeth, we wash our clothes, running the soap bar over the heavy fabric, and ringing away what we can. We hang the clothes over our bunks, letting the stale air strain the last of the wet from the fabric. The orange stain does not wash from anything, not … Continue reading fragments
You don’t always live with it. Sometimes you tuck it under the bed with all the other monsters, and fall asleep. Or you bury it six feet under the ground with other beautiful leaves that have turned to crunch. You cover it with dirt, and then sand, and then more sand. You sit on the beach, build a castle, and warm yourself in the sunpour. … Continue reading prepositions of pain
How to explainI did not walk out of prisontucked in thankfulness,blessing the cageless sky.How to explainthe moon has never been the samesince you took her from me.How my losses didn’tjustfill up with gratitudelike a wave chasing a wave.I went searching for it.Picked shells from the sand where I found them.Named them all Peace.If the name didn’t take,I set them back. How to explain my fingersare … Continue reading how
Do you know the story of hippo? How he has to open his mouth wide every few minutes to show Papa God that he hasn’t eaten any of the most favored fishies? Continue reading trauma: hippostarfish
I’m old and I’m broken and I’m trying to not say either of those things anymore, because my mind doesn’t need to hear it. My knees pop either way.My hip stiffens when I sit too long.My body is a map of scars that healed themselves invisible. I’ve edited my life story down to soundbites, down to something that feels like it could fit into 34 … Continue reading no contiguity
When I was a kid, I was ready for lava. I would leap from chair to table, rescuing my home from its ashen fate in the heated unstoppable ooze. It was a game, I suppose, but to me, it was preparation. When I was a kid, I was afraid of the substances that could kill you in an instant. The creatures that could snap away the … Continue reading the floor is
I want to tell you about all the awfulness in my life, some that has passed, some that I am still working through. I want to tell you about funerals, doomsday doctors, people that can’t be trusted, and the accusations that tore my soul. I want to warn you about what it’s like to be falsely criminalized and how several decades of honorable living doesn’t … Continue reading i want you to laugh.
