On an ordinary Friday evening, I nursed a bowl of chicken noodle soup, laced with a dollop of kidney beans, a spoonful of steamed garlic mushrooms, and a layer of cheddar, melting from the scorch of the broth, dripping down the sides of the bowl, and wrapping up the topmost noodles in a soft, firm…
Flecks of Ash
A door slammed in the distance, and I glanced out the window. A slim figure, wrapped in a black wool overcoat, padded out onto her back porch, just up to the first step, after which the awning vanished and a layer of powdery white covered the ground. She gathered her fettucine strips in one hand,…
I Love It When You’re Like This
“It’s cold,” he said, which meant, I’m freezing. She could see it in the way his shoulders huddled inwards. He never could tolerate the cold. He was accustomed to sun-scorched sand dunes, balmy, 100-degree days and nights – that’s why he kept his room at a stately 80 degrees, day in and day out and…
La Luciérnaga
The firefly that burns the brightest.
Dies quickest.
Devil in the Details: hot pink suitcase
It’s in the little things. It’s in the stark, hot-pink suitcase blazing beneath the sun’s harsh afternoon rays. Embattled by strife – you can see the bumps and bruises, bulges and dents, the little concavity in the top right-hand corner from when the ground crew had let it tumble off the chute from the airliner…
Death of a Hummingbird
Her cries wanted the ends of the earth to know that she, the Strong & Willful & Unbreakable, had finally allowed herself to be broken.
A Letter to College Students
Dear colleagues, We’ve been silent for long enough. I’ve held off for nearly three months now, on telling our story, because there are others whose stories were timelier, more distressing, more imperative. I don’t wish to overlook the plight of those who have been far unluckier than we. Of those who have suffered in far…
Protected: Not Here, Not Together
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
They Never Do, Darling
“Why am I here?”
The man frowned. The temperature in the room dropped by a few degrees.
“You’re our guest.”
Atomic Parallels
She sat on the edge of the bed, facing the window. She wasn’t sure what time it was. The sunlight that streamed in through this window at all hours of the day, filtered by the leaves of the sallow, stalky tree just out front, seemed always to cast the room in an early morning glow….
