Bears
byTHE PULL-DOWN STAIRS TO THE ATTIC SQUAKED WHEN BILL TUGGED THE ROPE IN THE HALL WAY. He paused, buttoned his cardigan, and ran a hand through his silver-grey hair before…
Stories
Keys
bySOMETIMES, WHEN DARIO HAS A LATE SHIFT CLEANING TRAINS AND I GO WALK ON THE SEAFRONT, I SEE BLACK FIGURES AGAINST THE SUN. They stand on paddleboards, pushing an oar,…
Singing Lessons
bySWEAT DRIPS DOWN MY NEPHEW EZRA’S FOREHEAD. He throws himself onto his side, gasping and kicking. He knees me in the back of the leg, and knocks one of the…
I Am Not the Painter from Puerto Rico
byTHE FIREWORKS LAST THROUGH DAWN. Smoke collects in streetlights, lingering that dense, burnt chemical sweetness you come to love through old age. It’s colder than cold and yet I’m warm inside…
Rock and Brush
byWHEN I WAS A LITTLE GIRL THE DESERT WAS MY HOME. Sagebrush rooms and rock furniture made up my house. I scraped lavender rock dust out of a hollow boulder and…
Swampland
byTHE RAINS CAME TWO YEARS AGO, AND THEY HAVEN’T STOPPED SINCE. Some said it was global warming like everything else, from high tides to broken sinks, but the 2028 report…
Dreadlocks
byWHEN I ENTERED THE APARTMENT I STOOD OUTSIDE HER DOORWAY, WHICH USED TO BE MY DOORWAY, TOO. Vicki had just returned. She sat on the edge of her bed, fully dressed…
A Gun for Every Baby Born
byDAN STOOD WATCH OVER THE BEDS OF HIS FIVE SLEEPING CHILDREN. An arsenal of guns—five, to be exact—were locked tightly in a chest in the corner of the bedroom. Dan…
Audiot Savant
byW.—ROUND, FILMY, AND LOOSELY KNIT—SPAT BLOOD PROFUSELY FOR PURE PLEASURE. On the sidewalk, in the halls of settling brick buildings, over green spears of academic grass, W. bit his inner lip,…
An Official Letter from Our Leader to Yours
byEXCUSE ME [ENTER PRESIDENT/KING/STATE-LEADER’S-NAME HERE (I CAN’T RECALL WHAT IT IS)], Sir/Madam, you have shot down my plane. No, you have shot down the plane of my country—our plane—the plane that…