“Fall in the Absences” & “Pittsburgh, North Hills, 1960”
byFall in the Absences There are many winds the day cannot discover, many lying quiet in the archives, many unnamed. Dawn might rend the blue expanse; but noon-rumpled clouds have…
Archive
Suspension of Belief
byThe trees sing in Morocco. My friend heard twin sisters, a shepherd’s only daughters. Sea tones, celestial timbre. Night herons bathing in the silver bowl. By the moon, the high-water…
Perfectly Shaped Head
byI HAVE A PERFECTLY SHAPED HEAD. When Momma pushed me out, into the hands of a sticky-fingered midwife, I was as malleable as clay. The old woman pressed her thumbs…
WE HOMOSEXUALS PLEAD WITH OUR PEOPLE TO PLEASE HELP MAINTAIN PEACEFUL AND QUIET CONDUCT ON THE STREETS OF THE VILLAGE—MATTACHINE 1969
byWhen you have no more paper write with sound on the windows of a body, fill street with body, break street with body. We plead with our bodies to know…
My Father Recovering
byThe thudding of my father’s footsteps reaches the tiles of our bathroom floor like webbed feet slapping land. My feet make their way from under suffocating blankets that my father…
Streaks
byI. THE FIRST STREAK APPEARS WHEN TABITHA IS SITTING on her living room floor surrounded by hair accessories—scarves, hair ties, headbands, bobby pins, an upturned hairbrush she keeps moving out…
Acute Rejection of Face Transplant
by“When the weapon is war, you are the target no matter where you aim. Firing on the enemy leads to self annihilation, immolation, or mutilation. War wounds; even if the harm…
Antiquity II
byIN MIDDLESBROUGH THERE IS A LEATHER CASE SOME 150-YEARS-OLD that hasn’t been opened for 149-years and if all goes to plan it never will be. It is owned by Sandra,…
The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes
byLOCATION SERVICES ARE ON, AND THEY’RE SAYING SHE’S AT 42.1423° N, 102.8580° W AND LOOKING AT SOMETHING CALLED CARHENGE. Search identifies it as a re-creation of the famous Salisbury Plain…