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Max walks like a horse. His feet are stumpy, clomping against the wood floor. His bones are thick and mushy. He loves me with his weight. We sleep on the couch, bodies sinking into one another, his belly as big as my apartment. One day I will buy a goldfish just to spite him.
Max purrs. He is content. One day I will purr as deep as him. -
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"You've got a good story here," the boy with the shaved head says. He has a hick accent. His hands shake. He looks out the window, watching the moss bubble up the marsh. Sarah and the boy are traveling by train to Salem, Massachusetts. Sarah is looking for her father. The boy is visiting his step-sister after a summer in the navy. Sarah is ( Read more... ) -
Stuffed Bears
My family owns a company that sells stuffed bears. Each year, they go to China and buy 50,000 stuffed bears for five cents each, then sell them in America for $40 each. The trick to their bears is that they stuff the already stuffed bears with special stuffy things ( Read more... ) -
Will Forte Loves Me
Will Forte comes into our office. I am standing in for the receptionist. He asks me where the bathroom is. I tell him. He loves me. He loves me immediately. We have babies right on the spot ( Read more... ) -
The Psychology of Elevators
The impulse is to hit P1, which would then take you to your car, which would then take you home. This is the psychology of elevators, to escape the daily drone. Someone enters, texting on their phone, making plans for dinner at home, where their heart lies on a platter ( Read more... ) -
I Want a Tree Trunk
I want a tree trunk
To remind me
That I am small still
I will wrap my arms
Around the hundred rings
Feel the age
On my finger tips
When squirrels climb the bare limbs
I will feel the ting
Of the branch's kiss
I will hold onto one leaf
Letting the wind
Blow my arm up
Dragging my toes across the grass -
Bleached Dreams
The washing machine bleached my dreams in corduroy. The letters of the phrase "don't let go of your childhood fantasies" now read, 'don't'. I brushed the pant legs and said goodbye to my well-worn dresses and holey T-shirts. I climbed inside the washing machine and time travelled back to fifth grade. -
The Gladiolus is Poisonous
The kitten bit her tongue tonight. She heaved, but it lacked a hairball. I offered her water. She dipped her head in. Her whiskers didn't get wet, but she stll didn't take it ( Read more... ) -
The Desk
He scrolls through Craigslist looking for desks. He says he cannot work unless he's established the right conditions. "It must be 4 feet long, 3 feet tall. It must have storage space on the side, but wear a flat top." My desk fits my elbows and a rock with a quill. I long for something bigger, but I let him find his desk first. -
Moths or Mothballs
The homeless man at 7-11 holds a brown cup in his hands, covered in dirt. He too, is cloaked in Los Angeles air. He holds out his emptiness. "Buy me a drink?" I look up, lonely from walking the night, Frosted Wheaties in hand. The homeless man asks, "Do you like moths or mothballs?" I think about how the man is like a moth, circling the ( Read more... )