Ellen and I knew, as deep as anything we were, we wanted to leave–what? Something. Now we could call it the class we were born in.
“Three Maids’ Children” by Mona Simpson (1987)
Month: January 2018
And in those eyes she spun quick then slow with the stars.
“Ten Cents a Dance” by Joseph Ferrandino (1987)
I thought about the men out there sitting on top of a bomb that was like nothing ever before, and I didn’t blame them if they got mindless drunk that night.
“View from Kwaj” by Patricia MacInnes (1985)
But, hey, when she wants me, she calls me off the bench. I rise and whip off my warm-ups, enter the court to the roar of the crowd, hit my jump shots and sit back down again.
“Cuisinart” by Fred Leebron (1986)
Beauty is the visible fitness of a thing to its use, I say to the raccoon in my dreams.
“Hands” by Gregory Blake Smith (1983)
I don’t know if my decision was made then or if it formed slowly through the morning. I have never been able to conclude that I even made a decision, with the weighing of choice, of consequence.
“Jillie” by Ehud Havazelet (1985)
I wore the snake head to work on Monday, with a new dress in a soft, wine-colored material that clung to me. I felt sleek and shapely, but it was the cobra head that made me feel beautiful.
“Snake Head” by Lynda Leidiger (1979)
It’s pretty and exciting, all of it, everything we’ve done–but so ugly, too, and there’s nothing to count on.
“The Things That Would Never Be Mine” by Michelle Carter (1987)
He lowers the trombone and smiles at me, a little sheepishly. I sit there with my hands spread on the armrests, the full cup of coffee on the floor between my feet. I feel shabby and not young. This boy can play.
“In Christ There Is No East or West” by Kent Nussey (1986)