The First Punch I Ever Throw Is at Age 10: or Ode to My Pigeon
I go to the roof and fly my birds. It takes my mind off the world, people bullying me ’cause I’m fat and I wear glasses. I tell somebody...
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NEW WRITING ON JUSTICE
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A1A
Billy knew he had to do it all before time ran out. How much time he had was an interesting question. The answer was not a lot...
Joy
My girlfriend Joy said she was carrying my child.
“My child?”
“Our child,” Joy added.
But clearly my choice.
Or not...
Gone
A bartender at a downtown bar told police a man left a suicide note on the bar and then left.
Since It Happened
Anne-Marie’s mother truly wanted what was best for her daughter. Wanted her to have all the adventures and excitements Mom had never...
Between Holes
“CT.”
“Poker?”
“Golf.”
“Now?” she says.
“It appears so. It’s CT,” I say.
“Go back to sleep.”
I am in bed, the one I grew up...
...depressing
He finds the whole thing
The people there were
Even the weird, patterned carpet looked
A certain feeling filled that space that...
Daguerreotype
To Tamara Lanier, the image of the white-haired black man, emaciated, stripped of his clothing, and staring unflinchingly...
Smoky Water Elegy
Up on the Chickasawhay River just north of Shubuta, Mississippi, is a steel truss bridge largely forgotten to time...
You Might Deserve It
Mama’s men wore snakeskin with conviction. Of these clowns, who was my daddy—which deserved a long overdue kick to the testicles?
A Non-Smoking House
It was dumb luck that I got introduced to Patterson. He was maybe ten years older and spent most of his free time at the bar out in...
Victor's Night Court
He parked his car across the busy street
It only took a few minutes to cross Grand Ave
The sun had set on the cold snowy night...
Wings
“What are you looking at?” asks one of the girls. “Nothing,” he says. “Nothing.” His milky blue eyes stare at her briefly...
We Go to Waddell's
the niece I haven’t seen
in over twelve years
and her boyfriend
I have soft tacos
while they split a hamburger back at my apartment...
From Lyssa
Patrick is lying on a hotel bed, shirtless in purple athletic shorts, belly button pointed at the ceiling. He is seventeen years old...
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