Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
Wearing gloves, carefully remove previous dressings. Soak any portions that threaten to stick with normal saline. Protect the intact skin from shear forces. Avoid disruption of potentially viable tissue. Once, early on, dad was wedged in the bathtub and couldn’t get out; the water had been drained and although he’d been dried off, his shivering beat a staccato undercurrent in the hard-edged room. Mom had…
Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash
The instances of botched drownings have been increasing. People jumping from city piers, coastal cliffs, driving miles to walk into the sea. Too many coincidences are called something else. Rupture. A stray radio signal brings in new voices from the natural world, whale- song on the way to work, the falling pitch of the subway sounds like bearded seals from Svalbard, makes folks change trains….
Photo by Valeria Hutter on Unsplash
No other experience has made me feel more base and vulgar than losing my virginity. I didn’t have any pretense about the act beforehand. My mother painted all sexuality as depravity, which could only be lessened by your connection to your partner. If it was with your spouse, it wasn’t (as) lascivious. Tolerable. If it was with a long-term partner, you were meant to feel…