Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
Going Out of Business Here, at the end of all things, or at least the end of the mall, where in another lifetime my aunt wore heels and bright suits every day, took me to her lady at the JCPenney salon to get my hair permed. Here where the perfume counters spritzed and glowed, where I had my colors done at the makeup display and…
Force a flower from a branch like a dead god come back. The king is about to announce there are no cracks. But a hundred bucks says that thirst-trap snapping Jolene will one hundo percent be long gone, asap. To prevent dreams of the dead, touch the forehead of the corpse laid out in the living room. Carry a pitcher of water through a doorway,…
You can get your driver’s license at fifteen, if you live so far from town that there’s no school bus. Spend an entire year watching your friends drive themselves into the school parking lot and for the first time in your life wish you lived way out on a ranch. When you turn sixteen, discover you have to get this bullshit learner’s permit. Spend the…
Things that are long The year it felt like everyone was dying The year everyone actually died The years 2016 to 2020, also 2015, and January, always The five days before your parents can get a Covid test after you exposed them The apology while smoking after court the day we got divorced Thirteen years in the length of one cigarette My thoughts, spilling across…
Motherland Bucia rode a boat from Polska before she was babushka and birthed American dolls: mother and grandmother. I call them “Nonnie” and “Mommy” like …