Prose, Poetry, and Art since 1956
I didn’t know I was a stuntwoman until I woke up broken.My husband said I’d fallen from a skyscraper, my best dive-bombyet. My children kept vigil at my bedside like tiny monks. I was supplied enough Gatorade to hydrate a rhino. Christmascame and went, and I reveled in being twined in lights, made to sitin the center of the living room as if I’d birthed…
Across the Street Tree roots buckled the drivewayuntil weeds grew knee-highthrough the twisting cracks.Haggard men always seemed to belighting cigarettes with pale cupped hands.Even in winter they wore only T-shirts,each with a pack of Viceroysrolled into a skin-tight sleeveabove tennis ball biceps.They’d lean on the window of a carthat hadn’t moved for months,the hood propped up with a two-by-four,a half dozen greasy sparkplugs scattered underfoot.Sometimes…
In 1504, a small calico cleaned her paw near a roughwell. Two children threw sticks a few yards away. And the sun reflected off them and traveledback out of an atmosphere no one yet understood. This is how it always goes. It is no kind of magic. This is howwe see into the pasts of far away objects and the just- past we call the…
Minutes from the Great Salt Lake Whale Watch Society Attending Ryan Habermeyer, Society President Ryan Habermeyer, Folklorist Ryan Habermeyer, Amateur Zoologist Ryan Habermeyer, Archivist Ryan Habermeyer, True-Believing Mormon Ryan Habermeyer, Formerly-Known-as-True-Believing-Mormon Not in Attendance David Hyams, Christine Baczek Meeting called to order at 5:01 PM by President. Business: Motion to accept the minutes from previous meeting. Motion unanimously approved. Opening Remarks: As a historical anecdote,…
Ephemerals Climbing the Cataract Falls TrailWe don’t notice the drop-offs much,The abyss. Only the flowers, tiny and paleWith big leaves, and ferns, workingBackward from the reservoir up cataract to cataract,Chasing time backwardsThe closer we get to sky. Once, our 14-year-oldTwirled away from usToward the sea, and I was happy.Your mother’s tumor grew itselfFrom seed, from darkness. I thought the ephemerals would be gone—spring turnsWith such…