He swung open the closet door next to his bed and stared with soft eyes at a wooden box enshrined in emptiness on a shelf all by itself. The grain was coarse and golden and felt like it would splinter when he ran his fingertips along its surface. So, he ran them gently, as if … Continue reading Pilot Error
In the same way he did every morning, he smoothed over his pillow and tucked it under the bedspread while he propped the other pillow against the headboard and left one corner of the sheet folded over. In case she ever found her way there, he wanted her to know it was okay to slip … Continue reading Daffodil
If I weren't a ghost, you would see me. You would know there is more for you than the wind tossing you through an endless sky and thunder cracking the darkness while shards of lightning sizzle all around you. You would know there is more than just the lonely drone of your engine and the … Continue reading Final Approach
I still wander through the tall grasses stretching away from the back of our house down a shallow slope to a thicket of trees just in front of the train station. Yellow flowers scattered among the shimmering green waves smile at the sky, unknowing. It is their sturdiness of bliss I like most, and I … Continue reading Porajmos
He had to be there at 8:00 sharp. If he came too early, the old man wouldn't even get started. If he got there too late, they would do a little, but the old man wouldn't really get going before visiting hours were over. There was just something about the old man's mind that demanded … Continue reading Code
After the hot soup kettle had been scrubbed and set to dry in a wooden sink, after the dirt floor had been groomed with the tracings of a broom, after the last embers in the stone hearth had been shut behind clanky iron doors, after her mother kissed her forehead softly and shooed her to … Continue reading Miriam
We lived on Market Street. We lived among the remains of society who slept in its doorways and covered the sidewalks nightly with pools of misery smothered in silence. We were one of them.
