I wasn't a bad kid. Just ungrateful, according to my mother. I didn't appreciatiate how she worked her fingers to the bone, cooking and cleaning, to keep a nice home for me, and my sister and brother. What should I…

[fiction] The door slammed shut. Jail, except that's not what they call it here. Youth Authority, that's on the outside of the building. A dozen other sub sections sit below that. First you got the kids with bruises and cigarette…

Huh, that prompt is an interesting synchronicity. This is a dark poem following up on yesterday's tale, another tale of betrayal. 7.30.26 Phaedra Uprooted I dream of home. I am roots exposed on bare soil. In this far tower, the…

Around the holidays, you bought yourself a present. "I ordered a good walker this time!" you told us. "Lightweight. Compact. Stable. Not too expensive." You shrugged. Only $49.99." As if it's a sin to spend too much money on yourself.…

At my house, we have alerts, when either my husband or I (mostly me), see something outside and call out, “Beauty alert!” This summer, there have been a lot of them. Last night the full moon was high in the…

[fiction] "Step outside," the hostess said, pulling aside the filmy drapes that shaded the large room now filled with art patrons mostly dressed in black. She said no more than watch my step and I obeyed her direction. Afternoon sun,…

In the 15th century, Pope Calixtus prohibited a religion that centered around worshipping horses.The worship of animal kin and fear of the woman who were connected to it can be seen in the story of Phaedra, a Cretan princess, daughter…

If it isn't love, then what is it? I take heart fromOur smiles when you & I happen to encounter one another. During lunchtime, you now stay barricaded in your office, door shut tight-- in contrast to the previous two…

It's been a thousand four hundred & sixty days since I let you chat me up in the teachers' loung You asked whether I felt these November mornings to be quite chilly. Why, yes. You explained that you dare not…

It is something, to fall asleep to the rain. The gauzy curtain dancing like a ghost. I stick my feet out from the covers to feel the breeze. It is something to wonder how long it might last. The rain.…

At my first bleed, my mother and I walked to where the cliffs crumble to the sea. A familiar place now strange. We knelt on the sand. I mixed my blood with clots of clay. I placed my palm in…

7.27.26 Againippe* I bring a stranger
 to the spring. You seem sweet, he replies.
 but you might be dangerous. He touches the fig
 “This fruit kills its lover wasp.
 It engulfs him
to become sweet.” Even Jesus cursed the fig. As…