“SHNIP! That’s all it takes these days. Just a little shnip. And it’s painless, too. If, that is, you decide to take the Zonex they offer you at orientation (and why wouldn’t you?). And if you opt for the blindfold, so much the better. The sight of the ShadeBlade can still put the fear . . .
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“Flory slept in and her family left without her. They were already standing with all the other families in her aunt’s front yard, sipping second coffees and cooking in the sun.”—from “Parade”, Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.The first thing I wrote . . .
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Just now the thing insidethe flowering beauty bush is mewlingas little ones do wanting warm milkor having a cramp meaning no one loves them.—from “Walking her into the beautiful night”, Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.The first deliberately creative piece I recall . . .
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“One at a time, the men emerged; their arms were dense with tattoos, earlobes deformed by gappers, noses pierced by silver rings. They looked, Annie thought, like they’d given up on being human, had begun transforming themselves into whatever came next.”—from “All Ink and Metal”, Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell . . .
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Last time, that was nice, all of us there, and her sat sidewayson a chair, short of breath after bringing out the yams, a slabin their thick pyrex. And the last time I saw Michael nakedwas nice because I noted the color of his skin—cream with onetablespoon of coffee stirred in, that . . .
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“A pleasant month of June was drawing to a close when Enric Espol showed up with a bandaged hand, his fist clenched beneath the gauze. He was clearly changed in many respects, which gave rise to speculation, but no one could possibly imagine the scale of the wallop that had bowed him.”—from . . .
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“Ry-sur-Andelle, in Normandy, has one claim to fame: it has been described as a possible model for the fictional village of Yonville-l’Abbaye in Gustave Flaubert’s celebrated 1857 novel of adultery and provincial life, Madame Bovary.”—from “The Pharmacist’s Dream”, Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell us about one of the first pieces you . . .
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Can I stop a dog from gnawing its tail?you ask. Save a child from blindness? Rescuea meadow? You want to understand yourrange of motion. You will face rogue rivers,scheming mosquitoes, rice shortages. Notto mention surgeons with unsteady hands.—from “Welcome to Guardian Angel School,” Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell us about one . . .
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Tonight, even the frogsare out there, discoursing to darkness,regurgitating air, getting it said.They too are turning the embarrassingnecessities of flesh into a kind of music,they too are instruments of the invisible,some unpleased power that would settlefor limp skin just to preserve itself.—from “All This Fiddle,” Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell . . .
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1. Discuss: The Greeks said it all: As with thyme—the scent of Greeks speaking Time,breathing thyme, which grows evenwhen walked upon. On its own, spreads.—from “The Test: Western Civilization”, Fall 2018 (Vol. 59, Issue 3) Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.My 4th grade teacher had E. E. Cumming’s “[in Just-]” . . .
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