“When a wave moved out of me, as massive and weightless as a sigh—the light faded into ordinary pain, uneven over the skin. It didn't sing now; I didn't notice the quiet at last. I was quiet myself,
set down with my last softness…”
“We spend so much time dreaming about leaving these spaces we inhabit; these sterile rooms and weary bodies. We wonder what it will be like when our lives can finally begin.”
Read More“I remember how my fear rose unbridled down the hill and over the bridge where the bullfrogs slept beneath, and past the muddy pond that swallowed paddles in daylight. It swelled up the other side to Josh’s house on the crest and crashed like a wave as he slammed the door and left us alone.”
Read More“I like to look at the dirt on the soles of my feet and think about where I’ve walked. I like to lie in bed alone and concentrate on the smell of my own sweat. Last night there was a full moon and I swear that I bled more than usual, so much more, in fact, that I wondered if it was my womanhood waking with the sky.”
Read More“Your tongue is a thick, braided rope. You’ve been instructed that you must drink, eat, and pee in that order, so you take a sip of water from the paper cup, your first in six hours. The coldness rattles your teeth…”
Read More“We watched a woman tear off a rose petal and let it fall to the auditorium floor. ‘Every time you have sex, that piece of yourself can never be recovered. And if you continue to have sex,’ she attacked the rose. Petal pluck. Petal fall. Petal pluck. Petal fall. Torn petals. Floating petals. Blood red speckled floor. ‘You’ll end up like this.’”
Read More