There was a priest at the door. He was young and jubilant. His hair was close-cut to his head, which struck Roman as odd because most of the priests he’d seen in his life had no hair at all. He hadn’t realized young guys still did this. It seemed old-fashioned, a dying breed. 

She is Fingers. Actual fingers. Bending at the knuckle to grasp a penny on the concrete; lifting back up.

Jimmy grabs his shit like it’s an evacuation and stuffs it in the nearest bag. Shirt, boxers, socks, Gravity’s Rainbow, toothbrush, and small body spray, the brand that brings in the ladies in waves, wet and ready for action, or so the relentless commercials during Sportscenter claim.

In late October, I plant the bulbs, excavating dirt with my trowel. Soil, my mom corrects me, not dirt.

Tell me a story, Pap.

The arm hasn’t quite taken yet; it hangs at my side like a dense lop of meat on a hook in a butcher shop window. I’ve probably come back too soon, but work won’t wait.

Quantum couponing is how I get it done. I was able to retire at twenty-three because my future selves are so proficient at finding deals.

1 Choose a tray—red, orange, green, or blue. Notice the scratches. Grab a plastic plate, a napkin, silverware still warm. 

This week, Tina gets her own phone.

There has been a lot going on.

JJ’s reptile menagerie has been rapidly expanding, which Tina (JJ’s mom) aids and abets because she continually hangs from the grim cliff of knowing that trans kids easily get depressed.

I step up to the counter at the café to order. The young man behind the counter says with cheer, What can I get you this morning, Sir? Just a normal day. An “every single day.”

Sydney Lea speaks with Susan Conley

The icy morning finds me in bed, engrossed in a book of John Singer Sargent’s watercolors. The thought of staying under the covers all but overwhelms me.

In Dubai, we are not allowed to gather in protest. We are not allowed to display a foreign flag, so two weeks after the fighting begins, my children and I cover our front door instead with slices of construction paper watermelon.

CAST: Noor — Female, light-skinned, actor

Mia — Female, tanned, actor

(Both about the same age)

JOCELYN Jocelyn Sheavis, age 35. Talent Acquisition professional, R&W Quanti-Systems. 

LYDIA Lydia Tawellent, age 25, but looks even younger. Job applicant. 

SUIT Corporate Security Executive, age 45. Wearing business suit. 

In which Swannie J locks herself in the bathroom when told she should attend her father’s funeral, the telling done by Auntie Silber who traveled all the way up Pewabic Mountain from the valley below because she’s the only one who had a sense about where to find Swannie J, her having kept tabs on the shunned child through phone calls and occasional visits.

SYNOPSIS

The end of the world came out of nowhere and the fallout continues.

The last fretful hour mending poems.

Under water you are still an iridescent trace of  corners pealed 

Full moon. High tide. High seas. Pacific sweeps

across the 101, laps the dunes, 

forces our patio dining indoors