The cresting throb of cocaine found itself tangled in a costly labyrinth between my dead-end veins and a bi-monthly check from Souper Salad’s. Such dissolving nose-bluster ousted my caged reality of unhinged loneliness and suffocating rage. I rallied desperate...
Kuntz Day 1
Shipping Out
My father never talked about any of his siblings. I’ know of three but I don’t know how many there were. He left my mother and me and my brothers when I was seven or eight. I don’t know for sure because my older brother has passed a dozen years ago and wouldn’t talk...
The Mumbling Parrot and the Queen Part II
Coming in to the coffee shop, they saw the newspapers next to the cashier stand. All the headlines said the Queen had died. They did not buy a paper. When the hostess had seated them, had given them menus and brought them ice water, Lyle said, “Once he was gone, she...
The Mumbling Parrot and the Queen Part I
When Beau, with Lori, knocked on his neighbor’s door to ask permission to pick a gardenia, she invited them in for iced tea. Because they were neighbors who hadn’t yet met, in Key West terms, this was a festive occasion. Mrs. Bell brought a plate of molasses cookies...
June
(I'm taking another stab at themes I've been working through for a while, so some of it could seem familiar). Thanks! June There’s a version of this story where none of it happens. A version where you are don’t vanish on a cold November night, leaving only trails of...
How it started
I had a hard time getting pregnant. Though Jon and I were among the first to have a baby between our college friends, it seemed like a lot of medical intervention to get my body to cooperate. Married at 27, we envisioned plenty of time before trying for a baby. I have...
Mr. Buckskin Jacket
Footsteps keep up a steady tap on the stairs. Take what you want, Mom’d said, her arm sweeping across the bed. I watch for a while from my shut door. Dad’s silk ties hang from Uncle David’s arms. Both his hands hold Dad’s shirts, still on their hangers from the...
That Old Familiar Sting
When the bitch-coon went for my boy I got in between them. My bark has always been bigger than my bite and I hadn’t tasted flesh since I killed those village swans. Just a dickhead pup and jesus did my boy’s dad tan my hide for that carcass pile. Didn’t help that put...
The Day Charley Leaves Me
The Day Charley Leaves Me I turn into butter. I melt in the pan. I flavor my pancakes. I sizzle and moan. The day Charley leaves me, I turn into air. I flitter the songbirds right out of the trees. I am cold and then colder. I whistle and fade. I am better off, I say...
Day 1
Read all the Day 1 Posts Here
In Flight
The cresting throb of cocaine found itself tangled in a costly labyrinth between my dead-end veins and a bi-monthly check from Souper Salad’s. Such dissolving nose-bluster ousted my caged reality of unhinged loneliness and suffocating rage. I rallied desperate...
Shipping Out
My father never talked about any of his siblings. I’ know of three but I don’t know how many there were. He left my mother and me and my brothers when I was seven or eight. I don’t know for sure because my older brother has passed a dozen years ago and wouldn’t talk...
The Mumbling Parrot and the Queen Part II
Coming in to the coffee shop, they saw the newspapers next to the cashier stand. All the headlines said the Queen had died. They did not buy a paper. When the hostess had seated them, had given them menus and brought them ice water, Lyle said, “Once he was gone, she...
The Mumbling Parrot and the Queen Part I
When Beau, with Lori, knocked on his neighbor’s door to ask permission to pick a gardenia, she invited them in for iced tea. Because they were neighbors who hadn’t yet met, in Key West terms, this was a festive occasion. Mrs. Bell brought a plate of molasses cookies...
June
(I'm taking another stab at themes I've been working through for a while, so some of it could seem familiar). Thanks! June There’s a version of this story where none of it happens. A version where you are don’t vanish on a cold November night, leaving only trails of...
How it started
I had a hard time getting pregnant. Though Jon and I were among the first to have a baby between our college friends, it seemed like a lot of medical intervention to get my body to cooperate. Married at 27, we envisioned plenty of time before trying for a baby. I have...
Mr. Buckskin Jacket
Footsteps keep up a steady tap on the stairs. Take what you want, Mom’d said, her arm sweeping across the bed. I watch for a while from my shut door. Dad’s silk ties hang from Uncle David’s arms. Both his hands hold Dad’s shirts, still on their hangers from the...
That Old Familiar Sting
When the bitch-coon went for my boy I got in between them. My bark has always been bigger than my bite and I hadn’t tasted flesh since I killed those village swans. Just a dickhead pup and jesus did my boy’s dad tan my hide for that carcass pile. Didn’t help that put...
The Day Charley Leaves Me
The Day Charley Leaves Me I turn into butter. I melt in the pan. I flavor my pancakes. I sizzle and moan. The day Charley leaves me, I turn into air. I flitter the songbirds right out of the trees. I am cold and then colder. I whistle and fade. I am better off, I say...
Day 1
Read all the Day 1 Posts Here