Amber Day 1

A rock taps against the bedroom window. Then another. A male voice pines, jagged, through the glass. On top of the duvet, the dog rolls onto his side and sighs. He blinks up at you and you can almost read his mind: "this fucking guy again?"

(All: I'm a bit behind due to technical difficulties, so my apologies!) Dream # 1: Shortly after his surgery, while taking prescribed opioids, Patient A. begins a series of vivid dreams. The first night he dreams of walking through his house, cane in hand. In the...

(I was having too much fun, so I wrote a second piece. I realized it was getting long, so the end may be a bit abrupt.) *** 1. As a child, practice on fish. Try to predict personalities via name. Say, “You look like a Max, and you look like a Janet.” Watch your...

The carpet deadened my husband’s fleeing footsteps, but the closing door’s click still echoes in my heart. * A tiny bit of the sea is left behind in the salt pond each time the tide recedes. * Year after year, on April 8th, the male and female ospreys return to their...

8 PM FAMILY MATTERS When left home alone, Laura (MY SISTER) invites her latest crush over to watch a movie, but Judy (ME) decides to play a prank and ruin the evening of romance. Crush: DAVID ANDERSON (Repeat) 8:30 STEP BY STEP Dana (MY SISTER) catches Alicia (ME)...

Hi Friends! Had fun playing this morning--I think I could spend HOURS on this list, but for the sake of getting something up here it is in progress, nice and rough (also none of my bolds or italics are showing up): A Partial Mother's Day Inventory Shopping excursions...

Ingredients: 1 highway: A one lane highway snaking from the Pacific to the Valley, through oaks and crossing and recrossing a cry creek bed. 2 sisters: On their way home from high school, the older sister driving the younger one. A requirement of her being able to...

On the bank of the city creek, just outside the town limits, there’s an old red shack with a tin roof and warped wooden door. The cheap glass windows are perma-fogged and always closed to keep the mosquitos out. Behind the shack is a shed and inside the shed is the...

The speeds of her electric toothbrush are the first two notes of “Amazing Grace.” It takes about a verse to get the job done. As she sometimes does, she watches her reflection go up in flames. She performed a burial at sea and a beach wedding today. So many people...

Mom was in the Mrs. America Pageant of 1954. She won the ironing competition. The state of Nebraska was so proud of her, held a grand banquet in her honor. I remember her using an iron, but not on clothes. Every year we took a trip to Florida on Spring Break and every...

He was dazzled by the boat wenches. They were that poem about bare feet and messy hair and the sparkle of wild joy. Strong and often naked, glittering with jewels and golden skin, they danced in the rain, sailed their own boats into the wind, dived for old bottles and...

When the white men in beards came to kills us, they sliced our corpses into pieces and scattered our parts which I found exceptionally cruel. Someone had told them our beliefs and they loved violation. They wanted us to believe we would not get to our heaven whole. We...

The knocking at the back door might be Viola Vera on a quest for spirits. Or, it might be Harvey The Roach Man, bent on stranger mischief. If it was Viola and he did not go to the door, she would go away. If it was Harvey and he did not go to the door, Harvey would...

The bar is a nightwash of unhinged terror. Faces plead, reckon with themselves to cut the tics, coax the spine erect, renew relations with narrative gestures and odors. See you see me see you, bartender. See my hands squirrel twenties around bloodless fingers. Watch...

Exercise #1 75 Ways to Lose Yourself: A Retrospective 1. Work a 12-hour shift. 2. Talk to your new lover on the phone until dawn. Mostly listen. 3. Work a 12-hour shift. 4. Plan a date with your lover and make sure you’re irresistible. 5. Don’t have sex on the second...

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