Paternal Grandparents

My stepmom’s dad, the grandpa who was there, he was a man of thickness, thick, heavy bones, he was built as if of iron, and insistent, wavy white hair that was thicker than the most expensive bath towel and grew twice as fast. He picked us up from school. While he waited, he took out his […]

Loop

Someone said, “I read in church last week, and I messed up.” “You didn’t mess it up, how could you mess it up?” I should have said. I had led the service that evening myself. I didn’t think it could be messed up. What I said was, “It’s not a performance.” I hadn’t been to Brooklyn […]

You Who Have Ears

I spent three days this summer not hearing. This is the dangerous thing I had done: dip my head back to wash my hair in the bathtub. For three days my right ear received no sound waves, but many ministrations: hydrogen peroxide, sweet oil, rubbing alcohol. When something isn’t working, I can’t let it alone. Tell […]

Letters

This time when I saw the Empire State Building and I had no feeling at all. I was taking a $100 cab ride across Manhattan. I had taken a lot of zombie drugs to fly, a little more than usual because my flying lasted 12 hours instead of seven, dosage gets tricky. I really didn’t […]