March in February

We were reading a science fiction story in which the people do not eat real food, but only some kind of artificial goo. “That’s like what my cousin had,” a student said. “She was out of her mind and drank drain cleaner, so they had to feed her through a tube.” “Whoa,” I said. “That’s […]

cold

It was a snowpacolypse. The late January 2026 ‘lypse. It was madness to go outside, but my friend with the four wheel drive got his car running, and we were off. I was wearing: regular underwear (sorry), two pairs of long underwear, a dress, a long skirt, a sweater, arm warmies, mittens, two wool hats, […]

offering

“Let’s see it,” I said the day after my student got his first tattoo. It was a nice grisly tattoo, suggesting to the viewer that death was not to be feared, though when I looked at it, lo, I felt fearful. “It hurt right here,” he said. “This part didn’t hurt. Look how it’s shaded.” […]

No clue

“Maybe everything isn’t a clue.” – Hua Hsu, Stay True “I’m going to try to make meaning by connecting some unrelated things,” I say as we stand by the car. A friend’s mother goes to the ER. On my couch, my niece crumples with anxiety and panic raging from nowhere. I order coffee and then […]