getting a haircut in the year’s first month will cause the death
of an uncle eating fish will bring your family abundance
八 meaning... more
It doesn’t matter how many times the essayist — the blind essayist — tries to write what it’s like being in the driver’s... more
This is later, after the White House, after he has returned to San Clemente. He has shed the name Nixon, that iron albatross around his neck, and instead now calls himself Milhous. He savors the sound of it on his tongue, rolling it around like a sculptor molding clay on a pottery wheel. He speaks it like an incantation. It does not sound like the past; it instead glimmers faintly with the potential of new life.
from
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO X
Prayer is what you do when you don’t know whether your animal will live... more
I made eye contact, made the purchase, stored it between other magazines on my bookshelf.
1.
I found a copy of Spirit of Elijah by Wilson McKinley on the record shelf of the Goodwill in Bellingham,... more
Because there’s a god for the water on your skin
when you’ve come from the lake. One for the absence
of... more
“YOU IDIOT!” I scream, but only in my head. For 25 years now I haven’t been able to speak my mind, especially not to a stranger. Enrolling in Glenda’s Eagle Training course is supposed to help, but for now I’m still a grounded hatchling teetering my way through week three of the seven-week program.
“And there’s got to be some guidelines for this.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Lionel said. “So what are they? You just let me know and I’ll follow them. By God, I will.”
I didn’t have much for him. I sputtered some nonsense about my side of the refrigerator and if he saw Doritos in the pantry, especially the Cool Ranch kind in the blue bag, he should just assume that they were mine. But that was pretty much it.
There’s an elderly couple camped out in the parking lot of an abandoned Bennigan’s.
Full-sized, luxury RV, Weber grill, folding chairs,... more
On the street, the music thundered from an unseen source, day and night – but it was, oddly, only audible from the sidewalk. Once ensconced inside our house, we forgot about it, as we neglected so many external things during medical school.
These days writers are obsessed with themselves and once upon a time they were exactly the same way, obsessed with... more
All day I look forward to hours of empty house
then I’m there and the whole place itches. I go
not home but the place that tries so hard to feel like it.
When my partner finds a stone she likes, she shares its burden with me. She never seems to have a place to keep them.
You notice you’re being followed. Headlights in the rearview mirror—though they all look the same, these seem somehow familiar, like a pair of eyes you’ve seen in a dream.
A spoonful of vanilla ice cream crosses oceans of history. Hold that dollop on the back of your tongue. Consider.
Today,... more
Asynchronous
Or,
Damn You, Tinder
In Which
A Mobile Dating App Provides Reminding that
We Are All of Us the... more
They snort cocaine in the bathroom and talk about transferring to Pratt or Parsons or Columbia. They talk about how they’ll become famous designers or fashion models or authors in New York City.
“God is good!” my uncle Albert chanted, and his congregation agreed in full force.
YES! AMEN! YES GOD, AMEN!
“God is willing to... more
My sister once told me if you clench your butt cheeks together you won’t cry, a tip she learned from a hairdresser. I took a deep breath and went back to my office with my boss, squeezing my ass cheeks as tight I as could.
The more time spent at the sunglasses booth, the more willing you are to endure pain and suffering just to feel human again.
