family

My grandmother died the day I went to the dentist. My dad called me right as I was putting on some coffee. In three days, I was sitting in an…

If I could start at the beginning, I would start with the blanket: blue with white polka dots. Or was it pink, with the edges so tattered you could stick…

Image Credit: Jesse Shofner   Last winter, your father asked if “queer” was still a slur. He asked this carefully, as he always does when it comes to your sexuality.…

I am thinking about birds a lot. I come from a “bird family.” While my mother has owned fish, mice, hamsters, a goat, turtles and dogs—for many years her best…

The family lore is repeated over and over. It becomes so familiar memory mixes with imagination to fill in the spaces. My sister, Maria, loved too much. Here lies Mr.…

Image Credit: Carsten Lenz   There are four tunnels on the drive between the house I grew up in and the house I live in now. Four hours of black…

Image Credit: Kosoluchi Agboanike   1.   Where I am from, a boy is taught to trace his history beginning from his father’s loins. He is to secure a rope around…

image courtesy of Cori Bratby-Rudd   1. I used to cry, chose to sleep on the floor, sleepingbagged child with a dog, a mom and with with with a sickening…

My seven-year-old lies on the fuzzy rug in her shared bedroom; the ball of her right foot is on top of her left and her arms stretch out in a…

I used to draw V-shapes on the blank page and call them birds. I liked how easy it was to start with empty sky and fill it endlessly with hundreds…

I don’t like having sex in the dark, but tonight is different. I don’t want my body to be scrutinised. I seek comfort in the absence of light. I usually enjoy…

* * * Momma makes Bird for dinner every Sunday. Her and the afternoon spend their hours stuffing and plucking and cooking. I spend mine on the kitchen floor, blowing…

Image Credit: Richie Bautista Ramon towers above me. DANGER. PELIGRO: Do Not Stand On Or Above This Rung, the stickers below his feet read. He waves for the leaf blower…

Under the scratchy polyester quilt in our rented trailer I listened to the volley of insults grow thick and loud on the other side of the wall. Cabinet doors slammed,…