The body appeared on the fourth of October. I remember, because Lucia had suddenly decided to break up with me the night before, but also refused to leave our apartment, and didn’t want, in her words, to “force you to leave, either.” So, we were stuck in a cat and mouse game of who could tolerate sleeping in the same bed longer, until one of us discovered the humility to find a new place to live. It was a big apartment with wood floors and exposed brick, and all for pretty cheap, too. I wasn’t going to give in.
Everything about the place was great, spare the apartment building next to us. We could easily look into the apartment parallel to ours—and hence, they could look into ours.…
One thing I learned fast being married, he advised over lunch, is that we can’t share toothpaste. For 42 years I’ve rolled mine up, nice and neat, while she can’t even manage to cap the lid.
The entire conversation I imagined them standing
divided at their bathroom sinks. And when the talk
turned toward other rooms, I tried not to follow–
too young and new to understand anyhow.
I heard a story as a child
of a farmer gifted a purse
that never emptied of coins
and of a widow from the Bible,
her oil and flour that never emptied
of Elijah’s promise from God.
We usually brush our teeth to give
the other a polite hint, to
not ruin the mood.
And against all upbringing and experienced advice
I keep the damn lid open ………………………………………………..…
Against Forgetting: War, Love, and After War – Denise David
The year 2020 marks seventy-five years since the end of World War II; Denise David’s Against Forgetting: War, Love, and After Waris a poetry collection about people living the war—a legacy of first-hand memories preserved by a researcher scholar, the daughter of a war bride.
What is your literary background and education?
I am a teacher and a writer. I taught writing and literature for over twenty-five years at a community college in upstate New York. As meaning-making creatures, our stories help us understand who we are and allow us to make sense of the world. My formal education includes earning a Ph.D., but I have never stopped learning from my students and from my own writing.…
“And what’s so wrong with my taste?” Sophie had asked him once, her skirt tight around her thighs when she crouched down to poke at the logs in the fire. He had smiled, a wide line that hinted at the white teeth between his pale lips, and shook his head.
“Nothing, I suppose…if it’s all you know. It’s a little dark, maybe.” It was a sly taunt, unsubtle but companionable in the dark warmth of the room.
“I don’t need to be taught anything, you know.” She could remember saying to him, more than once. Then and at least a few other times, when he had said he would introduce her to some new books or music or food or opinion. “I’m whole and capable on my own, without your meddling.”…
Roland Barksdale-Hall is an award winning essayist, a community activist, and the co-founder past and president of Jah Kente International Inc., Washington, DC, which includes African artifacts, a youth exchange, a roots program, and a youth theater program for DC high risk youth. He’s also the founder and first president of the Pittsburgh Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS); a former executive board member on the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA); the former managing editor of QBR the Black Book Review, AAHGS Journal, and BCALA News; an author of leadership, children’s character development, and history books; and a member of Pennsylvania’s Mercer County Mentoring Board. He’s launched a street storytelling theater, book festivals, and a life-empowerment workshop for at-risk communities.…
