Rita reminded Irving of the female leads in the after-school movies he had watched fifteen years before at his babysitter’s house (Rebecca: she was on the high school track team, her mother owned a travel agency, and her father lived in Montana). However, unlike most of those characters, Rita showed no interest in remaking herself—Irving had the satisfied sense that she would not be exchanging her thick glasses for contacts, amplifying her straight, shoulder-length hair into unnatural heights, throwing out her jeans and T-shirts and replacing them with mini-skirts and an inconsistent array of jackets and halter-tops, not in any scenario he could predict, at any rate.
They met in their last semester at college, in a seminar class about autobiography. He was taking the class because it was the last English literature seminar that was available, and he needed one to fulfill his graduation requirements.… ...continue reading
It was long after school ended and most people had gone home. Only the volleyball players were left running drills in the gym and a few of us sitting around campus waiting for our rides to come. I dozed on a stone bench by the pickup curb listening to whatever came out of the gym door. the squeaks of sneaker. The smacks of serves, saves, spikes and returns. And, of course, the thuds of defeat.
Then, as if manifesting herself from an amalgamation of these sounds, she startled me from my sleep.
“Are you free tomorrow afternoon?”
At first, I ignored her, thinking her words were meant for someone else. Even though I recognized her voice, we had hardly spoken to each other.
We were in the same grade in high school and had gone to the same schools since elementary.… ...continue reading
after years with an iphone I got an android
I knew there would be challenges but now
I can’t even like a text message–
a nuance of correspondence gone
however
I am learning a new language
– you realize that’s what operating systems are, right?
they’re the way the brain of the device communicates
so
I’m learning a new language
and I am learning how to translate the actions of my fingers
and consequently my thoughts
so I can continue to communicate with the outside world… ...continue reading
I’m scared. Baba has me pinned to the ground. I can feel his knee pressing on my spine just below my neck. The bristly mat upon the floor scratches my cheek. Sobs shudder through my body, yet the sounds I release are muffled by the gag in my mouth. Ama and Nana’s hands are busy banging on the ceremonial drums. The sound quakes through the floor, vibrating through my body, until I am not even sure if my heart has stopped or not.
Mama stands to one side. I can barely see her. But I know that as always, her head is hung. “It is time, Izma. You are seventeen, now. We are going to carve your oath upon your back,” she whispers. “It is for your eizzat.”… ...continue reading
I take deep breaths, regulating my heartbeat after my child has a tantrum. I can stay calm until naptime when I will sit down to write or curl up to read. The ceiling has water damage, despite three roofers failing to find a leak. Miller Moths keep appearing in the bathroom, taking a break from their annual migration just to swoop at my face. When I write, I often focus on moments of wonder and discovery, but in the chaos of these days when my toddler barely sleeps and the house feels littered with unfortunate surprises, my dark side craves a scotch and about six hours alone. I dream of writing. I dreamed of this child. While balancing the two, my collection of Shirley Jackson books calls to me from the shelf in my workspace.… ...continue reading
Mystery: Toothpaste smear on lower right of t-shirt, always the same location.
I mean I know how it gets there but, even to save my life, I can’t figure
out how to prevent it
*
I love Frisch’s Homo Faber. Bob the Builder (can’t stop), whether for need
or out of boredom. Perhaps giving up on one dream or another, but never giving up
on the “drawing board,” whose surface area is infinite (or so it seems). Multiplying
words (can’t stop), as though inching toward some ultimate “reality” or “truth.”
You’ll need the ultimate word when you get there
*
After giving in to the junk mail from Classpals (I paid for 3 months) and getting
Laura (real or bot) to straighten out my old account (they had me in Reading
SH PA instead of Reading HS MI), I looked at all the “hellos” (from people
I never knew) and uploaded some pics from our trip to St Ives
As I was going to St Ives, I met a man with seven wives …
*
I took my nephew Armand to Taco Hell to celebrate something, I don’t know what.… ...continue reading
When I first met the elderly man, he was sitting on the supermarket floor, leaning back against the laundry detergents in the cleaning supplies aisle. Thinking he had passed out, I bent down to shake him into consciousness. But then I noticed something strange. He was snoring.
“Should I call the manager?” asked an acne-faced stock boy who appeared out of nowhere, a look of innocent inexperience in his eyes. “Or an ambulance?”
“Wait a minute. Let me see if I can wake him up.”
The man on the floor opened his right eye, and his left eye followed. A smile formed on his lips. “Sorry about that,” he apologized.
“I thought you had fainted!”
“Oh, no, I don’t faint,” he replied. “I just fall asleep.… ...continue reading