Volume 9 Number 1

Emily Witnesses the Milk Maid and her Lover

In the slough the rain mists through the fallen trunks. Their bodies together are as water the warm breath of the wind moves over. “You…

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Ants

We’d been shrunk, through a series of mishaps, follies, maybe destined, maybe not. It is hard to tell, and while I think about it too…

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The Horses (November, 1998)

The vet asked if I wanted to see them. I said, “Yes.” So she took me up to the roof. “They’re getting much better,” she…

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In Dreams

Father leaves no footsteps pacing the shuddering wheat fields out- side our home. He could leave me soft gut peeled, mother says. She sneaks me…

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Moss-Man

All are welcome at our springs—the infirm, the crippled, even the mentally damaged come here in hopes that the sulfurous, almost-too-hot water will heal their…

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Dolls

Mercy was voted Most Stylish Eighth Grader because her hair feathered perfectly. When the wind blew, it would flap like crow wings over her temples…

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Backyard

In your aunt’s backyard: squash of no compare. Lettuce sprout- ing full-frond from neat hillocks, trees with arms weighed down by pomegranates. The chickens escaped…

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Poppies

Mother was lazy, so she made her garden out of bags of wildflower seeds from the dollar store. The poppies shot up small and sparse,…

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Like the ‘h’ in ‘uh-oh’

Shopping. Endless shopping. This was the realm that he lived in. To buy or not to buy. But there really wasn’t a choice: it was,…

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Runs in My Veins

All those nights praying to holy cards taped above my bed—Sacred Heart of Jesus, Virgen de Guadalupe, please make my boobs grow. Smoothing my hand…

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