If you search for “poems about broken arms”you’ll find the words of amateurs,mainly,But who is a pro at this?Are the missing plums from the iceboxA metaphor for the ligamentPulling my bone until it snapped?Snapped,Forgive me.Forgive me? They were soSoSo I’m going to ask you a lot of intrusive questionsAnd I’m so sorryI just don’t wantContinue reading “fractures (with apologies to william carlos williams)”
Category Archives: Long
Quiet Point
On Thursday, between work at one of my on-campus jobs and my one class of the day, I received a message from my doctor following up on a routine mammogram. I would need to make another appointment with the imaging center, because they needed “additional views in one area of the right breast,” but “notContinue reading “Quiet Point”
out-living
CW: reference to sexual assault 1. He was trying to prove that I wasn’t a lesbian. Or so he claimed, when he didwhat he insisted that he had to do,while his intellectually disabled brother watched cartoons just outside the closed bedroom door. I was 18. He was 21. When he was done,I drank wine coolersContinue reading “out-living”
this is not a playlist.
What are your tiniest, most insignificant regrets? When I was 19 or so, I met a guy at a show at the 40 Watt, the way one does—or I assume the way one does when the music is too loud to carry on an audible conversation—a lot of you noticing them noticing you noticing themContinue reading “this is not a playlist.”
Departures
i. Hiking alone, I venture out onto the creek’s rocky outcrops. The water rushes beneath the rocks, beneath my feet, as the birds air their murmurings. The late-Spring breeze twists around my legs, raises goosebumps on my arms. Half a dozen swallowtails dance above the creek’s surface, then part and return, flying past me asContinue reading “Departures”
The rubric
My personal life is something of an enigma to my coworkers. This is mostly intentional on my part, though I have shared bits and pieces, (only occasionally and almost entirely contextually). Typically, though, no one asks, which makes it easier to not reveal too much. The other day, though, one of my coworkers — afterContinue reading “The rubric”
Heresies and other liberations
[I do not identify as a Christian in any traditional sense of the word (and many Christians would not have me, even if I did). Still, there will be a lot of a speaking of, about, in and through Christianity in this piece.] I was taught to pray long before I ever stepped foot inContinue reading “Heresies and other liberations”
the body – (hysteria)
(cw: disordered eating; pejorative language re: mental health) I. Hysteria was basically the medical explanation for ‘everything that men found mysterious or unmanageable in women’, a conclusion only supported by men’s (historic and continuing) dominance over medicine, and hysteria’s continued use as a synonym for “over-emotional” or “deranged.” – Ada McVean “The History of Hysteria“Continue reading “the body – (hysteria)”
the body (first movement)
I. Once upon a time, the mother of a man I loved told me that she was surprised her son was attracted to me, given my body type, as she had been taught that men were typically attracted to women with a physicality like their mother’s. “I have quite large breasts,” she pointed out, “andContinue reading “the body (first movement)”
Addenda
(cw: overdose death) A kind of process-explaining supplement to the “X annos” piece, plus miscellaneous bits on just a sliver of the memories/thoughts that came up while thinking/writing about grief as it makes its presence known. Some of this is a little raw, so proceed with caution. I. For X annos: I knew that IContinue reading “Addenda”
Undusted Corners 