Ghost Parachute

Part I: The Boy My parents left me in the woods to be raised by wolves. My wolf-mother taught me how to be ruthless. She taught me how to defend the pack. She taught me how to snap an animal’s neck. She taught me how to growl and howl at the moon, and why purple […]

Before you fell in with Serena, the snake charmer, your caravan was a sad and quiet place. Now she slides her lips around yours, spits her wishes straight into your mouth. You draw on those wishes, swish them around and swallow them whole. Her last lover, Tiny Bill, an albino midget with a heart of […]

Old, crusted boots cast carelessly by the door. A blouse here, a pair of trousers there, socks, a woolen cap, and more: a trail of garments from the entryway, through the hall, and back to the jetted tub in the solarium. The wall-to-ceiling windows fogged with the heat from steaming bathwater. On the other side […]

When you want to climb on the roof to clean the gutters, I feel drunk. I am too nervous to grip the ladder. Just two beers, and I am holding my breath. As you ascend, I want to pull you closer. The gutters of dandelions are too tough to pull out.  Dirt clods drop on […]

I stay in my apartment on Pine Street with black-out drapes on my windows and triple locks on the door. I go out when it’s absolutely necessary, for groceries mostly, and when I come back, I say a prayer and I tiptoe in.  I don’t want to find Mother at the stove, her shimmery shoulder […]

The pool club is psychedelic with disarray, everyone tanning, slippery as a fin, sun-drunk. I’m floating on a neon pink flamingo, scoping out the scene, eyes burning and blurring from chlorine, yellow bikini straps digging into my newly swollen hips. Toddlers shriek in the kiddie pool; women flip like burgers to get an even crisp […]