To the early-bird doe in Astoria the other night who took my seat on the hill by the decrepit house where one can watch the ocean swallow the melting sun, my apologies if I was brusque and abrasive in shooing you off and claiming your spot on the grass. It was still warm. And while I admit it may have been impolite, let’s be clear, you are a deer and you can plop down damn near anywhere. What’s the sunset to you? Do we both savor a delicious view? Is this yo

I followed Emma wherever she went when I was a little girl. A ragtag redhead with button eyes and a chubby, cotton tummy strung together with blue thread and a mouth that tilted to one side if you looked at her straight on. Having an imaginary friend, you see, made my life extraordinary. When you’re five years old, your options are limited. But Emma’s passport was illuminated by official stamps from every place on earth. And she took me with her. She found me everywher

The thick wind whips with fury, while the sky tells a different story. The sun shines down, warming me with its rays. The only place where I can think, alone with my thoughts, the blank space is welcoming. The sound of the water, relaxing to my ears. The waves splash onto my face, while my tongue tastes the salty spray. The feeling of the cold water envelopes me, cooling down my body. I bring my head above the water, and breathe. When the sun is hiding behind a threatening cl

After the hallways are quiet and whoever is shouting outside dies down— I might, late one night, after throwing away my nutshells, when the moon is an empty, white hole and my room is dark, apart from the seat of pale, blue light where my naked, ball-shaped-body sits aglow in the window between the refrigerator & bathroom door— heels against buttcheeks on the cool, wood floor and arms around knees in the shape I was before being born—I might hum & forget to breathe until I wh

Among this forest Where the underbrush has long since choked on shade And cremated into porcelain needles From trees seen in need of static wire As they pull desperately and fruitlessly away from a carion dirt Ozone air takes its liberties in one’s throat Eyes Nose Leaving arid, flaking skeleton hollers And among tensioned pines, there is an impossible dry man He floats Shifting bitter blues and whites The weight of his head rests on this shoulder His back works ever forward

My nerves dance like angels on the head of a pin. Your musical guests, punk, thrash: defiant heartbeats. I can’t help but notice those caramelized legs and where they’re leading. All night, all yours, on your clamshell couch, which converts, of course, into a salt lick seabed. No studio audience, unless you count the puckish moonlight, the goaty devil on my shoulder, and this bloodhound that won’t heel. This experience is brought to you with no commercial interr

She would normally have a knit cap covering her head - she knew the wind on the Oregon Coast - but today her hair was loose, almost mane-like. As the ocean breeze tousled Namirah's hair, Layth caught a glimpse of the Red Wings earrings she had on the ones he had handed to her, wrapped in a cocktail napkin, outside the sports bar in Detroit as they waited for a ride to the airport for her return flight to PDX. A short while later, with seagulls flying overhead, Namirah recogni

Watching him gag to withhold the puke. He sweats, clears the phlegm. He blows his nose. Deep breaths In out, in out. Sigh. Back to our conversation. He apologizes for being gross As we share another story from the joys of our childhood. Another five minutes of talk, Serious and fun, Tears and laughter. The gagging returns. I pause Waiting for him to clear the pain again. I finish my lunch. He gets a box to eat later Unable to ingest at this time. We decide on a fr

Stranger, you became a friend in a blink in a laugh in a mere moment I knew You, I loved You, and You, me You knew me and I, You for a moment, the veil was lied I saw the colors of Your radiant soul, a prismatic expanse of wings I could not, did not cage You And the wind you fashioned as You took flight caressed my face I breathed it in so deep, it penetrated my rusted heart, fluttered within that broken box, Your breeze polished the stains, oxygenated every cell Lo, I am unc