Archive for January, 2010


The Last Ballet Class Before the Operation

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Originally published on January 26, 2010

It is done. The time has come. She knows she has held out as long as she possibly can. That there is a limit to the number of pills you can take in a day to chase away pain, but this is her last request. She stands at the barre, black hair sleeked into a [...]

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North of Center

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Originally published on January 26, 2010

We woke to her bedroom door bending with the force of his boot. He drank booze, Paulette said. The word puddled out of her lips and sounded both grown up and baby at the same time. The cow says moo. The Daddy says booze. He kicked the door harder,…

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Runes

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Originally published on January 8, 2010

ROUTE 50: Damen: to 35th/Archer, Orange Line. October 12th, 2007. And coming into the home stretch. This. Is Insanity. Doors open on the left, at Insanity. They have put a padlock on Hell, and I—am trying out combinations. Here come Hippy Santa Claus with his overalls and plastic flute. Warm as a bruise, I eye [...]

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Sticky-Shed Syndrome

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Originally published on January 8, 2010

Sticky-Shed Syndrome On the television screen I am watching a homemade movie. I see a child and I know that that child is me and I know that the video camera is in the hands of my father. The video shows me carving my name in wet cement with a single finger. – Over time, [...]

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That Starlight-Embroidered Sash

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Originally published on January 8, 2010

OH, it was a medical FACT that he was gorgeous. Skin, hair, teeth—all precious metals. And who could resist his flamenco-inflected English? Gay or straight, No man could withstand the headlong strength of the MANGET. Ah, those ancient magic horseshoes! They knew how to get things done. As you pressed the extremities together, came a [...]

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