Outside, rumble. Inside, rumble. The rumble of the jackhammers. All day, every day. It comes from the outside but shakes everything inside, down to the bones of the boyfie and me. It’s the street. It’s always changing. It’s the color of olives one day, pine …
On those tranquil evening hours during lockdown when the lights were dimmed and the dogs quieted, I would sit at my desk and work for hours on end with no break, not even for water. I would hammer away on a piece, cutting here, adding …
Last night the hotel was like a living organism, the hallways warm and dimly lit in embryonic crimson. We wandered together down corridors lined with low couches on which strangers reclined, conversing in murmurs. Earlier, from across a crowded room, I saw you talking …
While going up in an elevator, a woman exactly my height tapped me on the shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “I don’t like your sweater. It looks wrinkly.” I’d spent a long time—almost twenty minutes—picking out that particular sweater from my sweater collection. The reason it …
The rain pitter-patters against the skylight. It is soft at first, only a light drizzle until the sound of the thunder shakes the world. The rain crashes down like bullets. I am afraid. It isn’t just the sound that’s scary, but the eerie loneliness that …
I immediately set the flute of champagne my boss handed me on the top shelf of the computer station. “I don’t drink,” I said, completing the sentence in my mind, especially on the job. “That’s okay.” Archway swished the liquid in her own glass, …
October 22, 2054 Madeleine, It’s my birthday. Twenty years of simulated autumns in this place. Twenty simulated years. I once loved this season. I was born into it. But here, when the green of the leaves is unconvincingly transmuted into gold, it is a …
“Morning, I’m calling about the room you’ve got advertised.” “Sorry, it’s already taken.” “Okay, thank you.” I drew a line through the phone number on my piece of paper. Another one gone. Surely, I wouldn’t end up homeless on my first day at university. I …
Young, rising sun. Here I forever stand and still, I cherish these first few swollen breaths of morning. The doves have paired. They wait. The first to arrive. On a branch above the holly bush today? An owl sounds the day’s first call. Retired from …
Not long ago I met one of God’s brothers and he told me that God is real but a habitual liar. Every time is a good time to come down from a solipsistic haze, he said with great care. I thanked him kindly. A few …
