AFTER CHEMO I go to hang Christmas lights, reluctant, first pruning the ivy out of control, thick stalks with tiny filaments, legs of millipedes, sticking themselves like plaque to shutters, porch railings, the siding by the front door. I am afraid to pull too hard, bring the whole structure down, a wolf in sheep’s clothing,…

I open the energy efficient dishwasher and take out the bottle of scotch. Children are knocking on the door, and I can hear their parents telling them to stand back. I take a gulp and spin the cap back on before pulling the mask down over my face. The liquor fumes help annex the pungent…

In the living room he could hear the T.V. going and see his parents’ silhouettes on the couch in the screen-glow. Martin crept around them and into the kitchen. He had his black jeans on, black shirt, pocketknife, and fingerless gloves that had been his father’s. At the sliding back door he paused to adjust…

FLIGHT It was after midnight and still when we hit the worst of it the man next to me looked out the window which confused me— was he expecting to see the thick thermal energy radiating from the desert, did he think he would see the pockets of hot oxygen forming spinning fists ready to…

I smelled the smoke as soon as I stepped off the elevator. The cleaning woman was pushing her cart down the hall. When she saw which room was mine, she gave me a knowing look. I stuck my keycard in the door and pushed it open. Amanda was sitting by the window. In one hand,…

Poetry touched me so I try to touch back. With two hands outstretched, I look like a pervert. Poetry wriggles away from soiled, fetid palms. I skip after it whistling with a nosebleed as it escapes into the masses. Korean people stand with arms hooked like a game of red rover red rover poetry come…

John’s wife, Mary, mother of five children, pregnant for the sixth time, had been ill with a sore throat, a severe headache, then a 103° temperature spike followed by racking coughs and nosebleeds. Days later, John stood between the convent and the church. He placed his hand on the limestone corner post, and waited for…

DEFENDING IMPLANTS I try to talk Rebecca out of buying tits, of allowing men to dictate her value and identity but, she says, it’s hard being a woman over forty even with an education and sense of self. Men can only be initially attracted to what they see; conversation can’t grab a man’s attention in…