Exhibit A: A picture of me from 2011, over ten years ago. A literal child. A silly, goofy, autistic-but-she-doesn't-know-it child, who couldn't quite figure out how to fit in. A very depressed child who hid it behind a false persona: aggressive, loud, tough, and unafraid. I presented myself as spiky and rough around the edges,... Continue Reading →
Allie had the head of an elephant. Thom blinked; she did not look anything like the picture she had sent him. Her body was small and slender, her neck an elegant slope. The elephant’s head seemed to come out of nowhere—no transition from Allie’s smooth skin to its gray wrinkles. She looked like a Frankenstein... Continue Reading →
She’s tripping over her own feet, and my own feet too. Stumbling around heavy furniture. Can’t move around the low hem of her dress. She’s drunk. Or maybe I’m drunk. We’re falling. When she’s in my arms, it’s almost like she hasn’t grown an inch, not a pound, since I found her. She’s small—folded into... Continue Reading →
The old man was something like a turtle. That is, his back was heavy and his neck long. He trembled with his own weight. When the young girl looked at him, she was reminded of the sloths in the rainforest who move so slowly that green moss grows on their skin. He was a terrible,... Continue Reading →
“The doctors saved you, but you’re still dead.” -Nicole Dollanganger, Coma Baby When she blinks, there is blood. There is gore splattered across pavement—thick globs of brain tissue, soft rotten remains of skin. The thoughts are constant, seeming to grow intensity. She writes in the bottom corner of the piece of paper in front of... Continue Reading →
I always thought I might be bad/ Now I’m sure that it’s true ‘Cause I think you’re so good/ And I’m nothing like you “Love Like You” Rebecca Sugar She is something much bigger than life. Standing near her makes me feel a big balloon swelling in my stomach. I know that if she would... Continue Reading →
your baby breasts smooth in the center like a salt worn glassy seashell and if I listen hard enough beneath— your slow and careful heartbeat I could sleep for centuries it seems lulled by rain on thick city glass cushioned safe on your soft and strong belly close my eyes and dream of... Continue Reading →
my taurus baby sick muscle milk princess please be okay please stay with me i saw you bathed in downtown highlights cheekbones like hard cut gems you looked like all you are is cocoa butter my strong runner girl breaking her bones every day hoping they'll come back stronger you're fighting and... Continue Reading →
I. Ode to My Cellulite waves of the ocean no force could keep you still each step is a tectonic shift a quake between my thighs the dips and dimples of the desert winds shifting the sand light catching and dancing between each curve there is a power i think in your changing... Continue Reading →
I. Because I wasn’t there when my dog died. i swear i sometimes hear you screaming in my sleep i see your brittle bones piled in the backyard i wake up smelling your matted hair like fleas and mud and i miss you so much i howl i would have howled for you i... Continue Reading →
somewhere between neverland and here 