Last night I dreamt about amorphous blob creatures called muffies. They laid, thoughtless, purple, clam-like yet motionless and unclothed on yoga mats making moaning and sucking sounds with eyeballs connected to no thoughts other than to be fed. I spent the dream trying to manage their slimy groaning needs while actual work scenarios rushed up…Read more Consumed
Shutter
We broke into pieces slowly, like an uncovered cake drying out for weeks on a counter. I'd say the crumbling began after he'd admitted to starting the fire in our apartment. It took a while to accept it as truth given the erosion of safety I'd been avoiding most of my adult life. I'd been brave enough to examine…Read more Shutter
Mum
It's Me! she said Like that store in Oak Bluffs A clever name ensuring identification would equate with profit It's Me! she said Of the shirt brother wanted Of the success sister achieved Of my crooked nose If it was not an extension of herself it didn't exist There are many things I can almost…Read more Mum
The Weight
He was never tasked with picking us up from anywhere and truthfully I don't remember if on this occasion, we were coming or going. What I do recall was, he couldn't see the road. Katie and Reid were oblivious in the back seat of the Isuzu looking small, bright and cute. Katie was wearing a…Read more The Weight
Genius
Thomas Wolfe had hypergraphia. His editor was patient. The end.
Love is.
Yesterday I bumped into some old writing; several thousand words chronicling the death of a decade which now looks like a worn out towel in my memory. It made me question love; why we need it, how to go about it, what it's for, why bother the risks. Last night I dreamt about an…Read more Love is.
W.A.I.T
When the sun's in your eyes sometimes you're blinded, so it'd make sense to wait until your sight returns before doing anything. In the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer his mentor says "don't move until you see it". He was teaching him to see each match in its entirety before making a move as part of…Read more W.A.I.T
Wholly
Some things mark you; a tattoo, holding your first niece for the first time, getting your front teeth kicked out by an ice skate, seeing the northern lights across a hay field. On our honeymoon I swam over a jellyfish which left a spatulate, purple ghost across the tops of my thighs. A lifeguard poured…Read more Wholly
More or Less
The recipe was complex. It wasn't the product of any single ingredient; chaotic poverty, violent neighborhoods, a biological rejection of breast milk, my father's drinking, a decade of sexual abuse, ballet, track, modeling, cheerleading, gymnastics, being the smart, good, catholic girl who could babysit, clean, cook, say helpful things, the girl who got beat…Read more More or Less
For What it’s Worth
Strangers often tell me their life story. The theme goes like this: Something or someone hurt me so I do these things which hurt me or others to try and fix, erase or control how worthless or unworthy I feel. They tell me about their important, extraordinary accomplishments or list of personal slights. The range of…Read more For What it’s Worth