In Conversation

Muzzle There is a key in my throat but it belongs to someone else. When I try to speak the sound comes out like a chair dragged slowly across the floor of an empty church. They say you should be grateful. So I nod. The ceiling leaks pennies. The walls have ears that whisper almost …

BRITTLE ENOUGH TO SHATTER I can feel the strain in my weakened muscles, the crunchy, broken cartilage marinated in the blood and sinew of my throbbing left shoulder— I was born to fall apart, to make bad choices against the advice of medical professionals, bad choices who haunt me now that I’m middle aged and …

transition goals i will question every label i use and call it productive i will slap an intrusive thought on my todo list and i will walk through the botanical garden with you and like the humble venus fly trap i am small and inflamed and have only managed to grow in an obscure red …

Mister Joe’s Pirates by Karl Koweski (Roadside Press) Karl Koweski’s Mister Joe’s Pirates is an unapologetically profane, funny, and unexpectedly heartfelt novel that finds surprising humanity in the fading industrial landscape of Northwest Indiana. At first glance, it appears to be a crude comedy about washed-up barflies coaching a hopeless Little League team. By the …

Old Stories of a Young God In the Old Testament (so it says, & so they always say) God was a wrathful god a vengeful god a needy god, who demanded obedience demanded worship baiting & punishing with apple bobbing banishing & flooding killing the first born, bleeding rivers of blood, raining frogs & testing …

Another Broken Mirror I was told my style didn’t properly match. A row of girls whispered and giggled behind my back until a boy let me know I had blood on the back of my skirt. An elementary school gym teacher told all the girls to lie down on the floor and lift up our …

Chaos to the Fly 4 (the finale) 5. “I wouldn’t mind getting the Polish flag tattooed on my arm,” Vic allowed. “It’d give me something to point at if I’m ever caught out doing something stupid. Or maybe a Polish warbird, you know. Something that’ll warn a fella they’re messing with at least a third-generation …

One More Night, One More Beer Grant, a server I worked with a decade ago once said to me the restaurant business is the business of goodbye. We begin our goodbyes on our first day of every new job, as soon as we meet. Our bonds are sailors’ knots— tight as hell, but unravel easy. …

Two Jacks All ready, tailor-fit suit blending down, the colors as if separates paired just right. Hair cut fresh and tapered clean, like the fit below. Walking into the arena feels just a little too snug but nothing like his girl’s dress, a slinking gloss just to match him. A far memory shows a kid …

When Robots Fool Other Robots into Thinking They’re Not Robots I get these lucky streaks in my love life whenever Mercury goes retrograde. I hear it’s coming up and get excited, looking forward to my next romance. It happened again last week, and I started seeing the care nurse on a locked mental ward named …