Jun 11
andy andy says he’s seventy-seven years old but we all know that he’s at least a decade older than that when he comes in the library he does his roll call oh, judy is here and i see andrea too and there’s geri oh, and there’s mark if andy doesn’t see a staff member he’ll …
Jun 05
snickerdoodles geri sees the big fat president on tv and says she hates all white men then amy says to her well, why are you dating one? living with one, if you feel that way? geri sees the genocide in palestine and swears she’s going to move there to help save lives and alleviate her …
Feb 21
the N-word, the R-word and now the P-word too jeanine is up in arms because the teenage boys are using the P-word they’re over there calling each other the P-word, she says no one knows what in the hell jeanine is talking about at first she rolls her eyes you know, she says the words …
Feb 14
rayanne rayanne brings her colored pencils up to the info desk to be sharpened one by one this goes on all afternoon rayanne is seventeen and what the other kids call slow i didn’t realize this when i first met her i made rayanne cry because she’d lost six library cards and wanted another i …
Feb 06
we could’ve had the world instead we’ve got cell phones our heads buried up our asses as a fat fascist sits in the white house perfecting the art of grift while on the groggy morning subway train the tinny tick tock of last year’s big summer hit plays on repeat. John Grochalski is the author of …
Aug 01
middle aged men at the best buy geek squad tech center one of us is here because he has a virus he was downloading an unreleased e-book he says but it was probably porn i’m there because i’m too scared and stupid to do basic set up on the new laptop i paid $1000 for …
Jul 18
guy eating grocery store sushi on the midnight d train it’s midnight on the d train which means this city’s turned back into a rotted-out pumpkin there’s a man vaping making the train car smell like strawberries and weed another guy is drinking a gallon of whole milk and spoon eating peanut butter out of …
May 23
punching billy croce, age 6 the exhilaration of two combatants meeting center ring and that’s what our big concrete communal backyard was back then a boxing ring a baseball field in the center of the stinking city billy flying out of his backdoor full of piss and vinegar as i remember it flesh on flesh …
