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Our swing set is regarded with awe by the entire neighborhood – a country neighborhood with five-acre lots and dairy farms. The swing set is an enormous structure whose concrete footers are as solid as the steel plant where my father, an engineer, manages the laborers who work in theContinue Reading

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My earliest memoryI was maybe 2 or 3On a beach in MazatlánWith an assortment of family. A long stone staircaseThin and windingAscended the beachDisappeared in the city. At the top of the stairsWas an ice cream shopI longed to visitBut hated climbingThe myriad of steps. The trek was dauntingAnd IContinue Reading

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My name means dirt and my brother’s, son of God.Not that he is a saint nor I an angel. I learned to love the smell of mudplaying in a fort constructed by our father out of plastic sheets. Rescue, my brother’s favorite board gameis about War,yet he was the oneContinue Reading

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Pipe cleaner ponies pokewinsome hooves above the stone stage. Conspiracies giggle from the nest of gniessand tree limb. There is no doubt that the fairies are involved withthe tricksy lighting and rustling stagecraft. The vireos and warblers suspend songand disbelief while ponies sprout wings and Pegasus promenades airily in,pastel feathersContinue Reading

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I. Papa takes you to the tracksand lays the pennies on the rails.The bushes are frothy withQueen Anne’s Lace. Fireweed and loosestrifespindle and spike.Some kind of nettlehas to be watched for. Gravel plinks the steelas we head for cover,crushing springy buttercupsand clover as we go. A smell, ferrous, poised,riotously secret,Continue Reading

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I lash out at mother,She reclines at the far end of the sofa Her eyes are glued to the sweat and stale of a B-grade thriller.Yet her tongue is still laced, fiery and aware She fights backReminding me of all the times I failed in high school I rebut,Reminding herContinue Reading

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We delighted in sneakingtwo whole bottles of home-madeginger beer, still fermenting,from her warm dark cupboard. Sneaked them while still cloudy,root and yeast excited with sugar,too young for sediments to settle.Angry when poured so early,broth kicking in the bottles,broth and brotherbubbling with disco energy. Bellies bloated,daring each other:drink more, belch louder,Continue Reading

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Mathew awakes to a strange gapin his mouth, can still tastethe blood, but can’t find the toothno matter how many times his tonguecircles the landscape of his mouth.The tooth has been loose for days,wiggling and wobbling,but Mathew didn’t dare say anythingbecause his dad always talks abouttying loose teeth to aContinue Reading

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i get my saucepan readychop the washed onions & peppersuch clean tomatoes!i see my reflection in their gleaming skinsi chop them tooset the blender to 3and make a fleshly river.i place my saucepan atop mild flamepour coconut oilthen my mixtureit sizzles in the golden lightno spices now.i want it thickContinue Reading

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When you are twoNo is your favorite wordand kisses are magic.The sky is always bluewith cotton cloudsWhen it rains, you singgo away, go awayand it does. I am lifted by yourbeliefthat all is well,or will be. Kissesmake it bettereven if it still hurts. You area child of lightfor such aContinue Reading