He was the product of a torrid affair between an Edith Wharton novel and a J. Crew catalogue, with his wavy Titian hair and his quarterback’s shoulders. He possessed, unselfconsciously, the elusive grace that emerges from old money and tennis lessons from the age of five. He could easily have followed his father into finance…
Marilyn stretched canvas, stapled, primed and sanded, primed again, the gesso as white as an absence of thought. She dug paint tubes from a hat box on the table. Her hand played hard fast curve. invective. laughter. glove box flask, passed. trunk pops. dig out jack. over brushes splayed in jars. Easel unfolded, unsteady, ready…
How will I tell her? “I messed up again, I opened my mouth and let loose words —I make you zip in.” How will I pay for dance lessons promised, if she’d just give me less lip? How will I tell her? “Do as I expire, when my words are why I just got fired.”…
Charred Landscape A jumble of buildings squatted some distance away, dark and low What used to be a harvest moon Rises in the background History no longer remembers this place. A cracked highway, weed-choked and crumbling Traces the exit of humanity’s footprint Leaving nothing else behind except A jumble of buildings squatted some distance away,…
It’s about how seagulls drifted over the tan sand and stitched the sky about a beach and waves not too fierce so when the inner tube went flat we weren’t afraid and just hung onto that flat tire as air left and water entered until it sank about how even Liz and Marilyn our feeblest…
The day before the steam cleaner came to clean the carpets, the young couple carried all their furniture into the kitchen. A stain on the carpet had been hidden beneath the couch and the skirting board had come unstuck in places. The young woman took down the frames and posters while the young man took…
