Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
Junior high is a jungle. Five hundred kids, ages twelve to fourteen, in a tough, urban school on the edge of the city center. There are fights every day, boys with nosebleeds, rumors about drugs, things thrown in class, teachers yelling. Chaos; I barely learn a thing the whole two Read more
Rejoice oh Anne of a Thousand, Castrate the insolent jutting of the cold, dead factory; Rejoice oh Anne of a Thousand, Dig deep in the ground, in Lethe-Wards, Where the purest water and surest warmth can be found. Rejoice oh Anne of Thousand; Like the gray sky, be cold to Read more
I will not be there when you are the age I am now— this we must face. I waited to have you for reasons that are old rags of memory from clothes I wore before you. In today’s mirror I see you, orphaned, in your diaphanous future— thin skin, fragile Read more
Dear God, I haven’t been talking to you much. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I lost my faith for a long while. I lost myself, too. I forgot I was your perfect creation. I forgot the privilege it is to be female. I forgot I was able to Read more
Blue paisley when she feels humble Green polka dots when the beauty parlor is closed Stars and stripes for the Fourth Red and green for Yuletide Magenta for seducing the department chair Navy blue for telling my father it never happened Pink and yellow for the parent-teacher conference Beige to Read more
She walks to the deli to get some lunch. She will get catcalled, but she’ll pretend she hasn’t heard it. Her pace and heartbeat will increase with every additional comment, the unwanted attention crawling up her legs like an invisible hand. She’ll want to say something, but she’ll remember the Read more
They say “the body remembers.” Somewhere in my mind, the intrusive sound of the soles of men’s sensible shoes slapping onto the shiny floors throughout the corridors still haunts me now and then. Sitting on a shelf labeled “incongruity,” the sudden thunder of racing footsteps filling the hushed, echoey hallways Read more
