The Dream Highway
The dream highway ran the narrow strip between the surf and the forest, and we drove alongside a ditch with its invasion of elephantine, doe-eyed marine creatures. I forget the species’ name, but I saw the flicker of their forked
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Cracks in the Sea Sky
When you’re shipwrecked and cannot die, the page of your book never turns. You live one endless day of saltwater, wind, and the veiny red behind closed eyelids. The water will not burn your tongue nor your guts, but neither
Bio-elegance
The microbial children squealed as the otter submarine torpedoed through the river. Older members of the bacterial colony were perhaps more sedate, but no less enthused with the practiced tumbles and breakneck twirls of their new host. Most of them
The Indulgence of Childhood
Listen to us and cease weeping. We granted you one small indulgence because you wanted to know love. Initially, we refused your request, but your persistence moved us. We froze everything that you were and put your magnificence and brilliance
When We Were Rockstars
After a too-long night of pulsing bass and flashing strobes, I weave with Dan and Jason through grimy streets until we reach the river, which is made clean by shadows and moonlight. The wind whips my torn chiffon dress and
Oasis of Life
At the corner of 17th Avenue and Broadway, a young man built an oasis into his condominium. The tall corner window stretches floor to ceiling and a red snapping turtle swims lazily, turning to watch puzzled passersby. I peek through
An Abandoned Changeling
[This is a sad story, and I wish it wasn’t true.]
In Iowa, the fairies came out in spring, building temporary homes in melted snow pooled between half-buried tree roots, bordered by mud and moss. Walking home from school, I’d
Refuge
Mountain leaves and palindromes; the girl could not create one from the other. “I give up,” she said, bowing her head to the old man. “All my answers are wrong. I don’t know how they are alike.”
He grunted and
