-
BENSON
The thing about a name is it won’t fit at first. The letters won’t settle around your shoulders until your muscles begin to fill in, until your bones have grown thicker and they can support the serifs of the appellative sounds. You’ll walk around and, at first, the name will slip off your feet; maybe…
-
A SIDE-EFFECT OF RAGE
DRIVER 1 The music bounces in syncopation with the shocks. It’s the kind of van that would give even a joey motion sickness, and really no one should be driving it, much less a distracted father trying to do the right thing for once. But he’s trying to do the right thing for once. That’s,…
-
fully
The sun had set and darkness hovered over the city. Yet, the people of Jerusalem hardly noticed. The torch light was enough. The light of the sun, though useful, was not necessary. So, darkness settled lower, sinking deeper into the bones of the city and the souls of its citizens. Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples…
-
the boy in the belly of the beast
Mary was nervous, but Elizabeth was confident she had seen Jesus with John. She said she saw them running ahead of the caravan, exploring as usual, blazing a trail ahead of the rest of them. So, Mary swallowed her worry and her instincts, and she began preparing for the journey home. The boys always took…
-
you can still be sad
Sometimes things can get really bad. I should know. I mean, I died. Twice. And you know, when I was reclining in my own waste and breathing my last (well…first last) breaths, I kept fighting the urge to cry. I pressed it down inside my stomach, held a fist against my belly, told my gut…
-
thru
I remember the parched lips. Cracking over jagged teeth. Faces of the veritable vision of parasitic thirst. I remember moving slowly through the mob, trying to catch snippets of side conversations. I wanted to know what they thought of him. I moved sideways, eyes up front, ears everywhere else. I heard the frequent gasps of…
-
JOHN
Nowhere held as much meaning for him as this church. And never was it more significant than it was now, in its lonely reverence. He used to come more regularly, when his grandfather had also come more regularly; he could still easily recall the childhood pranks he’d pulled with the other churchgoing children – throwing…
-
TURNSTILES
I man the turnstiles, and I’ve seen them come and go. Usually, they walk in slowly, and I have enough time after hearing the outer door open to put away my writing and stand at attention. Sometimes, they’re trying to move in, sometimes they’re trying to move out. Sometimes, they’re just trying to pay the…
-
bread, thrones, names
So, the thing is, he was pretty hungry. He sat among stones in the same way he always would in the years to come: with his left leg swung underneath, his other knee aimed at the sky, his right elbow resting upon this, and his left hand planted in the dirt. His free hand would…
-
YOU
Fill a bottle with water and dirt. Shake it. Watch it settle. My mind is that vessel. I am thrust daily into disequilibrium, and so are you. Our heads spinning globes, tossing waves within a torrent of thought. So. I try to find a place to sit and let the dirt settle in the water.…