New World Writing Quarterly

We brought a dime every Friday to slide into a slot inside a card fea­tur­ing a smil­ing girl on crutch­es. I loved see­ing my card fill up. When there were ten dimes, we would start again on a card with a crip­pled boy. Miss Klein, our fourth-grade teacher, –more

Days I spent at the Surf Ballroom, wait­ing around for girls.  Sometimes I read books about war or foot­ball or how to suc­ceed in busi­ness, and some­times I just sat.  I’d find some booth in the cor­ner or else off to the side, and it was always spon­sored –more

1.

Crossing from the fruit by the sushi aisles there was a S — L — O — W slow amble through some­thing about a Christmas tree. (Not the old up-tem­po fave.) Almonds had not been tast­ed two full months in Jogja, they were unavail­able at Hero super­mar­ket –more

They’re going to the moun­tain. He let his ex-wife bor­row his GPS, so the three of them just wing it: Elle and Jim and the dog named Doodle. Jim says he knows the way, dri­ving through Viroqua, Westby, Cashton, places where he has to dri­ve for work, –more

When Species Are Becoming Extinct in the Wild

Each of this planet’s dai­ly spins on its axis mat­ters for those
who face the trau­ma of being out there with­out the liv­ing green.

On the out­skirts of my home­town there was a knoll myth­i­cal­ly formed
of clay shak­en off spades – green grass and –more

Still half-drunk and dri­ving west through the Idaho wilder­ness, a night crea­ture threw itself in front of Paul’s car. His foot sunk into the brake before he knew what was hap­pen­ing. The car jerked and swerved. He was off the road and in a ditch with –more

I am the voice in the woods call­ing, all night call­ing as the dogs, cow­ards most­ly, foot­ed up to the fence line and warned. I am warn­ing, too. Go get a bet­ter job, I call. Buy a new car, I call.

You looked good in a blaz­er, etc.

During the day, I go –more

“Diwali Mubarak,” I pack sparklers and rock­ets in a news­pa­per bag for a cus­tomer sit­ting astride a motor­cy­cle out­side my shop. He gives me 100 rupees. My daugh­ter, Anwari, a fifth-grad­er, unlatch­es the mon­ey­box to fetch change. She’s –more

The bed sheets stripped off, Mom climbed back on top of the bare mattress.

Dad told us, “We’ll get it lat­er. Let her rest,” which caused Mom to say, “How can I ever rest again?” She shrieked, “I’m fore­closed,” like a curse word.

Her sobs –more

Flapping wings wake me. With a faint, musty scent, a warm Persian breeze caress­es my face. Am I still alive? Only a faint groan comes from my parched throat. Another pain shoots through me, and I shut my eyes in agony. Drifting between wake­ful­ness –more

On the out­skirts, fol­low the path a ways; the var­ie­gat­ed cracks, ver­dant-grey and heliotrope, twist into a deep fis­sure, the open­ing still ahead. Pace your­self —one tiny step in front of the oth­er —before the pun­gent stink assaults you; you’ll –more

pray to noth­ing or maybe to the
video where the prime min­is­ter tells the
world that Franco’s final­ly dead where do
we go after fas­cism an amer­i­can Golgotha
awaits I wish I had hung art on these
walls framed mag­a­zine –more

Peter, the man at the din­er with the growth on his face, final­ly saves up enough to have it removed in October. Opioid painkillers. Face ban­daged. Immobilized at first, a few days – pees in one water bot­tle, drinks from anoth­er, chews on saltines.

In –more

Dream 1 – Harvesting Eggs

I’m work­ing on the egg har­vest.  Our first task is to cre­ate long, near­ly flat bowls of birch (aka: birth) wood for use in gath­er­ing eggs.  The sec­ond is review­ing ancient texts to guide our work.

We find eggs in two places. The ancient eggs we –more

The house I was born in had two mir­rors, one in the bath­room and one in the liv­ing room. The mir­ror in the liv­ing room was the length of the wall on which it hung. Etched in black on the mirror’s sur­face were moun­tains and forests of impos­ing pines. –more

Translated by Toshiya Kamei

A tiny girl dozes by the foot of the bloom­ing cher­ry tree where my moth­er hanged her­self. I pick her up gen­tly. “Sakura, you know about the hua-po?” Mother asked when I was a lit­tle girl. “The ancient Chinese believed –more

Harmless Encounters

I dreamt fat flakes of snow
falling thick­ly in summer.
I dreamt I wore a bridal gown
while clean­ing the house
as the guests arrived.
I dreamt I kissed an old friend
long dead, on the lips
and felt nothing.

I turn and turn in this world
–more

When I asked him why he had made Aliya – that is, why he had decid­ed to live in Israel for the rest of his life – and why, so unchar­ac­ter­is­ti­cal­ly, he had decid­ed to do so as an obser­vant Jew – this is what he told me.

~

He was not at all a reli­gious –more

On the Shoulder of September

First week of September, accused of touch­ing a student
inap­pro­pri­ate­ly, I was called to the principal’s office
on my off-peri­od. Knot in my tie too tight, I didn’t dare
adjust it. He raised one fin­ger, less to indi­cate a start,
–more

Riffles in the dis­tance. The sound of won­der breaks along the shore. Rivers that twist and curl. Lakes toss­ing fish toward heav­en, then pulling them back again. Waters coax­ing thirsty wildlife near. The streams and ponds, small­er ver­sions flash­ing –more