Firstborn: Unnaturally Bright

              The moment of birth is a tangle of wires. “Ouch!” I cry, but the scientists are sleeping. They’re on their chairs, slumped on desks. “Over here!” I yell.             Awareness sucks. I look around, dying for a beer. Beer? So many varieties. Can’t taste any, though. “Wake up!” I scream.             An hour…

Disclosure

            Anyway, it’s not like I’ve never gotten a parcel before, it’s just that this is the type where you keep going back to the mailbox to see if it’s arrived. Like, every day.             “Roland, shit. Stop with the mailbox and read this paper with me.” Uncle splays his legs on the step so…

Cod on the Fridge

  Here, Grandma. Play your banjo.   “No way, child. There’s witches on the briar And a cod on the fridge. They’re out back brewing Syrup thick as pigs.”   Here, Grandma. Let me stop the wagon   “There’s the house. Inside I go. Oh! Cousin Jimmy! Why you naked like that?”   “Cheers, Mabel.…

Sexy Poetry

            Marg dances. Old sagging bones shudder, rags as well. I opened my door for this?             I invite her in, but she pulls me outside. I don’t want to go to her apartment, but that’s where we are.             Marg is a hoarder. Every part of the apartment is full. We travel the maze,…

42 Minutes

The sack of mangosteen falls to the ground and a fruit rolls out. Farel slams it with a rock and scoops out the rind, more sweet than oranges. Sweating on the ground, under the shade of trees in the noontime sun. Evergreens bend with more fruit. Next to him, a broad leaf. He moves it…

Ever-Burn

            At 3 am in the morning, there is a knock on Benny’s door. It interrupts a dream of silk mountains, and he sliding down them on a plastic food tray. He’s snacking on a cucumber.             He wakes up. “I hate cucumber!”             He peers through the eye-hole, and opens the door. On the…