She will never see Africa. She knows that now. She will never foray out from the trees onto the Savannah. Never follow the Nile. Never. Not in a few years. Not when the children are older. Not when she has saved enough money. Never. She is here, her feet not planted in the soft sand … Continue reading
Category Archives: Other Voices
The Old Farm
We never went down the same road twice, those Sundays, when we searched for The Old Farm. But whatever direction we headed, the final destination was always dirt — a dusty, July road with scratchy, yellow, grass-filled fields on either side. And on those interminable summer Sundays, we never discussed our destination. Our parents, silent … Continue reading
Phoenix Rises
Tomorrow would be the “new start day” Kevin promised himself. But where to start? The mid-term essay was due at 9 the next morning; as yet his efforts were a clutter of disjointed paragraphs and midnight false starts. Drifting along, brushing past other straggling students, Kevin kicked at the papers tumbling across the campus quad … Continue reading
Quentin Blue Heron
Crouched at the end of the dock like a blue heron, a faded quilt pulled tightly around his hunched shoulders, Quentin is as jittery as the bugs—whirling dervishes that skim the lake at dusk. A mechanical hum from up the mountain shatters the morning silence. Is that his brain buzzing? The forested incline is dense … Continue reading
Abandoned
According to the newspaper, you placed your shoes and handbag neatly near the railing. Was that your final insistence on order in a chaotic world? They contorted your life into a shape they recognized: a thirty-second clip of surfaces. In better times, you would have been a poet. In our time, you were a prophet. … Continue reading