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Frog Woman
She stands ankle-deep in the wood chips of the playground at Library Park—merry-go-round, whirlwind seats, the usual. She looks up at the sky, all that gunmetal gray. Then she shouts, HEY YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!
Most of the children were …
Grief Teacher
I want to tell my first-year students too many things. Some are relevant to the course they’re signed up for, but most of them aren’t. I went here, too, I tell them on the first day. Grad school too. What …
The Two Girls
They do not know that girls become teenagers become girls again. That girl, this girl. Charlie, Fatima. Girls who smoke fake cigarettes in attics and then real cigarettes on porches. Girls who cut Barbie hair and then real hair, who …
Reaching for Ijenu
Maria, a woman from my age grade, takes the condolence messages on my behalf, and makes sure that everyone eats kola and has something chilled to drink.
“She is resting.” Her voice confronts someone who must have been making their …
I Know You, Rider
She made the decision to lock him in there, and maybe that wasn’t the right thing to do, but her horse was cast, kicking fervently against the wall of the stable, rolling his black hair against the mulch and craning …
