Better Things

Pennsylvania toll roads stretching out across the landscape like a scarf. Wire trash bins line all the sidewalks here, and they are kicked over in bursts of frustration at the low points in the week. There are holes in the hillside that work as hallways for light from one side the outskirts to the next. […]

Maximum

I am for the free time we have all long been denied, the names carved in the tree where we can all decide where we want to go at night and who we want to be during the day. It is the only way to keep things moving in this age when every library is […]

Harmless

I overhear them talk about their problems from where I sit above them on the staircase. She is angry at the whole world for where she’s stuck tomorrow and the next day into on and on and on. He has heard it all before and tells her something different. I can tell just based on […]

Course

She points to a small island on a map her fingernails as red as perfect apples. My task is just to row her out there because the beach there is secluded and she wants the sun to coat her every square. I stare at all the rolling waves and try to keep us moving fast. […]

Marker

There’s a lone stone cross in a square lot of grass with streaks of wire running under all its dirt. Everyone pretends not to see it when they cast their shadows against the mossy intersecting lines. A praying mantis chews butterfly wings so that they crumple like a can crushed in a hand. There used […]