Black Curtain

Night time rats cross empty streets and two people walking take note of how the water tower lines up with the center of the road. Taking direct paths through the grass while running late; they draft excuses in their heads. Metal tables slide against the concrete, pushed by the wind, and grind claw marks into […]

Broke

Paper faces hanging in the hallways pieced together with crumpled construction paper, and plastic eyes. They aren’t allowed to go near the squirrels that hang out below the walnut tree. Instead they just look at them from far away and toss them the crust from their sandwiches. Cold blood on the metal chains that connect […]

Highest Floors

You can see how streets are laid out from the highest floors of buildings like the one, with big antennas, in Chicago. Roller blades leave marks like black scars on the surfaces at the bottoms of empty pools. The realtor stops by in the mornings to mop them all off with a bucket of bleach. […]

Sequence

Over packed power strips buzz just loud enough to drown out the people outside. When she walks up the stairs to the balcony where her apartment is; she stops three steps shy of the top and has a staring contest with a lizard trying to blend in with the grass. Rows of people pour out […]

Separate

Nodding off on the clock when no one watches. There is a poster with distorted colors crudely folded in the corner by the potted plant. Carpeted stairs charge the wool in their socks and shocks their hands when they make contact with the banister. Unlocking old doors with bent coat hangers to see where they […]

Path

There is a solid line painted in the middle of her face. It’s red and continues down the center of her torso past her belly button. She sits still on the side of the path I am walking and looks surprised to see anyone else out there. All the trees in this forest have thorns […]

Halls

Looking for a lost dog in a field of nothing but husks and the kinds of caterpillars that roll into a ball when you pick them up. Spilling sparkling cider on the turquoise counter at her parent’s house after opening night, and not being able to drive home without running red lights. There are places […]