A place strange

French

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:21:44 -0400

My French teacher invites me to sit in the bed with her as she marks my final project: a plastic bag of quinoa salad with vegetables. I explain to her how I made it, in French. Of course, I’ve already eaten half of it.

Mask

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:59:50 -0400

Her face is a mask that is about to fall off.

Wallpaper

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:55:21 -0400

Don’t touch the wallpaper.

Spotlight

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:49:42 -0400

The boy’s father filmed us in 3-D, using a small silver box gripped in his palm. It threw a long spotlight, with threads of blue and pink. He was angry at us and wanted to retaliate. The camera was his weapon.

Attack

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:24:00 -0400

When an attack occurs, drawers are pulled out and rugs jerked from under our feet. Electrical outlets become dangerous. We have to be ready for it.

Ending

Thu, 16 May 2013 06:55:47 -0400

The world is ending. But we still have sexual attraction, poetry reviews, the system.

Ready

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:14:58 -0400

Getting the financials ready for the nuns.

Human resources

Tue, 14 May 2013 07:36:10 -0400

Human Resources burns and disfigures my feet to keep me from talking.

Missing

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:04:27 -0400

When we return, we find that the insects are missing, and so are the cake pieces. Sores appear on B’s skin.

Attention

Wed, 08 May 2013 07:04:32 -0400

An elderly woman clasps her hands around the back of my neck and hangs off me, desperate to get my attention.

Deserted

Tue, 07 May 2013 07:13:47 -0400

She was performing on the steps when she realized the city was deserted.

Lights

Mon, 06 May 2013 07:32:21 -0400

Unpacking a series of unusual lamps. Tiny lights along sleek white strings. Thick braids of incandescent wire, fibrous like muscles. Although some are too large, I must swallow as many as I can. There is not a lot of time.

Pretend

Fri, 03 May 2013 07:26:54 -0400

It is all pretend. All we do is pretend. More and more, the older we get.

Revulsion

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:23:00 -0400

Once in a while I wake to a large, perfectly symmetrical spider dangling from a web directly in front of my face. The image is detailed and digital-clear. When I start in fright and revulsion, I come more fully into consciousness and realize nothing is there.

Collage

Wed, 01 May 2013 06:43:03 -0400

A film collage chorus of women and men saying ‘Fun! Fun! Fun!’

Everything

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:51:36 -0400

He wants to show it to me—the stairs to the basement, everything. No one has seen it from the south.

Writes

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:31:08 -0400

He writes my name, but it’s not me that he’s addressing.

Less

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:24:03 -0400

I drop a beautiful dress into a public toilet. I try to flush it, but it becomes jammed. The more I try to flush, the more clogged it gets. Finally I have to get my hands in there to pull it out and then wring it dry. I do all this while S is waiting outside. I don’t want her to know what has happened because she might think less of me.

Versus

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:33:00 -0400

The things I want to believe about myself versus the things that are actually true.

Given up

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 07:27:31 -0400

At the mall, two small children are separated from their parents. I keep seeing them all searching for each other as I walk around the building, until after a while it’s only the children that I see. The parents have given up.