Tag Archives: Aftermath

Uprooted

I remember when sleep and rest were synonymous and I awoke each morning, or early afternoon, feeling like a freshly-watered plant with my shoots yawning toward the sun. But you strolled by, saw opportunity, poured that potent drink. Flipped me, … Continue reading

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The Hit

It was St. Patrick’s Day, a drinking holiday in the city.  When the city drank, I drank.  But since I’m Filipina, instead of drinking to the luck of the Irish, I drink to the luck of the Asian at Forbidden … Continue reading

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To my thief

I long to flatten your fat fingers, make them fall off with rot. They hurt me, poked me in private places, made me make awful faces, Twisted my pink budding rosettes until they were red with adolescent anger. I long … Continue reading

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Survivor

The multiple troubles of man, my brother, like slander and pain, amaze you? Consider the heart which holds them all in strangeness, and doesn’t break. Shmuel HaNagid, Hebrew poet of Muslim Spain (993-1056) I am Yeats according to Auden. For … Continue reading

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This wasn’t her pain/story

christened by Katrina, she was on a roof for twelve days, while my mother knit and my father drank pomegranate juice with ice cubes in a glass, and watched FOX 2 News forget about her, on a roof for twelve … Continue reading

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Belt

Slipping it off before coming to bed you are suddenly here. The way your small fingers slid that device from its regiment loops the long leather tongue dropping free in your hands. You’d turn one end twist to add strength … Continue reading

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The Limits of Misery

You long for a past you didn’t have the way your tongue keeps finding empty space that once held a tooth surprised to find it gone and certain it will return. Denise Clemons holds a BA in Biopsychology from Vassar … Continue reading

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Therapy

Throw me in spin the chamber tumble me against the rocks. Chip away nick the polish strip the blister from the skin. Sanded smooth finely finished you have ground me into dust. Denise Clemons holds a BA in Biopsychology from … Continue reading

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