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Wind, Horse, Snow

1. The Eskimo children balance their blackboards on their knees and write with soft fat chalk. A storm skitters across the frozen sea. Smidgeons of ice have swirled into pinwheels. 2. The painter Magritte is dabbing black paint on his canvas. Beneath the clock he writes “wind,” beneath the door “horse.” 3. The Eskimo children…

The Old Mistakes

Having begun the day with a headache, Bonnie Saks was not particularly surprised to find herself finishing it the same way. Pain, in her experience, never disappeared; it merely retreated for a while and then came back when least convenient in another form. Like men, she thought. All afternoon there had been a chilly, puttering…

Black

My favorite God a horse the color of my name. And when I ride him, a heat between my legs, like tongue on ice, friction of moon against darkness. Over and over, the hooves, the rain, finding the ground. Hearts, black boots flung there in the mud behind us. And all around us, the leaves…

Pursuit of Happiness

Ned loved Betsy, a blond waitress who lived in the suburbs. Only Betsy was in love with Peter, the race-car mechanic, who had muscles and a black Corvette, and wore a cross inside his T-shirt. But Peter was half-crazy over Anne, his     beautiful X- lover, who said, “You’re nothing but a loser,” and left…

Talk

You were going to ask me why I am here, and I’m going to tell you. But I want you to look at the scar on my arm, this one right here in the shape of a mouth, though not a human one. I like to talk about my scars, I like to talk about…

Three Poems

Narcissist #1 I’m so amazing I could lick myself.   Narcissist #2 Did you see how well I licked myself?   Narcissist #3 I was so upset. They barely noticed the way I licked myself.