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  • Pavlov was the Son of a Priest

    which is a biographical fact only ever statedwhen discussing a man of either unrivaledrighteousness or extreme wickedness. Imagine this: He never once used a bellin his saliva experiments, unless you countthe plink of kibble falling from his dogs’ surgically opened throats, and why wouldyou want to count that? I admit I often tellyou about the…

  • New Bees

    We bought the nylons before evening prayer at a twenty-four-hour grocery three miles away. They came folded inside paper envelopes, tawny mesh showcased under cellophane windows. We bought a dozen. They tend to rip. Later, we disagreed about whether the envelopes could be recycled. If paper’s affixed with plastic, is it still paper? Eventually, we…

  • Mementomori.com

    Lugging a corpse with you everywhere you went.Strapped to your back.Slumped in a wheelchair.Dragged on a sled or pulled in a red wagon.The corpse keeping you focused on your mortality.Reminding you that ultimately you’re just a corpse. At first it was a fringe thing.Hipsters only.Then celebrities got involved.Hauling their corpses to the Oscars and whatnot.Corpses…

  • Il Piccolo Tesoro

    I’m stepping into an espresso bar, fragrant with strong coffee and sweet cornetti, when my attention is drawn uphill by a weathered pink-and-green sign offering a vacancy at Il Piccolo Tesoro. The small treasure. I’m not greedy. The adjective appeals as much as the noun promises. I chose this Ligurian village in the sensible way,…

  • Note

    He said he would hang himselfso as not to make a mess. But he was still there the next day.And the next. And the next. He wrote the note for the copson a page he tore from my favorite book of poems. That’s all I saw of it—in absence—the ripped-out page like a jagged fin…

  • Anything Can Happen with Wolves

    I don’t remember wearing itto school or after dark to the Halloween partywhere apples for bobbing floated in tubs.I don’t remember staring in the mirror to admiremyself in the half- mask, white blouse and blackskirt, the fabled red hood gaudy with sequins.My father paid for my first store-bought costume. Whochose? Why her? There are no…

  • Fine Despite

    Three days after my chemo infusion,the hospital Chapel’s framed inspirational wordswishing us well in moving forward,I send myself flying with frozen lips and bad ski equipment,arms and legs draggingagainst the winter’s cold molecules—no longer regretting the frilly white gift saved from the affair in Vaduzthat I wore during confessionunder my street-length blackskirt, feeling its lusty…