Fiction

Eruption

1. Savior The pustules on his back: volcanic almost in how they erupted, subsided, erupted. Closing my eyes, I would trace my fingertips along his skin, feeling the circular, hard shapes and slick, raised peaks. I wondered if they hurt when I touched him, how it felt to be so broken out, not only on…

The Good Friday Procession

According to city ordinance, the Buena Gente cantina should have been closed an hour ago. But the proprietress, a charitable soul whose life imitated the generosity of the earth, who believed in the rights of the people, and who didn’t mind defying a silly law in the name of good business, stayed open late because…

Pinhead, Moonhead

Last week my head was too small. This week, it is too big. My face in the mirror is a picture of dismay. If I try to correct the disproportion with baggy clothes, I will look not only moonheaded but squat, Charlie Brown-esque. When the head is too small, I fare no better: tight clothes…

Ul’Lyu, Ooo, Ooo, Ooo

We live on dead worlds. I can recall my first meeting with Ul'Lyu, when I began to realize what that meant. And this was only our first meeting. This was before I came to see the carnival lights inside her, before I started to needle her with my pet rhyme on her name, "you jewel-you,…