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Remembering Rieba

December 10, 2016December 10, 2016

  Olive skin. Slender fingers adorned with rings. And long painted fingernails, click clacking against a table top. Rieba always wore one of two outfits: Swishy pants and over-sized sweatshirts with cute graphics on the front, like kittens in a basket of yarn Or an emerald green, Asian-inspired robe that had black piping at the collar. 1970s…

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Categories: Essays

My grandfather’s old shirt

November 21, 2016November 21, 2016

When I put on my grandfather’s old shirt Clean hands don’t feel comfortable I have to press my fingers into the earth I have to build things, To brave slivers from raw edges, To be bruised I have to live deep; I have to feel full

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Categories: Poetry

To the captain of the concrete ship

September 19, 2016

To the captain of the concrete ship, I get it You’re trying to convince anyone to help you pull up that anchor For an hour, for a day If I were heavy like you, I might do the same I was the fool who thought this could be something Who thought when the weight was…

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Categories: Poetry

The boy with the concave chest

May 17, 2016July 23, 2016

The boy with the concave chest Wanted the world to know he loved me He recycled poems and made gestures So over the top, you could see them from the moon He put words into my mouth And pulled them back out like a string of pearls clicking against teeth The boy with the concave…

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Categories: Poetry

For Racheal

May 15, 2016July 23, 2016

Something about a sunny weekend Reminds me of you and melted push-pops And hard plastic shoes Baseball in the neighbor’s yard And standing on top of buckets To fill up water balloons Building forts out of anything we could find And laying on couches, crying with sunburns If we close our eyes hard enough, we…

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Categories: Poetry

After we part

May 15, 2016July 23, 2016

After we part, I tell myself that next time I will not be so eager It takes one phone call to lose my resolve Your voice is cottony, like a warm towel You apologize and my cheeks swell with impossible little wins We make plans I walk on clouds for a few hours Until you…

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Categories: Poetry

Dear Lilly

April 5, 2016November 20, 2017

Dear Lilly, There are going to be several points in your life when you feel like you do not belong. Embrace these moments. Do not listen to the people who pat you on the head and tell you not to worry. Dismiss the assuring tone when someone says, “You’re just like everyone else.”   It’s…

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Categories: Essays

Cousins

January 2, 2016July 23, 2016

Cousins More like war buddies We break in the same places We close our eyes and Smile at the same smells Coffee, grain and fingernail polish Holding hands through hell We were trauma bonded We did our hiding in closets instead of trenches In case of questions We took care to make our stories consistent…

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Categories: Poetry

Veterans’ Day

November 11, 2015July 23, 2016

I lost my grandpa Swede the day after my 22nd birthday. I remember when my phone rang. I was driving to the airport to visit to NYC for the first time. I knew exactly what happened when I heard my brother’s voice on the other end of the line. My mom couldn’t bring herself to…

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Categories: Essays

Pioneers

October 18, 2015July 23, 2016

Warmth from the sun on the back on her legs No need to squint; Anything that’s more than ten feet away doesn’t matter now She is completely abreast of his breathing Silent but she can see his chest rise and fall from the corner of her eyes Their skin radiates; Not touching but hyper aware…

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Categories: Poetry
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