Louisiana Engines

Casinos and oil. Faster and faster. Higher and higher. Pushers of mania. Doubling and tripling our hits. The pace of life is dull. Our blood needs brightening. O! Gold and Black Fury! Take our labor Take our families. Take our very hearts. Drain them for shallow glory! May our eyes glaze over. May our lands waste away.…Read more Louisiana Engines

Small Tragedies

Not again. Jim gritted his teeth and stared at the rip in his new blazer. First the scuff on his dress shoes, then the frayed threads near his crotch only made worse by his efforts to remove them. Of all the days... Today was his fifth job interview in three months. Since the gravel company…Read more Small Tragedies

Out of Many, One

Our country has fallen ill. Sick with division, citizens mock, berate, and name each other enemy. Our national motto, chosen at our founding, E pluribus unum (Latin for “out of many, one”), is a faint whisper amidst the din of rancor and bile Americans spew at one another. Many liberals label conservatives: stupid, belligerent, a…Read more Out of Many, One

Planet Nitrous Oxide

Reclining in the dentist chair, far from planet Earth somewhere near planet nitrous oxide. I don’t feel the curved metal drills burrowing into my tooth. I do feel echoes of pain in the live part of my tongue. They’re like memories from the future or past, screaming through their deadened state across time in one…Read more Planet Nitrous Oxide

The Purifying Waters of St. Valentine

My Bloody Valentine screeches on my phone alarm. Before drinking myself to sleep last night, I set it as a joke. I don’t really like them, so I hit the scratchy, dreamy guitars until they stop. I open my eyes to an explosive mess. Clothes and empty food boxes litter my bedroom. I’ve tried to…Read more The Purifying Waters of St. Valentine

Purgatory Shorelines

The ocean is still. Somehow this is the scene before me. Where waves once crashed, all is glassy calm. Where the sky was spattered in blues and oranges, it is grey and yawns to infinity. I scream and spit curses, throwing handfuls of sand into the ocean, yet nothing changes. Even my gouges in the…Read more Purgatory Shorelines

Restless Sleep

April opened the closet door. The shoes weren’t there. Eyes still full of sleep, she rubbed them to be sure. Still no shoes. She couldn’t imagine them not there. Of all her beloved collection, those had been her most cherished. They had become her life. Last night, as vivid and colorful as a dream, they…Read more Restless Sleep