My Body_Two Cherry Blossoms_Merry Christmas or Whatever_Charcoal and Metal
Catalog Guide:
My Body
My BodyRima had never felt so happy and sad at the same time. The cramps in her lower abdomen signaled the onrush of anger, madness, and masquerades. It was a routine affair. Every month she would slide into layers of self-denial and self-assertion. The pain felt like a relief. It spread into her lower body, radiating in sharp darts keeping her calves company for almost four days. This was normal. Every woman went through the monthly woes. She was 28 and just married. Her mother-in-law laid out a stringent set of dos and don’ts for her. Don’t enter the kitchen, don’t sit on the sofa, stay in ...
Two Cherry Blossoms
As we walk through the market gates I can smell the sweet aroma of all the flowers mingled with the scents of fresh fruit.“Okay let’s see, she wants sunflowers, red roses, pink tulips and monte cassino flowers in her bouquet,” I list aloud.“What’s this for again?” My best friend Jacob asks. I exhale deeply. “I have told you about a million times! I’m helping out with Sarah’s wedding!”I stop walking and stand there for a moment letting all the spring scents and ocean breezes fly around me. “Come on, what are we waiting for?” Jacob asks, breaking me out of my trance. I break into a run pulling h...
Merry Christmas or Whatever
Shamus would be the first one here. He always was. Tommy and Taegyn would be here before supper. Tommy wanted to be with Karen’s family on Christmas day this year so last week our family changed their plans to be together on Christmas eve instead. Only a major reconstruction of our lives to ensure our little brother who obviously didn’t want to be here was with us for 4-5 hours this year.Do I sound bitter. Maybe. It was more disappointment than bitter. I have come to realize over the years that family bonding is not a genetic trait as the movies would have us belwww.onedoor.ccieve. It is learned. Shamus and...
Charcoal and Metal
The sky was charcoal black, the underside of the clouds having been greased up with the sooty excretions of the new and densely clustered factories below. The smell was unbelievable: a stench incomparable in its acrid tang that laced the back of the tongue and spoke of unwashed bodies, disparity, and the iron taste of money. To Anna, who had been born in the country before her parents got sick with the fever, it was a nightmare. She had been moved to live with her aunt on the edges of this steaming metropolis. She had made Anna bathe to get the stench of farm off of her and had bought her many...