I ain’t no wig. I am a high jeweled crownheliotrope to the spotlight.I may not have roots but anyone can seewe–all of us–are inseparable.The first compassionate partner she ever got to choose. She sat me on her knee–not like a doll,but a sister–and chanted herself empty. The care she needed,she massaged into each lock.She said: You better be good to me,said her real name was Anna Mae,then told every pebble of her storybetween Nutbush to Buckingham Palace. She explained I was her …
Letter to the Editor
Kimberly Garrett is the author of several pieces of unpublished poetry. She has submitted nowhere and she is currently working on her first work of fiction set during the Regency period. She uses all of her free time commuting to work from Pittsburg, CA. She has more unpublished work forthcoming. Photo by jeein ← Return to the issue …
NOBODY WANTS TO DIE
The midday cockcrow found me in the kitchen cleaning the mackerels, popularly known as Titus fish, that I had bought from the market. On the white deep freezer in the corner sat my small radio, tuned to a music station. I jiggled my hips with the ease of a palm tree swaying in the wind, my feet tapping on the tiles like a drummer marking time to Angélique Kidjo’s “Wombo Lombo” drifting toward me. It was a warm Saturday afternoon, the kind that pulled men out of their houses to perch on …
Miss Mayfield
“Lock your chair.” Tugging the edge of a bouffant mahogany wig with one hand while with the other fondling the folds of an emerald green jersey she’d paired with canary-yellow slacks, Sadie Mayfield replied, “Honestly, I lack the mo-ti-vay-shun.” “But we talked about this. Your goal was to walk down these stairs on a Sunday morning, get in the car, and be back in church.” “Oh yes, dear, I do, I do need to be in the lair of the Lord, but phys-ically I cannot.” …
Interview With Dana Diehl
Dana Diehl is an author and educator based in Southern Arizona. Her upcoming collection of short stories, The Earth Room, has won the 2024 Hudson Prize, and two of the stories in this book, "The Woman Through the Door" and "Quicksand," were published in Invisible City. Her other notable works include Our Dreams Might Align (Splice UK, 2018) and TV Girls (New Delta Review, 2018). She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Susquehanna University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Arizona State …
Companions
I didn’t feel guilty taking this family trip the day after you passed away. I simply couldn’t cancel. I couldn’t stop living my life indefinitely during your months of hospice. All the literature emphasizes the importance of self-care when your spouse is infirmed. Good days, bad days, how should I have known when you would pass? My kids were en route with their families. I’d prepared my grad students to muddle by on their own. “We take these family trips to assuage our guilt,” you’d …