Wasn’t So Bad
“Are you afraid to look me in the eyes, Clarisse?” Mr. Alex Rastenburg asked.
He was too close to the truth. Clarisse silently begged him to stop. She knew she would lose everything if she gave in to him.
Play Time
Photography by Devon Butler Flakes of Tahiti Sunrise nail polish are stuck to the doll, miniscule orange shapes adorning the plastic locks. Late afternoon sunlight seeps through the blinds as Megan sits, playing with her favourite Barbie. Perfect blue eyes and a plump pink smile stare blankly, waiting for love. Dress me. Speak for me. [...]
Slip
She was dancing after work, carefree, and with the great majority of her health intact. Every time she took a step, in the spirit of dance or otherwise, her boot would slip until she was again centered by the next step; which also slipped, on the snow and ice alike. She slid, awkwardly flailing and happily into each step she took, with the majority of her health intact.
The Other Side
She woke up with a start, as the glare from a streetlamp suddenly illuminated her room. She saw him sitting in the same chair facing her window. The light from the lamp created an orange glow around his body, and the falling snowflakes cast shadows on his face. She sat up in bed, letting the silence lay over them, as she waited for him to give an explanation.
One Day / You Will Know
…and one day you come across a man walking and choking. As he coughs continuously for 30 seconds, you can see a strip of tape wrapped around his neck and overlapping above his left shoulder.
Little Black Dresses and Knobby Knees
Sarah tried growing her hair out; flowing blonde locks glistening in the sun. But every time she did, the shafts would break off, leaving her with sandy inch-long fuzz. She tried fitting her breasts into the low cut dress she bought on a whim.
Farmer John Becomes a Naturalist
Does counting butterflies equal
work? I’ve been delighted by the reds
and purples, and awakened by a flick
upon my fingertips.
Taxidermy
She decided it was time to stop. Ignored her pale reflection as she packed her paints and brushes in a box where her face couldn’t yearn for their costume.
Getting Away with It All
As I skip rocks at sunset from my campsite’s cloistered shore, I grab the pocket guide More Moss to Live Off: Eighth Edition – promising the secrets of enlightenment on a gold foiled star – and toss it in too. I watch as it skips even worse than my watch did. And my anxiety floats there. I imagine,
Each day acted in the round.
Teacher & Student
It’s hot. The sun bears down on the water and there there is no shade for comfort. No trees, no birds, no sail. There is the light and there is the water. The boat gently glides and the slicing sound made by the bow is crisp and clear above the constant buzzing and humming of the insects unseen.
Untitled
An old man from mainland China watches a donkey in a petting zoo and recalls the labour of his life’s hard work tilling the soil.
Copenhagen. December 13, 2011
I’ve been woken up. I mean, I still miss my boy back home, and I still think the guy I’m visiting here is a horny asshole. I still slept my entire day away and didn’t get out of the apartment until three in the afternoon (and it’s dark by four this time of year), but that hour of daylight gleamed in symbolism.
Always For Me, Never For You
I watched as train after train goes by Grand Central Station. I lay motionless, without a care for who pointed and snickered, or who stopped to take a photograph of the seemingly unfortunate man passed out in the filthy, piss-riddled pool of water.
Let’s Go Home
We were two thirds of the way home when an argument broke out between my mother and father. The argument was regarding something about directions, I couldn’t follow what exactly.
A True Crime Story
Welcome home, they said when he returned to the hometown where he had attended elementary and high school. He returned for the occasion of his high school commencement.
Claustrophilia
Here there is sand and waves, imagined ecosystems ecosystems of life. A hundred thousand life forms packed into a square foot of water, her life, their life, washing back and forth across his calves, knees, thighs, hips, deeper – but there was really only bricks, not bark, and noise – the tap of glasses together, tossing back alcohol like promises.
Service Dystopia
It’s hard to believe that a restaurant could be considered home to anyone, especially this restaurant. The beige coloured brick and oak trimmed walls create a seemingly warm atmosphere. Pictures and newspaper clippings of certain accomplishments and a family’s legacy found in glass display cases evoke an element of compassion.
Belle Reve
From thin cracks under the door she crawls, she keeps me awake at night. I’m shaken by something arbitrary – the breeze’s breath on thin window panes or a low voice muffled turned a wail from way, way down the corridor. And now I’m stuck awake, entrenched in early Sunday dawn, braced by late Saturday night.
Conspiracy of Love and Hunger
Borborygmus can lead a girl to lunacy. It’s true. When she began her journey, she was fairly levelheaded. When the journey was done, her eyes gleamed with a fever borne of heretical thoughts, and the smallest discrepancy between guts and brain became a grand theological conspiracy.
Alternate Religion and Culture Course Titles
- Overstating Your Base Knowledge
Barely Understandable Concepts
Epiphany Over-Sharing
Tiny Speeches Disguised as Questions
