It was a Sunday morning in Delta, Mississippi when the body of the missing Negro giant washed up on the bank of the river. First news of the creature’s arrival was brought to the town by a local fisherman...

I turned over in bed and felt something weird. I put my hand behind my head and felt it was the pillow. I sat up and looked at the pillow. It... more

Andy Carr is stocking shelves at his local Value King supermarket when a forty-year-old woman taps him on the shoulder and starts yelling in... more

As I headed north, to your border, darkness fell, and I could see only the two cones of light extending from the car’s... more

He will present it like an offering, like an opportunity, like the whole human history of men holding out... more

Lunar Flesh

Your daughter wraps her arms around your waist and asks, Does everyone have a skeleton... more

I did not ask for the children. They came uninvited, as most children do, sometimes with trinkets or pets. Of... more

The boy’s hair was like the sand. He looked good. They all did, bruiseless in the sun. Striped towels in primary colors lay beneath them,... more

Moonlight hiccups through the dirty windows, jumps around on our faces as the truck hits potholes. We’re already gone, smoking cigarettes.

I saw Maeve standing by the smoked nut stand. Her hair was flying in the wind. She was standing on the subway grate, letting those blasts blow at... more

It has been two and a half months since I’ve seen anyone other than Evan, my new baby, and my husband, not counting the rotating cast of delivery drivers who balance the occasional jumbo box of diapers on the top of the fence post by the gate.

He joins the queuing customers. He’d read the overhead menu when he drew closer. In the meantime he’d twiddle with his phone... more

In the backseat of a parked Datsun, she waits for her turn with Billy at the drive-in. He loves to take two dates to a... more

When we were kids, my sister kicked this boy.

Always have your shoes reheeled before they really need it.

I went looking for her. He went looking for her. She went looking for her. They went looking for her. 

We all went... more

Each year, the clouds lowered. Each year, the boys' hopes crept closer to their grasp.

Arranged in front of Papa were a cup of coffee, his glass eye, and a shot of whiskey.  One by one, they would patch him up before he... more

When she calls, Momma asks about Beau still.

 sat on my couch for twenty-four hours popping oxycontin while I watched a full season of Gilmore Girls. Lorelai and Rory were not on speaking terms and I missed my mom.

Dad used to take pictures of us sleeping in the old Fox Lake house. Don’t call me crazy–I know you remember it, too. I can’t find proof, though.

One evening you come home to discover Boris Yeltsin standing in your kitchen.

Twelve hours later, I surrendered to sleep at a rest stop.

I return to the kitchen and walk in on Jodeci pulling a syringe out of her neck. She takes the rope from my hands and uses it as a tourniquet for my arm.

They’d bought too much house, too much lot, with a Californian equity. They’d cashed out into a what AARP said was a prime retirement state.