A Place in the Forest, Part XI

“I think I knew,” Ivan said slowly. “Back then I mean.  I knew but I didn’t want to know.” “When we showed you Pey,” Mava replied knowingly, then added with a hint of reproach, “You didn’t like it.” The two of them were sitting a little way downstream from the clearing, beyond the fern grove,… Continue reading A Place in the Forest, Part XI

Quitting

I don’t text you  I go to the coffee shop I play video games  I pet the cat I don’t text you I masturbate I drive to the river I lie in the sun I buy groceries  I don’t text you  I make dinner I watch tv  I play with the cat I look at… Continue reading Quitting

A Place in the Forest, Part 10

Mava had returned to their place in the forest every day, for many days, but Ivan had not appeared.  That was alright.  There was so much to do in this place.  So many other creatures, from the most minute ant, clay-red and soft as a smudge, to the most gigantic moose, imperial and somber-eyed, passed… Continue reading A Place in the Forest, Part 10

Overfull

 Waking up from a dream of being unable to breathe, a longing for air having forgotten how to draw breath, I am wracked  Chaos clarifying in the space of an hour, becoming still so I can look down and see the intricate life below the surface of the water  The rain which filled my mouth… Continue reading Overfull

remember

that first walk in the woods snow underfoot your eyebrows dark slashes of punctuation stark as the trees cutting the December sky you told me your father hated women and your mother hated you a current of energy disturbed and seduced me I loved you immediately you wept the very next morning we picked out… Continue reading remember

Rewind

Letting you go When so much of me is begging me  To beg you to stay There must be unanimity  But if I could I would Rewind time to fifteen minutes ago When my cheek was on your shoulder And then back again to an hour ago when I heard  The sound of the door … Continue reading Rewind

Just Like Her Mama

You say I’m angry like my mama You say I need to work on that But what you’re really saying is  You don’t see what there is for me To be so mad about You’re confused why I would up and leave You say I’m impossible to appease Like your half-hearted sorries ought to have… Continue reading Just Like Her Mama

A Place in the Forest, Part 9

It was already dusk when Ivan’s father beckoned him from the open doorway.  The cool blue light of evening hovered thickly just outside the house; descending the two front steps, his father was quickly immersed in it, the warm yellow of firelight draining from his head, his shoulders, last of all his feet.  Uncertainly, Ivan… Continue reading A Place in the Forest, Part 9

A Place in the Forest, Part VIII

As if reading his mind, Mava stopped quite suddenly several paces ahead of Ivan.  She didn’t turn to look at him, but he thought he could read something in the stillness of her silver-haired head, the poised look of her long, down-turned pointed pink ears that showed like fins on either side. “We’re here,” she… Continue reading A Place in the Forest, Part VIII