The expectation that my first step on campus this fall would declaw the kindred estrangement that had latched onto me since 2020…
If you said, long ago when we were /
young, when the Sun flew like an idol /
and mothered us, that we’d crouch…
sunscreen-covered cheeks mark late spring / when blisters blossom on palms and a waft / of overripe coconut dances with freshly cut…
Amid the achromic / graphite pencils and the fine-tip / washable markers
and the / ballpoint gel pens, you pick / her out…
I started collecting them / like a middle-aged woman / collects coupons / saving them / like mementos / of strangers
whose faces…
I went into the Superstore looking for a head of lettuce. / In the snack aisle, I found my sixth grade classroom:…
Remember / the three / little pigs / how they / smoked up—the chimneys / and rafters, how they / sang like…
My lola was a teacher, a young / visionary. She taught her sons how to plant rice / fields that stretch to…
The cat eats plastic, obsessively, / like a real freak, and it seems we’re always / ripping something out of his mouth...…
I want to live by the ocean. / Trade city slurs for crashing / waves / and live on the edge /…
