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Drinking, and Flirting with the Mormon Church

I started drinking in high school. I love to push the limits, and hearing that something was prohibited enticed me to go after it. Being both devious and smart, I indulged in forbidden behavior without…

Crows

19 JANUARY: Belgrade must be the smoggiest of all cities. If you look closely, you can see farmers through the haze plowing fields between runways. President told us in Vienna that if it ever does…

Manna in the Desert

“The satisfaction brought by morning dew 
is more than human stomachs can endure,” 
the men insist, hoping that they will die. 
“The satisfaction brought by morning dew 

Plucked from the Ashes

While growing up on the Blackfoot Reservation near Gleichen, Alberta, Canada, I lived with my grandparents. On Sundays around noon, two well-dressed white men would drive up to our home. For some unknown reason, I…

Dinner at Sylvia’s

I was in a school bus with fifty other adults headed down to Harlem. At the time, we didn’t know our destination. The invitation had read only, “April Fool’s Day Party.” Our host, the former bishop, was known for his generosity and love of good times, so the turnout had been high. The mysteriousness of the affair, combined with the capacity of a yellow school bus to bring out the fifth grader in anyone, succeeded in creating a festive atmosphere. There we were, all dressed up in our sacrament meeting clothes, giggling, flirting, talking too loud. 

Variation on a Love Letter

I have written this letter to you before 
and I will write this letter to you again. 
In it I tell you that the days are starkly blue
and unbearably warm, that the cooling storms

The Book Handed Her

Wanting to be one of twelve princesses 
to disappear down a trap door 
underneath her bed each night 
and dance to weariness in a haunted place