The train, where I do most of my reading these days, can actually be a hard place to read. It can be difficult for the characters in a book to compete with the characters I…
The day the head gasket blew in the California desert, it was late summer, 1987—and therefore, stiflingly hot. The painter’s van was hooked to a travel trailer, living quarters for my foster brother Karl, his…
She is willful. She is in the other room. She is “the feminine / present subjunctive.” She is “tessellating.” She is “throneless, / wanders.” She is “queen of heaven.” She is a “Heavenly Hausfrau.” She is “Medusa in the kingdom.” She is the “Pillar of Womanhood.” She is “executrix.” She is a “mahogany” woman. She is “the Holy Soul.” She is.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to deal with its past racial teachings. For 126 years, African American men were denied priesthood ordination, while both men and woman of African descent were…
Take me back
before the broken tablets,
back to the secrets of winds
unfurled, constellations rising
We talk often
of the Son’s surrender
His long suffering, His forever
atoning—the shards
Sometimes in a long white
gown, often in tattered brown
wool, always with two wings
of a great eagle on Her back, Asherah
She brought her family to this god
forsaken place at His request.
She will petition until He reconsiders
and crops cover the reproach
One by one within a month, four siblings bring their grievances before
Father, ruler of our domain. The laws of the home are too strict, they
complain, no gum in the house—let alone sex or booze. No shoes on
the living room’s cream carpet. A three-hour dose of church Sunday
What’s yours is yours
and I am
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