Tell Me Something Good

I've wanted to write stories since I looked like this:   Now I look like this: but I still want to write stories. I had a good run there for a while, before I had all these small humans asking me for Pop Tarts and wondering out loud when I will sew Yellow Bunny's tail...

Basement Time-Capsule Reveals First Grade Political Genius

I present to you one of my first manuscripts--a gripping tale of friendship, betrayal, and redemption with a plot twist I'm sure you'll not see coming. In these troubling times I hope we can assign ourselves to such metaphorical characters and hang in there until the storm is over. Make good choices everyone.  

Sisterhood of the Traveling (insert article of clothing which inspires, flatters, and cheers)

We were relatively new to the neighborhood, but several of the little girls were meeting on the porch across the street. Adorable with their ruffly clothes and pony-tailed curls, they brushed their dolls' hair lovingly as they chatted. Bella had just arrived with her puppy backpack. I don't think her own hair had been brushed...

In Which Christina Tries to Find the Poetry in “Breaking One’s Ass at the Bowling Alley”

Spoilers: There is no poetry in breaking one's ass at the bowling alley. And even sadder, this was not even my most epic fail. So, picture it-- the Ft. Leavenworth Strike Zone, moments after leaving a child home with her father, in a fit of rage and tears and possibly blood because the toy she'd...

Dorian’s Palette

Made of failure, constructed of disappointment, she is set down before Beautiful with her empty bowl and her crushed being. Twisted and untruthful, plank-eyed and a great arm for stone throwing, she is brought to Beautiful and placed on her mat, given her bowl. Her portrait is a glossy masterpiece in Vermillion in Prussian Blue....

Watch Repair

I get tired. I sleep on the job. I look around but I do not watch. I love the trees-- how they dwell in their grassy silent chambers. And I hate wandering on the edge of those gardens of knowing the terror is only just ahead-- but not yet. I would feel safer in a...

Sword

From under the stones- in a flurry of sticks- the weapon bursts outward. The weapon is singing a song. The mission has a soundtrack. Lists, signposts, a return address: they mark the map I follow. I want to hold the weapon-- for protection for promise for prosperity. It seems to have new batteries though. The...

How To Be Christina Fishburne On Monday

Find yourself planted for three years in a place people typically stay for only one. Congratulate yourself on all that personal growth you did in Hawaii. Think about all the people you know who might have cancer. Plan a productive day. Damn the constantly dirty floor to Hell. Think about writing. Go to the gym....

This is not about the election.

They have to leave us. They try to do it strongly. We have to let them go. We try to do it gracefully. They have to go far away. We have to stay put. But it doesn't always happen fast. Sometimes it drags out over days. Days of waiting to leave. Days of knowing they...