Jennifer Acker's Blog, page 99
May 13, 2020
Malus
PETER ARSCOTT
This apple I have only just bitten into… tastes of November, already old and fading, and my tongue… was ambushed by the apple's unexpected weariness, yes, a tired and indecisive flavor that was perhaps on the turn… its wrinkled skin an obvious warning of what lay in wait.
This apple I have only just bitten into… tastes of November, already old and fading, and my tongue… was ambushed by the apple's unexpected weariness, yes, a tired and indecisive flavor that was perhaps on the turn… its wrinkled skin an obvious warning of what lay in wait.
May 8, 2020
A List of His Flaws
PETER MISHLER
Single-headed. / Flowering inwardly. / Barely felt in the birth canal... / Cupped like a handful of sea uncertainly held. / Carried fire to the human encampment. / Herod in boyhood. / An herbicide. / Given name known to the weapons inspectors. / Anchorite.
Single-headed. / Flowering inwardly. / Barely felt in the birth canal... / Cupped like a handful of sea uncertainly held. / Carried fire to the human encampment. / Herod in boyhood. / An herbicide. / Given name known to the weapons inspectors. / Anchorite.
Modern Gods
JOHN FREEMAN
Backlit by the glow / from a small passageway, / he kneels into the fog / of yellow light, / head kissing the carpet. / I step around him, / respecting his privacy, when / the mat becomes not prayer / rug but builder’s tool, / a black piece of tarmac, laid down…
Backlit by the glow / from a small passageway, / he kneels into the fog / of yellow light, / head kissing the carpet. / I step around him, / respecting his privacy, when / the mat becomes not prayer / rug but builder’s tool, / a black piece of tarmac, laid down…
May 6, 2020
A Walk Inside the Epicenter
MARIA TERRONE
I know the old, cramped ER and the expanded, modern one, befitting its category as a Level 1 Trauma Center. I can still see the doctors and nurses scanning screens at the computer nerve centers and ministering to the sick and injured, including handcuffed patients with police escorts from the Rikers Island jail.
I know the old, cramped ER and the expanded, modern one, befitting its category as a Level 1 Trauma Center. I can still see the doctors and nurses scanning screens at the computer nerve centers and ministering to the sick and injured, including handcuffed patients with police escorts from the Rikers Island jail.
April 27, 2020
Upright Members in Good Standing
A. KENDRA GREENE
It does not yet occur to him that what he’s doing has anything whatsoever to do with an Icelandic penis museum. He has no idea that by the time he picks me up from the airport a few weeks later, I’ll want him to make a donation. Indeed, at first, I do not know it myself.
It does not yet occur to him that what he’s doing has anything whatsoever to do with an Icelandic penis museum. He has no idea that by the time he picks me up from the airport a few weeks later, I’ll want him to make a donation. Indeed, at first, I do not know it myself.
The Dam
JAMAL ALDIN ALI ALHAJ
It was early in the night, and the village was shrouded in darkness. The uneasy calm heightened the darkness, and he could hear the throbbing of the water pumps… as they drew up the Nile water… In this gloomy weather… Humayda was battling the laws of nature...
It was early in the night, and the village was shrouded in darkness. The uneasy calm heightened the darkness, and he could hear the throbbing of the water pumps… as they drew up the Nile water… In this gloomy weather… Humayda was battling the laws of nature...
Arrayga’s Inspection
MUSTAFA MUBARAK
From early morning, Arrayga had been smoking ravenously, cigarette after cigarette, staring blankly at the bedroom ceiling. When she opened the third packet, Kultouma came over and, eyes welling with tears, anxiously inquired: “Arrayga, calm down. What is it, sister?”
From early morning, Arrayga had been smoking ravenously, cigarette after cigarette, staring blankly at the bedroom ceiling. When she opened the third packet, Kultouma came over and, eyes welling with tears, anxiously inquired: “Arrayga, calm down. What is it, sister?”
Brother Love
TANYA COKE
Scrawny was my first thought. I’d babysat enough by then to place his age at just shy of a year. As my father handed him to me, the baby arched his back in protest, his chicken butt threatening to escape his diaper completely. I could tell that a man had fastened it...
Scrawny was my first thought. I’d babysat enough by then to place his age at just shy of a year. As my father handed him to me, the baby arched his back in protest, his chicken butt threatening to escape his diaper completely. I could tell that a man had fastened it...
Speed of Flight
CATHERINE BUNI
The four of them lay on the rug in a circle. They could not be still. They could not shut the hell up. They played blackjack, betting for fistfuls of jerky their dad kept stashed on a kitchen shelf. Only rarely did the girl beat the boys, though she was next to oldest.
The four of them lay on the rug in a circle. They could not be still. They could not shut the hell up. They played blackjack, betting for fistfuls of jerky their dad kept stashed on a kitchen shelf. Only rarely did the girl beat the boys, though she was next to oldest.
Communion
ZACK STRAIT
This is the body, broken for you, the minister says, placing / a small moon on my tongue. I pull it into my mouth / like a placebo and chew slow, grind the moon into dust / and light. This is the blood, he says, passing me / a bowl of dark water...
This is the body, broken for you, the minister says, placing / a small moon on my tongue. I pull it into my mouth / like a placebo and chew slow, grind the moon into dust / and light. This is the blood, he says, passing me / a bowl of dark water...
