Drinker of Ink

by Shannon Castleton

Yugoslavia is made up of six of its own republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina—one republic”—he held up the forefinger of his free hand—“Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia."

I am basically the reincarnation of my Catholic French grandmother in regard to relationships: One should proceed slowly, and when two people make contact, they should walk a long way together.

The wounds on our insides might heal the way divots in sand disappear beneath waves.

I wrapped my arms around myself thinking, That’s evolutionary grace—that human beings have two arms long enough to hug themselves. But even as I thought the words, I knew that a person’s own arms aren’t enough. A body wants another person’s arms to hold it. It does not long to hold as badly as it longs to be held. Here, it wants another body to say, rest here a while.

Maman as she is now would never allow herself to grow teary-eyed over eleven lost weeks together, but I might cry myself a small koi pond in which all the fish glow a melancholy blue.