In Mostly Fits and Starts

I think I like it better when we have school. Summer is so long and boring. Too many empty hours with nothing to do. We never go anywhere. I wouldn’t be able to tell which direction time is traveling if it weren’t for the TV shows that guide us through drab days toward dreary, uninteresting… Read more: Stuck!

I just wanna eat lunch. Mommy promised if I was good, we could have grilled cheese at the counter inside the Woolworth’s. No more hamburgers, not since the last time we ate there. She said the chop meat went bad. It tasted fine to me. It tasted fine to me at first, and then all… Read more: Georgy Girl

Yes, I spend a lot of time with my drug dealer’s wife. But let me be very clear about one thing. We’re not friends. She thinks we are, and it gives me the creeps. “There’s my Mary. Mary had a little lamb.” Laureen gushes, when I finally get somebody to open the door and let… Read more: But What Can I Do? I Get Lonely, Too

Virginia lives up the street. She has a backyard and a pool. Lawn chairs that unfold so you can lay flat and go to sleep. We don’t have any of these things. We weren’t even supposed to be at this party, me and Judy. Mommy said no at first, even though Judy and Virginia are… Read more: Buoyancy

I smashed my thumb trying to open a bottle of wine with a hammer and a butter knife. Now, my finger hurts like crazy. I ran it under cold water, but the Motherfucker bled like a pig. Probably gonna lose the nail. Shit looks split right down the middle, which I wouldn’t even think is… Read more: Smashed!

He ran up from behind and threw a hug around her legs as she heated a pot of water for tea. I think that’s how it happened. Kirin arrives for his visit with gauze, ointment and medical tape to hold the dressing in place, detailed instructions. “Grandma says you’ll have to change my bandage.” They… Read more: A Shepherd’s Life Is Not An Easy One

I have a crush on J.P. Rogers. He lives around the corner in the light green house. He’s younger than me by two years and three months I know that seems like a lot, especially when you’re boyfriend and girlfriend. I get how people in love should be around the same age, but I really… Read more: Here I Am, Come and Take Me

Daddy found six orange life jackets in somebody’s garbage and brought them home. I helped him unload the car and marched across the kitchen wearing one. “Get that dirty shit off your back,” my mother said. “They’re good for the beach. Do you want I should drown?” “You can’t swim, numbnuts. Outside.” “They’re brand new,”… Read more: To All The Girls Who Cry

I’ve been back in the Bronx for less than two weeks, trapped with my parents in the house where I grew up. My mother and I both swore over heaps of dead bodies I’d never live here again. She’s meaner than ever since I returned. I have a new job lined up, but it doesn’t… Read more: The Love Below

Mommy makes me and Judy stay with the shopping cart when we’re at the A&P. We can’t go down the candy aisle by ourselves. That means I have to fish around the shelves for loose m&ms when she’s not looking. Once when I was on my hands and knees, I saw a mouse. We stared… Read more: To The Victor Go The Spoils

There’s a huge cardboard box filled with lightbubs in the basement of my parents’ house, gathering dust amidst all the other miscellaneous piles of crap. Shelves crammed with broken appliances and dirty stuffed animals. Beach chairs and suitcases, even though we never went anywhere together. My father’s cop equipment, his riot gear and helmet. Plus… Read more: Electric Warrior

As soon as we are finished here, I will want more. More than you can give me. You’ve made it very clear – I am not for you. “Look, we cant keep doing this. I’ve already got somebody.” You smile when you say it. “She’s nothing like you. Becky’s a good girl.” Yet when I… Read more: Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day

My mother has a bright pink coat with three matching buttons. She wears it on special occasions and to church in the spring, with a dress and low heels. God hasn’t said okay yet to pants on Sunday. I was sad when I noticed the cigarette burn on the cuff of one of the sleeves.… Read more: Fixing A Hole

Mom keeps a wicker basket filled with photographs in her bedroom. When she is on the phone and I’m bored, I spend hours rifling through each envelope filled with pictures. I investigate the past, studying the details of every situation and event. Multiple copies of the same exact picture with only the slightest variations. Countless… Read more: Which Echoes Belong

She cancels their Friday night visit. She has to stay late at her job. It’s not true, but that’s what she tells his dad. The tone of his voice suggests he doesn’t believe her. Still, she holds on tightly to the lie, offering up details about the imaginary project she’s responsible for. The pressure and… Read more: A Rich Source of Something

Yesterday, I fucked my back up somehow. I bet it happened when I was with that boy from Long Island – Glen. On the fire escape stairs after the parade. Or the other boy whose name I can’t remember, but I don’t think he ever told me. There’s three medium-sized horizontal knots kind of in… Read more: If I Should Fall From Grace With God

If I had wine glasses, maybe I wouldn’t drink as much. I used to have some but when they broke, I just never got around to replacing them. I’ve got some of those plastic, stackable cups. They’re nice and big, but wine glasses might help me measure better. I read somewhere you’re only supposed to… Read more: Sometimes, I Can’t Find My Good Habits

Her last boyfriend was her first boyfriend. This one is her second. She is sixteen years old. She and Bachelor #1 dated for five and a half whole months, so you could say she’s had a little experience with how being in a relationship works, although she never saw the break-up coming. She thought they… Read more: Gigantic