Golden birds flying west over the river and trees needing to settle before the twilight hours blanket them in a chilly wind and stars.



I slip in and out of here and now like my fingers sliding delicately and sensually between yours.



Wisps of cool air with the scent of clean soap and lime lingers through the daily activities.



The water rolls on the shore caressing the sands like a lover's fingertips tracing imaginary pictures on your back.



And all of… Continue

Laura wonders if he insists on doing the laundry because he really likes it, like he says he does, or because he doesn’t want her to see how he dirties his clothes, or is it out of some type of obligation. When they go to bed together, he spoons her, she melts into him and he kisses her head, but just before she falls asleep, he slips out of the mold. Maybe she stays up just a little longer than she normally would just to see if he would quietly exit again. He answers the call of many… Continue

Check out the latest issue of Metazen. You might be surprised by who's on the cover. Or you might not be surprised and think, "ah, I knew bigger things were ahead." Either way, it's a great read. Do come one, come all, to the BIG EVENT!

http://www.metazen.ca/

He held my hands down deep in the mattress, pushing me from every angle, my knees with his knees, my chest with is chest. “Shut up slut, and just take it.” I wanted to yell “no,” but I just laid there trying not to cry out. Fear radiated through my body as he forced himself, thrusting pounding my soft skin into small bruises.

“Please…” I said through my tears of pain and fear. “…Please, don’t stop.”

Perusing the local newspapers from January 1926, the week my great-uncle died, took hours and several newspapers before I found the little inch by inch blurb in the midst of stories about Ponzi schemes, the great enemy: Native Americans, mothers poisoning and drowning their children, articles telling girls the importance of keeping their "virtue," and something about that great, up and coming 23 year-old writer Langston Hughes (thank God they didn't know he was gay)!



"An eight… Continue

“I had only been four days in Iraq” Jamie began, “when I was walking back to my barracks one night and was suddenly surprised by a group of guys surrounding me saying things like, ‘I’m getting’ a piece of that…we’re ALL getting a piece of that, aren’t we?’ I wanted to laugh it off and just keep walking because they had to just be messing around, and I kept thinking that until I was pinned on the ground as each man took his ugly turn while the rest were holding me down and egging him on until I… Continue

Every day when the Morrisons sat down to dinner, Mrs. Morrison would ask each child what they learned that day. What they learned could have been anything as long as it was authentic, it was an acceptable answer.



"So, Jenna," Mrs. Morrison started while passing the peas, "what did you learn today?



"I learned that if a boy likes you you, he pulls your hair or pushes you, isn't that stupid mommy?"



Mrs. Morrison smiled knowingly and then turned to Patrick, "and… Continue

"Your baby has jaundice and she's underweight, we need to pork her up," the doctor said at our first visit, "you will need to bring her in every week and make sure she gains at least an ounce a day."



"First of all," I said, "that's her color, and secondly, she is following the exact same weight pattern that I did."



Then my husband came into the room and she said, "Oh, maybe that is her color...but you still need to bring her in every week to get… Continue

It's little known on the outside that teachers don't often call each other by their first names --even off hours, so every afternoon Mr. Casey and I would stay a while after the students left and share poetry that we had written, or bring in movies for each other to watch, but sometimes we would just talk and share stories.



Once he told me, "I thought white people invented boxes and they were so important to them that I called them 'box people' when I was younger. On the reservation,… Continue

During our usual discussion about current events and politics as a part of curriculum, a Turkish student had expressed his distaste over the U.S. still continuing wars in two countries that we can never win. One of the Chinese graduate students then said, “Well, at least they are going after a known terrorist like Osama Bin Laden; my country won’t even go after the terrorist The Dalai, and they know where he is.” After I began breathing again, (And thank God there wasn’t any coffee in my mouth)… Continue