by Amy Barnes I held her in my hand, a childhood Stuckey’s souvenir that began life nestled next to tooth-destroying sweet divinity and pecan logs and shot glasses with state names on them. Each thing chosen to be found during a spontaneous safari hunt through sweets and cheap trinkets. She was sculpted to attract kids stopping for a clean cross Read More
Tag: child
Susceptible
by Kristin Garth The doctor tells you when she’s five, first bout pneumonia, barely survived, that she is susceptible — protectable without exposure to much humanity. Kids are carriers, fatalities to be avoided to stay alive. Acres, pines, moths, servants, swans, beehives, she thrives, thin trees, cerebral climbs 60 feet to sunshine illuminating friends, odd names revealed when she, pretend, Read More
Potential
by JD DeHart You saw a promise in me blooming. What was I to others? A dingy doorknob, too rusted to turn, a child of dirt and swear words. A twisted creature full of uncertain history, crying out from the side of the tracks no one wanted to see. No, I was a child of the mountains, birthed from natural Read More