When We Were Small

Once a neighbor teen strung me up, noosed rope from a tire swing around my shoulder and tightened, me a small fry girl a human tire swing.

To Pieces

When the man who is large takes your hand you must go, your mother at your back like a shovel. Scuffing your shoes, you gain balance and enter The Mouth, as you consider it…

Pigsglue

Maddy Procter stood in the boys’ bathroom. Nobody pulled their pants down.

Oranges

He had a chance to open the cellar when his grandmam wasn’t watching.

HEX, OCTOBER 1956

The industrial grandeur and glare of Fernald erased even the stars so that approaching the plant for third shift was like driving from a tunnel into the government’s continuous daytime.