An Imperfect Union

Astra Taylor On The Inherent Conflict Between Capitalism And Democracy

I resist seeing Trump as just a fluke or an aberration, because it’s too flattering to ourselves. When people say, “Trump’s not us,” I think, Maybe we need to see how he is us, so we can prevent this from happening again.

Someone To Listen

The first time he calls the talk line, it’s because he wants to die. Whatever has happened in his brain has made him a stranger to himself.

What To Expect

Try to avoid symbolism and metaphors, and leave fate out of it, too. Fate was not preparing you for this loss when you were an eight-year-old farm girl and held that stillborn piglet for hours in the barn.

Gritty All Day Long

I thought tryouts went great. I played catcher, just catcher. You may ask, How solid was my receiving with that lingering double vision? Well, I’m happy to report that squatting behind the plate was a miracle cure.

Seven Days In A Sea-Creature Town

Decorah sat in the impact crater of an asteroid that had struck the earth hundreds of millions of years ago. One of the extinct giant sea creatures exhumed from its crust — the shrimp-looking Pentecopterus decorahensis — had been named after the town.

Selected Poems

— from “Things My Daughter Pretends” | that she has fairy wings    that she / is seventeen    that she can talk to dogs / in dog language

Kenny

after my mother’s funeral   standing in the receiving line just / below the altar rail shaking hands with people I hardly knew / when Kenny  a face I hadn’t seen in twenty years    appeared and / grabbed me and hugged me so damn hard the wind went out / of me

Pills

One pill / two pills / red pills / blue pills