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Calling a live sex line, making her first time be fireworks, loving yourself
By Our ReadersJuly 1990They lived too close for harsh words. It was as if at any given minute a sharp word or careless thought could push them over some terrible edge, tearing them apart.
By Carrie KnowlesMarch 1990The next day was Sunday, and after church Peggy was born time after time. “Being born” meant sliding down the trough into the pillow. Magda knew that babies were born with diapers on, so that was how Peggy was dressed.
By Raymond JohnsonMarch 1989Yeah, someting unusual hoppened. I had a baby. My first born. An’ I killed it. Now you say you gonna charge me wid a crime. But you see, that baby wasna good ting. It was evil. So you see, I had no choice. It was just the next ting tu do.
By Polly Nicole PassonneauJanuary 1989Opening my legs for her wasn’t easy. / She was hunched and burnt-looking. / Her whole face puckered toward her mouth. / She spoke with words like “dirty shame” / while she gave her absolution — / a small, white cloth inserted / into my womb.
By Cedar KoonsJune 1988All month I thought of your body, / soft with its delicious baby flesh / and fragile with its hidden bulbs and bones, // and knew you would be torn. / I pulled your small shoulders / closer as the days passed, / and some nights felt the tumor / rise beneath my palm like a burl / in a redwood forest, / worrywart, skullcap / under the duff of your skin.
—from “The Operation”
By John AddiegoJune 1988An old man and a butterfly, a beloved friend’s housewarming, a hysterectomy
By Our ReadersJanuary 1988Popcorn strategy, domestic violence, the importance of being cute
By Our ReadersNovember 1987Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby. To suffer is not enough. We also need to be in touch with the wonders of life. They are within us and all around us, everywhere, any time. Does it require a special effort to enjoy the blue sky? Do we have to practice to be able to enjoy it? No, we just enjoy it. We don’t need to travel to China in order to enjoy the sky.
By Thich Nhat HanhNovember 1986Amniocentesis, the royal chamber, the head of Horace Greeley
By Our ReadersJanuary 1986Personal, political, provocative writing delivered to your doorstep every month—without a single ad.
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