Death grabbed hold of my son’s body. Its power lingered over his head, attending without permission, bringing chaos, inspiring awe, and spreading a sense of anxiety and alarm. It demonstrated its inexorable strength as my four-year-old child made a temporary visit to the otherworld before Allah answered my invocations. That day began as a sunny, […]
I met my new roommate, John Clark Hoover, on the first day at college. He was spread out on a multicolored quilt reading Slaughterhouse Five, smoking a joint. He greeted me with a simple wave of his jointed hand without taking his eyes off the book’s page. He eventually offered me a toke, which I […]
For nearly forty years, the builder-grade split-levels had squatted side by side in a cul-de-sac south of Atlanta. Only skeletal remains of shrubs dotted the perimeter of the house on the right. Extravagant rosebushes adorned the house on the left, where Joan knelt with pruning shears, her cutting making a reassuring sssst-sssst sound as she […]
The day I move from Black Bottom to Dreher Park, I’ve got on my favorite shoes, green Converses with yellow laces. From the Dreher Park preps watching us move in, a few whispers and pointing at my shoes. At 12, I give a shit, but things are going to get a lot worse than a […]