Month: April 2009

First Haircut She wants to grow it long, and she wants to go to the barber. She wants curls floating down her back, and she wants the barber’s hands on her skull, tilting her head now this way, now that. She wants it both ways. She wants her locks for herself and she wants to … Continue reading First Haircut

Her first memory is of a dark, slow journey. Many years went by before she realized that what she was remembering was birth, her own, into this world. The memory came to her first as sensation. Often, in the borderland of sleep and waking, she would feel herself traveling through a tunnel. Slow and soft, … Continue reading Why She Looks Deep into the Eyes of a Newborn

Photo copyright 2009 BD Zellar, all rights reserved. Continue reading Promise

Look at that thing. It’s a tree pod of some kind. I should know what it is, but I don’t. I should know the name of the tree it fell from, but I don’t. This being the 21st century, I tried to look it up and find out exactly what it is – this long, … Continue reading The Burning

She was fifty-five when you were born. Hers is the first face you conjure at dawn when you bow your head to your clasped hands. Hers is the scent that you tracked through a Hallmark card store until you found the old lady wearing it, bent over the Get Well cards, who looked up when … Continue reading And She Drove Like a Bat Out of Hell, Too

Someone who knows you well gave you a charm bracelet for Christmas. Charm bracelets are hard to find. They stay in families; they’re passed down from mother to daughter to granddaughter. They disappear quickly from eBay and estate sales. You never see them at garage sales. You see your grandmother’s old charm bracelet around your … Continue reading Lucky Charms

Welcome, welcome. Please come in. Yes, have a seat. May I offer you a beverage? We can take your coat for you, or you can drape it across the back of your chair. We’re sorry it’s only a folding chair, but we hope you’ll find it comfortable nonetheless. It’s a crowded room and you have … Continue reading The No Apologies Talent Show