We knew it might come to this, the two of us in a dark alley facing off with two guys who have herded us here. “Freaking reaver lovers,” the one guy says to us. I’m calling him pimple face, because – pimples. “Do it,” Vielle says back to me. We’ve been best friends for our […]
I still believe in miracles, you said, your final words to me on my death bed. Now that I’ve joined the great cloud of witnesses, now that I’m watching you from heaven, I wish you will. You can’t have rainbows without rain, but storms pass. This too shall pass, my love. At the end of […]
It’s not easy being fabulous. Let me tell you something. Have you ever tried to walk – let alone dance like this – in six inch heels? I’ll tell you what. If you had to dance in heels, one minute for every time someone has dared to judge me, yeah – I’d like to see […]
I put my phone down slowly, at the same time you get home, just in time to watch me staring at the wall in shock and horror. “You called them, didn’t you?” You shake your head, close the door, set your keys down in the bowl on the counter and proceed to quickly put away […]
Where do ghosts come from? People living in war-torn lands, not quite fleeing from the senseless, aimless weapons fired by people who think of this like a video game, trying to capture strategic points, not even bothering to avoid the “soft targets,” the civilians, because there’s the terror that comes with seeing women and children […]
In the world I come from, we see and speak in colors. I was born as brilliant violet swirling with faintest hints of pink, with a breath of smoke that wafted and puffed between each word. Now that I’m older, I’ll settle for blues and grays. I lounge with you beneath starlit skies and dream […]
I was today year’s old when I found out that I was adopted as a child. It was a sealed adoption, but eventually my parents found out that – literally – no one knows where I came from. My mother (or father? or random stranger?) left me in a basket outside a church. It was […]
Among love letters found on a bulletin board, I find this one: Dear Lou, Remember when people said we were gay, and we used to pretend that we were? I wanted to marry you, as others did, a queer platonic partnership is the new-fangled term. But you said no, you couldn’t do that to me. […]
She accepts her new responsibility with more than a hint of hesitation. How many people has she seen elevated to this place? How many people has she helped to get here, only to be disappointed. But I can’t be, she explained to the nominating committee. I’m not eligible, and I don’t want it. The last […]
Standing on a bridge in Selma, Alabama, March 9th, 1965, this could go either way. There could be violence, persistence, playing out for the camera and the people gathered. At the head of the group, the leader, one charismatic preacher pauses. He doesn’t stop exactly, he pauses. This isn’t over. You feel it in the […]
Anne Higa 