'"What? Oh." A pause; Amira has never seen a river. "No--it's nothing like that when they fly above you. It's...a creaking, like a stove door with no squeak in it, as if the geese are machines dressed in flesh and feathers. It's a beautiful sound--beneath the honking it's a low drone, but if they're flying…
"The girls looked just like me: freckled, narrow faces, soil-dark hair, expressions prone to penetrating seriousness. Catch one of us in a pouting moment, and you'd be forgiven for summoning images of some sixteenth-century martyr on a hunger strike. As for the boys, they looked like Caleb: ruddy cheeks, big toothy smiles. When they were…
"What a lovely home I found myself plummeting toward, acquiring, as I fell, arms, hands, legs, feet, all of which, as usual, became more substantial with each passing second. Below: a fountain. At the center of the fountain: a gold-plated statue. Of a dog. (Someone must have really loved that dog.) In the mouth of…
"I like being older. I'd rather be me now, than me any age prior. But there is this heaviness to aging. Who I am was built on the shoulders of the person I was last year, and the year before, and before, and before. I'm not just thirty-three; I'm twenty-seven. I'm eighteen. I'm nine. I…
Wow, has the snow been falling, and falling with panache at that! This winter wonderland (or snowy wasteland, depending on who's asking) is definitely here to stay. It's only when I'm able to grab a sweet, warm treat for my troubles do I find the courage to step outside. Despite my aversion to the chill,…
"In August, when every self-respecting Roman left the city, he stayed behind and worked out the formulas for the dyes he will use for three thousand costumes, each one of them hand-tailored. Vats of onion skin and marigold, woad and madder. If Federico is the maestro, he is the magician, stirring his cauldron in the…
"Let's be serious, said Taku. Just for a second. You said she's getting older, right? Does she need help? Ha, said the son. Not from me. What makes you say that? Please. I've never met anyone more self-sufficient. Then it's obvious, said Taku. She must care for you." Bryan Washington, Palaver, pg. 17 By…
"The land in Alabama is made up of layers of soil tinted red and brown and black, enriched with clay, sand, iron, and the remains of whoever lived on and fought to stay on it at the time. A primary reason hazard-yellow and hell-red signs gleam from the creamy earth and from the peeling bases…
"No one will sing about me. What I make, fire will burn or time will wear away. When I’m gone, no praise or blame will attach to my story. To me, that’s peace. I’ve lived lightly on the earth." - Anna North, Bog Queen Bog Queen defies categorization, unless you were describing a book tailor-made…
'"I walked into that one, didn't I?" Matilda said regretfully to Luke, and then, like she'd only just taken proper notice of him, did a comical double take. "Well. Well. Did it hurt? When you fell out of whichever Norse myth you came from?" And with that, she was gone, trotting up the stairs and…
