Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons As principal of St. Lawrence Elementary, Sister Claudia prided herself on keeping a tight ship. No more than five feet tall even in her thick-soled black shoes and towering nun’s coif, she stalked the hallways and airwaves of the school like a peevish penguin—her tight face framed by starched white wimples, her speech punctuated by spitted plosives and fricatives—and no one, no student or staff member, challenged her authority. When she appeared, often...

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons The bulbous brown and yellow forms resembled animals, swimming in a sea of spun sapphire. I should have waited to take the pill. It always made me see things, or at least see things differently. The woman wearing the low-cut linen dress, sitting at the table across from mine, smiled at me as though I was a beau-monde chronicler. Négatif! I wanted to shout. I also wanted to tell her that her hair was on fire, but again, I suspected I was seeing things. ...

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons FIRE HYDRANT If not now, when? The air around him heaves. I feel the tug. I could tooth his shins, work them good. I could eat his face. It would taste queer. His smile reminds me why I am resistant to his whims. His smile disarms me. But he is not happy. I am happy at times. I can chase the red ball. I can chase the red ball. I can chase the red ball. I return it to the smile. Here is my culture, smiling man. Something he cannot understand. He wears...