essays
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trick mirror.
What he doesn’t seem to understand, as the streetlights blaze by us, fake stars hanging low, too low–what he doesn’t seem to see is the trap he’s laid for himself. He talks about plans for the future, jobs he might… Continue reading
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peacekeeper.
Koyalev Ilgazred squints at the half-polished guardsman’s badge in her hand, then dips a cloth in some alcohol and resumes scrubbing. She can’t see her reflection yet, so she – The badge disappears under her pillow as she hears the… Continue reading
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wrath, fear, and debt.
One of the regulars at the place tosses him a half-apple in exchange for a story, and the old man obliges. The apple is nice – he takes a thinking bite, considering her request. “I heard tell of a king,… Continue reading
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the featherless indian.
My first Lumbee-adjacent assignment during my early days at my current gig — staff writer at Tribal Business News — turns out to be an entrepreneur profile on Moore Brothers’ Beef, a North-Carolina-based cattle outfit built on the remains of… Continue reading
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on what it costs.
Every so often I go back and check on her — to find out whether anything new has come up. She’s a bright smile in one photograph, a playful sneer in another. Her friends miss her, they tell me. They… Continue reading
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angry.
I have one summer memory I always come back to, whenever June rolls in. It was 2007. (God, that was 16 years ago.) I went with some friends down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. It was a pretty impromptu… Continue reading
The Chez Dispenser 