Every Toy Was on the Floor I walked into the room and every toy was on the floor. Every single one. The bins were empty and tipped. There was no path to the window. I could have sighed. The sigh was right there, on the tip of my tongue, as some people…
Essays
We Sold the House to Move Into an Apartment
We Sold the House to Move Into an Apartment I wrote most of this in 2016, a few weeks after we moved in. I’ve left it in the present tense. In college, Cecil and I could not wait to get out of an apartment. That was the whole plan. You rent for…
Five Desks — On Writing, and the Places I Didn’t Have
Five Desks The first one It was in a bright room at the back of the house in Mexico, and it wobbled. A small wooden thing, leaning against my grandfather’s bed — the one he napped on in the afternoons. In the mornings the sun came through and lit the wall behind…
A Glimpse, a Flutter, a Blink
A Glimpse, a Flutter, a Blink She cut up her own fruit today. That’s the whole thing that happened. She got the fruit, she got a knife, and she cut it up herself — and she was proud, because she isn’t scared of the knife anymore. She looked bigger standing there. Not…
Cozy Puffin Burrows — On Mess, Order, and the Season I’m In
Cozy Puffin Burrows There is a structure in my living room made of every cushion we own, two blankets, and a dining chair that has been relocated for the purpose. I have been told it is a burrow. A cozy puffin burrow, specifically, which is a phrase I did not teach them….