Funeral for a Dog
My bag in the back of the truck, the Antarctica bottles open, and we're off. David at the wheel of the red pickup, Felix in an open shirt and… More
Boo to a Goose
I saw that phrase again: “He wouldn’t say boo to a goose.” It gets to me every time when I read it in some book, and thank God I… More
Left Behind
“Everybody lock up!” The guard barked over the intercom. “Get in your cells, now!” “Oh God, what now?” one of the girls asked, picking up her plastic bowl and gathering… More
The Pursuit of Character
Prologue If looking to the future can cause trepidation, what is this uneasiness I feel in looking back? Memory has a way of playing tricks on the mind, weaving minor… More
Irrawaddy Flowing on the Road
Irrawaddy Flowing on the RoadI won't cry, Mother.On the nightsI closed all the doorsTurned off all the lightsAnd slept quietlyI sighed asking myselfWhat mistakes had I made.The first dayNext… More
Holding Company
Towers I could give your palace more glass shine,facing eastward every year without knowing.And no, it’s not convincing waking in fog and rain,steel and stone soaring above the living. After… More
Deborah Amos: Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East
It was easy to believe, as we watched U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama stride across the stage at Cairo University on June 4, 2009 that a new era was… More
Orange is the New Black
Chapter OneAre You Gonna Go My Way?International baggage claim in the Brussels airport was large and airy, with multiple carousels circling endlessly. I scurried from one to another, desperately… More