For the millionth time that year, me and Paintbrush Martinez missed the bus to Ronald
Reagan Middle School. We were later than usual, which forced us to cut across Wyoming …

Only men sit at the fountain, eyeing my sister's legs & my exposed neck from across the
square. Women on the doorstep of the ferretería ask for money, spit gringas at our backs …

But those were the years when Keg would have rather punched a hole through the top of a
hat than been rude enough to wear one inside, so that tan fedora with the navy stripe above …

Once when I sat by the tracks on lunch break the Empire Builder, running late, kicked up
some shred of a green bottle broken over its rails like a christened ship. The glass barely …

miles from its source. We force our legs forward, the marijuana suddenly making us beyond
silly, giving us the ability to hear voices, then lose the ability to speak.“Don't freak,”I whisper …

After the investigation, after Kaia was cleared of any wrongdoing, after she had learned that
the man's name was John, not George, she packed her things in the middle of the night and …

On a tranquil afternoon when I sat reading Ada Limón's moving new collection The Carrying,
news alerts of a shooting in Jacksonville, Florida, disrupted the quiet. It represented an all …

My brother Aaron returned home from his final stay with our grandparents in San Antonio
only long enough to help my dad tear down the wooden play structure in our backyard. We …

and now I must think I'm really something to sigh after your long day on the bus or Saturday
bright as a J. Crew coat stunning in a parade. Thankless in the market. Look at me. Who …

It'sa warm, sunny day in San Pedro. I borrow Mark's car and drive down the coast for the
afternoon. I book an appointment at Irvine University archives where I'll shiver at a long …