Author: Hayley Stoddard
-
Nickel, Unformed
A blue square, a house to live in against a yellow smear of sun how ugly it all seems to me now this safety, the facade of big hands tongues thickly budded with cysts full of lost ambition, a frozen lens of reason, bulky and transparent in their loving if unmerciful gods. No, I will…
-
Ruined Pears
“and then be reckless, be reckless, and resolved in returning gratitude.” Gertrude Stein There is a cool cup in my hand held out to you a patent of pears and of ripe, green forgiveness which I must only hope you will drink down, a down comforter for all the sleep that I have cost…
-
Sugar Rations
Why would you ration out your love as though it were rare packets of sugar in wartime, brown paper squares wrapped in string, passing hands with paucity and a whisper or glance, stored safely in a cellar by a large brass key, rather than a fresh stream cascading down the mountainside in little pools and…