2021 theme: RUPTURE

Page 121

EMBRACE EMBARRASSMENT Laureen Leiko Scheid First day of kindergarten. My beaming daughter ready for school ponytailed and backpacked crayolas and painter’s smock stainless reusable water bottle a radiant smile and all her baby teeth. A ive-year countdown to this moment. Pride swells as my independent baby girl prances through the brightly adorned hallway of bulletin boards welcoming rainbows sunlowers and apples upper and lower case letters framed in a manuscript road. Smiles and I love yous. Bittersweet emotion. Snapshots and family selies wishing to stretch time. Happiness gurgles to sour stew. Last night’s tortilla chips and abundant pico de gallo churn in my belly like a front load washer. There’s no escape, only unloading. My reprieve; a kindergarten restroom. Two tiny stalls with child-size commodes designed for mini people. 119


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

MEET THE WRITERS

11min
pages 181-190

ABOUT

1min
pages 179-180

Exhale

1min
pages 171-172

Ten Seconds to Rupture

6min
pages 165-168

The Walk

7min
pages 173-176

A Funeral Sestina

1min
pages 163-164

How to Solve a Rubik’s Cube

1min
pages 169-170

Fault Lines

5min
pages 160-162

Dinner Conversation

7min
pages 152-158

Manifest Palimpsest

0
page 159

By The Numbers

7min
pages 145-149

Miracle of Wood

0
pages 150-151

Child’s Moon

7min
pages 136-139

Three Days in Houston

5min
pages 142-144

Because of Mount St. Helens

1min
pages 132-135

Lark Ascending

7min
pages 127-131

Embrace Embarassment

1min
pages 121-126

Invisible Tigers

4min
pages 119-120

Octopus Heart

0
page 116

Beauty Shop

1min
pages 117-118

Fetal Position

6min
pages 112-115

Bullighter

7min
pages 107-110

Sound of Bees

4min
pages 97-99

Descend

1min
pages 100-101

The Journey of a Magnum Opus

2min
pages 94-95

Parosmia

1min
page 96

My Pronoun

0
page 88

Dear Marcie

7min
pages 89-93

First Frost

0
page 83

Seasons Change

7min
pages 84-87

ABCs for My 1, 2, 3

7min
pages 79-82

The Rapture and The Rupture

7min
pages 72-78

Breach

0
page 63

Compromise

7min
pages 57-60

A Man Named Joe

3min
pages 69-70

it is natural

0
page 71

Ruptured

7min
pages 64-68

No Ruptured Skull Today

3min
pages 61-62

My Mother’s Rolls

4min
pages 54-56

After the Sample

4min
pages 32-34

Shattering the Illusion of Control

7min
pages 45-52

Repairs Under Pressure

7min
pages 27-30

Rupture Stone

1min
pages 37-39

The Flood

3min
pages 35-36

Uninvited

7min
pages 40-44

My Brother

0
page 31

Introduction

5min
pages 19-26
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.