A story about solitude, strength, and a sheepdog — Unraveling over the past year, caught between dread and joy in a world careening, I decide to choose my own isolation and give the mountains a try. I wake up in a studio apartment above a white garage. Ambling farmland stretches endlessly in one direction and in the other the…

Nighttime is a kaleidoscope, catching and throwing flashes of movement, of smiles over coins changing hands, of iridescent lilac-gold. The heat is a live thing emboldened by the hour and spiced air presses heavy against skin and hair and clothes. The market tears apart the night in radiance. Silk scarves…

I had fallen into a deep sleep the night I met her. She sat at a high-top table, swinging her legs while staring at a laptop screen. I moved forward hesitantly and she looked up and smiled. I had never seen her before, but a rushing sense of familiarity overtook…

Memories of childhood and the golden August sun — There is no specific date signifying late summer’s arrival; the shift is just a feeling. I think Midwesterners like myself have a natural talent for picking up on those slight, nearly imperceptible changes in the weather. We know a storm is coming or snow is on the way by the…

Lit Up Summer Holiday Prompt — Fingers of light stretch from a horizon line bathed in soft pink and orange, little tendrils of golden sun reaching to find their way into the room and across crumpled sheets, spilling sweetly onto his cheeks and eyelashes. …

We’re sitting on the floor in a rented house somewhere north, near a half-frozen lake, blankets thrown over our shoulders and hot mugs of tea steaming between our hands. The paneling in the room is white. Through fogged-up windows I can see a light snow falling, covering the trees and…

I come from a line of women made of half love and half steel, though at first glance you wouldn’t know the steel is there. We’re trick mirrors, the women in this family. You don’t know what you’re seeing. My mother, sister, and I were made to recognize this piece…

Reentering love in multitudes — When I first found myself in the same room as him it was January of 2020 and we were at a mutual friend’s wedding. My world was unfolding again after a breakup, all big and bright and beautiful after freeing myself from the squeezing hurt of being treated badly in…