His daughter, Penny, perches on the piano stool, delivering an exegesis on being dissociative as the father sits calmly on the cat-clawed leather chair, gob-smacked. Fortunately, this ramble only comes occasionally, but when she starts, he sinks into the worn black leather until he is one with the fabric. Penny has been erratic since the summer before college. This included arguments that ended with the … Continue reading A Morning by Mike Lee
“We’ll fall into a chaos.” Renee’s tone is mundane, like ordering breakfast at a diner. I should not have gotten drunk with her, knowing the psychotropic medications she is prescribed and how ineffective they become under the influence, and how fucking crazy she gets. Yet she was buying, and I am cheap. The fields of regret expanded as the effects of the scotches I drank … Continue reading Theater by Mike Lee
I felt powerless…and chickened out at what was supposed to be my defining moment. Instead, I was a coward who backed away five minutes into grasping destiny with a finger on the trigger. Methodically, I stripped the rifle with disgust, placing the parts neatly into the gym bag. I slung it over my shoulder and crossed the abandoned warehouse floor, taking the stairs in lieu … Continue reading A Sudden Change of Plans by Mike Lee
At 10:30, the receptionist at the front desk gave off the look of a mortician, heightened by her jet-black hair with the white streak in the bangs that evoked a mid-90s memory of one of the band members in Luscious Jackson. As well as what I realized decades ago: punk is not a uniform. Instead, it was a way of thinking—an attitude. The latter came … Continue reading The Princess of Morticians by Mike Lee
While trying to go to sleep, her mind howled like night-wolves in the mountains above a Balkan city. They howled because of that tale about the former girlfriend who was a practicing witch. This was not what she had wanted to hear earlier that evening. Listening to stories about current partners’ exes was always awkward; a relationship starts at day zero. It is uncomfortable to … Continue reading Greater, Sooner Tohubohu by Mike Lee
