Omelet & Her 77th Michelle McMillan-Holifield __________ Omelet We broke eggs sloppily over a Corelle cup,that little 1977goblet whose greensweren’t leavesbut a censusof mossy splotches, whose pattern of small yolk-yellow flowers was as familiar and delicious a memory as the zingof mustard greensin a grandmother’ssweltering kitchen—her love villagewhere she prayedfor her salvationwhere she prayedfor her babieswhere…
Read MoreWalking on the Levee on Our Way to Angel Mounds Mark Williams __________ We met on Sunday mornings with our dogs: beagles,retrievers, John Biacinni’s two German Shepherds,a collie, a pair of Great Danes, a pit-mix . . .An ecumenical gathering if ever there was. OnceI counted twenty-one people and twenty-six…
Read MoreFree Steven Ray Smith __________ You were a baby on the day I met you, and also not, because you had lived already, alone and for yourself already, somewhere invisible to me that I could never visit. But because you didn’t know how to hunt or to hide from those…
Read MoreLetter From the Guest Editor Abbie Skinner __________ What a strange and beautiful thing it is to share your life with an animal. Reading the submissions for this special edition, I was struck by this idea of intersections of life and how important those intersections can become in spite of…
Read MoreHow My Dog Smells Dean Flowerfeld __________ The world is a whorl of wonderful whiffsfor a doggie like me who lives by his sniffs and the wind is awash in a welter of wafts,such succulent scents on the breeze are aloft: the sweet and the sour, the savory and musty,the…
Read MoreRhumbline Lucinda Kempe __________ Comus was a black Labrador and came from a breeder on Long Island. Rhumbline Retrievers is run by Susan and her husband Joe. Rhumbline is a nautical term for a straight line between two points.1 Both Susan and her husband had worked in the merchant marine.…
Read MoreTake ’em Both John Janelle Backman __________ The only other customer in the pet shop sidled up to my right, like someone about to whisper a secret. I couldn’t turn my head toward him to get a good look. Short, that I could tell—at least a head shorter than me.…
Read MoreThe Cat Boy Jean-Marc Duplantier __________ When my sister-in-law Amy died, Pascal, her seven-year-old son, moved in with us, and he brought his cat Minou with him. On that first night, I watched from the door of the guest room as my wife Christina kissed Pascal, tucked him in, and…
Read MoreCat O’ Nine Tales Ann Howells __________ Cats domesticated themselves 9000 years ago. My neighbor’s cats are Powderpuff,Queen of Sheeba, & Sugar Dumpling.Their eyes glow like vitreous amber.They loudly order dinner, stayperpetually stoned on canned salmon. My cat, silent & soot-colored, explores unknown spaces, answers to no one. Green…
Read MoreRuthAnnI Tricia Knoll __________ Men in Louisiana grabbed me from the hoarder’s house with the two dead dogs. They called me Ruth Ann. In their shelter they cut open my belly and made fleas go away. Told me I was pretty, but time ran out, they’d have to kill me.…
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