{"id":19410,"date":"2025-04-30T20:32:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T01:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/?p=19410"},"modified":"2025-05-03T02:29:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T07:29:52","slug":"nike-of-the-salish-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/04\/30\/nike-of-the-salish-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike of the Salish Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Nike of the Salish Sea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-social-links is-content-justification-right is-layout-flex wp-container-core-social-links-is-layout-765c4724 wp-block-social-links-is-layout-flex\"><li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-facebook  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=61556140010887\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12 2C6.5 2 2 6.5 2 12c0 5 3.7 9.1 8.4 9.9v-7H7.9V12h2.5V9.8c0-2.5 1.5-3.9 3.8-3.9 1.1 0 2.2.2 2.2.2v2.5h-1.3c-1.2 0-1.6.8-1.6 1.6V12h2.8l-.4 2.9h-2.3v7C18.3 21.1 22 17 22 12c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n<li class=\"wp-social-link wp-social-link-instagram  wp-block-social-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/boudin_mcneese\/\" class=\"wp-block-social-link-anchor\"><svg width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\"><path d=\"M12,4.622c2.403,0,2.688,0.009,3.637,0.052c0.877,0.04,1.354,0.187,1.671,0.31c0.42,0.163,0.72,0.358,1.035,0.673 c0.315,0.315,0.51,0.615,0.673,1.035c0.123,0.317,0.27,0.794,0.31,1.671c0.043,0.949,0.052,1.234,0.052,3.637 s-0.009,2.688-0.052,3.637c-0.04,0.877-0.187,1.354-0.31,1.671c-0.163,0.42-0.358,0.72-0.673,1.035 c-0.315,0.315-0.615,0.51-1.035,0.673c-0.317,0.123-0.794,0.27-1.671,0.31c-0.949,0.043-1.233,0.052-3.637,0.052 s-2.688-0.009-3.637-0.052c-0.877-0.04-1.354-0.187-1.671-0.31c-0.42-0.163-0.72-0.358-1.035-0.673 c-0.315-0.315-0.51-0.615-0.673-1.035c-0.123-0.317-0.27-0.794-0.31-1.671C4.631,14.688,4.622,14.403,4.622,12 s0.009-2.688,0.052-3.637c0.04-0.877,0.187-1.354,0.31-1.671c0.163-0.42,0.358-0.72,0.673-1.035 c0.315-0.315,0.615-0.51,1.035-0.673c0.317-0.123,0.794-0.27,1.671-0.31C9.312,4.631,9.597,4.622,12,4.622 M12,3 C9.556,3,9.249,3.01,8.289,3.054C7.331,3.098,6.677,3.25,6.105,3.472C5.513,3.702,5.011,4.01,4.511,4.511 c-0.5,0.5-0.808,1.002-1.038,1.594C3.25,6.677,3.098,7.331,3.054,8.289C3.01,9.249,3,9.556,3,12c0,2.444,0.01,2.751,0.054,3.711 c0.044,0.958,0.196,1.612,0.418,2.185c0.23,0.592,0.538,1.094,1.038,1.594c0.5,0.5,1.002,0.808,1.594,1.038 c0.572,0.222,1.227,0.375,2.185,0.418C9.249,20.99,9.556,21,12,21s2.751-0.01,3.711-0.054c0.958-0.044,1.612-0.196,2.185-0.418 c0.592-0.23,1.094-0.538,1.594-1.038c0.5-0.5,0.808-1.002,1.038-1.594c0.222-0.572,0.375-1.227,0.418-2.185 C20.99,14.751,21,14.444,21,12s-0.01-2.751-0.054-3.711c-0.044-0.958-0.196-1.612-0.418-2.185c-0.23-0.592-0.538-1.094-1.038-1.594 c-0.5-0.5-1.002-0.808-1.594-1.038c-0.572-0.222-1.227-0.375-2.185-0.418C14.751,3.01,14.444,3,12,3L12,3z M12,7.378 c-2.552,0-4.622,2.069-4.622,4.622S9.448,16.622,12,16.622s4.622-2.069,4.622-4.622S14.552,7.378,12,7.378z M12,15 c-1.657,0-3-1.343-3-3s1.343-3,3-3s3,1.343,3,3S13.657,15,12,15z M16.804,6.116c-0.596,0-1.08,0.484-1.08,1.08 s0.484,1.08,1.08,1.08c0.596,0,1.08-0.484,1.08-1.08S17.401,6.116,16.804,6.116z\"><\/path><\/svg><span class=\"wp-block-social-link-label screen-reader-text\">Instagram<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Eros Salvatore<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><br>Kay had the look of a faerie princess found under a mushroom in the forest\u2014a seemingly innocent, adorable young woman searching for love as she metamorphosed into adulthood. But like the famous Nike of Samothrace, Kay had lost her wings and could no longer fly. Instead, she spent her days wandering the cedar forests by the Salish Sea, letting the mist and drizzle cleanse her soul. What from? I cannot yet tell, for she would be mad at me if I revealed her inner turmoil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">But then again, Kay had her own mythology that you should know. She dreamed of a man who would rescue her. A man her mother would not approve of. A man whose profession was love, yet was afraid of loving her. A faerie tale made true by grace and circumstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I had always dreamt of such a girl, an antidote to my shame and low self-esteem. Someone I could fix, as much as they fixed me. A Manic Panic Dream Girl whose shared sorrow would make me whole. Would she love me? I didn\u2019t know. But I couldn\u2019t stand to be alone. Besides, her family was just like mine: a pantheon of gods less than divine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I met Kay in the cold, dark world of Poetry Madness\u2014a world we entered with fear and wonder. An empire of words we hoped would redeem us for the sins we had yet to commit. Our group found sanctuary in a former church\u2014its sermons long since passed away, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Like Ring-Around-The-Rosie, they all fell down\u2014parishioners in pews given way to slackers on sofas. In a later incarnation, it had become a center for martial arts: The School of elf Defense\u2014the \u201cS\u201d long since knocked off or stolen. Accordingly, impish anarchists had transformed it into a dilapidated library and underground music venue that struggled to right itself through hard work, community building and nocturnal emissions\u2014the echoes of loneliness, friendship and heavy petting sweating it out on hot summer nights underneath the crooning of our city\u2019s miscreant musicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A flamboyant man in hot pants and halter tops ran the group\u2014a hodgepodge of broken hearts and wandering minstrels pining for forgotten dreams. Trading the rationale for the absurd, our poems delved into topics ranging from lost causes to sordid sexuality. I, with my poetic novel-film-play <em>Gods, Girls and Monsters<\/em>. They, with their personal reminiscences filled with pantomime and rage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Each week my faerie princess and I eloped for brief specks of time, when we would whisper half-truths to each other amid the dust motes and sleepy books. I wondered about her sanity as I watched her eyes dart back and forth while we conversed\u2014was she crazy or was she just trying to hide her thoughts from me? I espoused my literary creations; she espoused her adoration. From meekness, I grew brave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHow old are you?\u201d I asked her one day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cEighteen,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOh, my god,\u201d I said. \u201cI thought you were twenty-one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYeeeeeah,\u201d she acknowledged in a long, drawn-out voice\u2014her eyes wide with the awareness of the attraction between us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Yet, I was still naive: our positions reversed from normalcy\u2014me a nervous schoolboy, and her, a seductive Eve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">May passed with flirtations I could scarce believe. She really wanted me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">June brought the Naked Bike Ride\u2014the seditious young peoples\u2019 annual anti-establishment extravaganza and parade. I skipped the main event, but as I was walking by the after-party, a topless Kay leapt up to greet me. We embraced. Heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I joined the festivities and watched Kay with fascination as she raced back and forth between conversing with her friends and clinging on to me. Her joy was my joy. I needed nothing else, the moment was complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then she was gone, disappeared without a trace. I grew desperate. I hadn\u2019t gotten her number. She stopped going to Poetry Madness. I walked the streets hoping to run into her. I searched social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A month went by, and then, on the corner of Forest and Holly (where else would faeries dwell?), as I crossed the street, our eyes met. Me in a city wood of paving stones and thoroughfares; her seated at a sidewalk table outside an organic bakery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She jumped up and ran towards me\u2014flinging her loving arms around my body as I lifted her off her feet. For a brief moment, I could feel her heart next to mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I set her down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAre you single?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYes,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDo you believe in what\u2019s meant to be?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWill you accompany me to the theater tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cPredestined destiny!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay laughed, and off we went to our city-state\u2019s lovely Greek theater with its park-like setting and stone-cut seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Under a twilight sky, Homer preached The Iliad. Stage props: table, treasure chest and a fresh breeze. Backdrop: jib and genoa flying free. The story: Briseis had been enslaved by Achilles, who had won her as a war prize. Stolen by Agamemnon, she prayed for her release and was eventually returned to the mortal god of the Greeks. But soon Achilles died, and Briseis was traded off again to that comrade-in-arms called Fate. She ended up so traumatized it took over a thousand years and a teacher as great as Ovid before she relearned how to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Curtain drawn. Quick applause. Back to my place.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Play with kitty. Safe space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We listened to a talk about enlightenment\u2014Kay, full of love and excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Outside the sky grew dark, and in a tender moment I watched her half-asleep\u2014serenaded by Rumi, a guitar and peace. Her eyes opened, and she gazed up at me\u2014a smile upon her face. She didn\u2019t see me as a creep! Spiritual release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat do you think?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI dissolved into nothingness!\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My infatuation was complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Next Poetry Madness featured poets on the stage, or as some would say: egos on parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">My muse engaged me during intermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI want to explore my sexuality,\u201d she breathed, before vanishing into the night\u2014leaving me with tendrils of half-imagined ecstasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A week passed by while Kay went to The Oregon Country Fair. The same place I had pilgrimaged to in past years. She came back eager for a date. I suggested Pixie Falls. I\u2019d never been, but she agreed. It was urgent. We couldn\u2019t wait to meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I drove my station wagon, Kay used her feet. I found her sitting on a blanket beneath a tree. She ran to me at first sight, jumped into my arms and wrapped her legs about my waist. I spun her around with glee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She reminded me of another faerie girl I had known long ago when I was a college freshman in a redwood kingdom by the sea. A watercolor of a girl full of pastel blues and illicit kisses who lasted less than a semester before she left to study painting in Provence. She never came back, more in love with Van Gogh\u2019s ghost than me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Those mournful memories brought a line from an ancient Buddhist poem to mind: \u2018<em>A single night of love is worth a thousand years of meditation.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Intentions set, I planned a metaphysical delight\u2014starting with the mystery of tantric life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We began by repeating a series of mantras until we each found the one that felt right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u2018You\u2019re so safe with me,\u2019 she selected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re so safe with me,\u201d I whispered over and over into her ears like a prayer to the gods, as I caressed as much of her body as I dared to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When I finished, she started reciting the mantras, and I started laughing. I had waited all my life for this. I chose \u2018You\u2019re so sexy to me,\u2019 which she chanted like a genie to her master. I\u2019d never been idolized like that before. I felt beautiful for the first time\u2014like a frog prince. A lifetime of ugliness removed before we even kissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In gratitude, I offered her a massage. She acquiesced and melted under the pressure\u2014floating between the here, the now and the pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then it was her turn to play masseuse. She sat on my back and bled all over my shirt\u2014the mauve cotton-linen blend of perpetual coolness ruined. A bad sign. She\u2019s marked me as her property despite her embarrassed apology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI don\u2019t know what happened,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not leaking anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a><\/a>A supernatural menstruation that defies the laws of physics. What can one do? Off we went to Pixie Falls\u2014bloodied shirt and all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The falls were a hidden gem\u2014not marked on any map and sans trail. Kay led me through the forest to a narrow ravine that housed a creek. We climbed down its sandy walls\u2014dust crumbling beneath our feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The cascades dropped fifteen feet from top ledge to pool. The latter home to a raucous party of Dionysus and his retinue. The top home to Kay and me. We leaned against the trunk of an uprooted tree resting firmly in the stream. Kay pressed her cheek against my chest and tilted her face up ever so slightly to invite a kiss. We touched lips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Her mouth, ears and neck were my delight. I held her close as Dionysus entertained his nymphs nearby. But all I noticed in the ethereal commotion was that Kay\u2019s love was mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When the sun gave up playing hide and seek with the trees, we left our sacred space. On the way back to my carriage-car, we held hands and I entered the sublime\u2014Kay\u2019s admiration filling me with the euphoria of an opium-infused <em>Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">At my kingdom\u2019s palatial apartment, I made her coconut-milk couscous and broccoli covered in vegan faerie dust\u2014a dinner made for saints. She said she wasn\u2019t hungry, but when she tried my masterpiece her eyes lit up, and I thanked God for grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In between our intimate carousing, Kay made plans to spend the night, and I made plans for future dates. Then her phone chimed. Kay grew frightened as she read the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt\u2019s my mom,\u201d she said. \u201cI have to go home. She\u2019s coming to pick me up.\u201d The first foreboding that love would force the Fates. She was going back to mother\u2019s place\u2014her real home, I realized too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">At the door to my apartment building, I made Rapunzel go out to mother\u2019s car alone. Her mom scared me as much as my own. The first time I brought a girlfriend over, my mother called her a slut. She was a virgin. I never introduced Medusa to a girlfriend again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Two days later we were back in faerie land. I brought figs, goat cheese and grapes. Mother Earth brought us escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I found Kay sitting on the grass concatenating daisies into pixie crowns and bracelets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOh my god!\u201d I repeated over and over in astonishment as I laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat?\u201d she kept imploring me, with an embarrassed smile upon her face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m dating someone who passes time by making daisy chains,\u201d I answered before we kissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I had gone to Poetry Madness with the timid hope that someone would love me for who I was, and I found her. She had gone to Poetry Madness to attract love, and I appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI found you!\u201d I would say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou appeared!\u201d she would reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">And we would laugh like children during wartime\u2014unaware of darker days to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay took my hand and led me to a hidden hideaway\u2014a bed-sized flat rock covered by a blanket of moss and seemingly floating atop the water in the middle of a creek. It was perfect for our pleasure. Steep banks to keep it private. Ferns and cedars to keep us safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eventually, the weather waned, and our bodies began to cool as the sun bid farewell. Kay stood up and clambered through the water, iPhone in hand\u2014an unfortunate mistake. Phone fell deep and faerie princess panicked, quaking on her feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I searched the waters, staining my clothes with mud instead of blood.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHow will I contact my friends without a phone?\u201d she blurted out, frozen with fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou can have my old iPhone if I can\u2019t find yours,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay was shocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI can\u2019t believe someone would love me that much,\u201d she said, with such astonishment that I felt uneasy. Had no one ever helped her out before?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Earlier I told her I could handle anything she did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe\u2019ll see how you handle it when I have a panic attack,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I thought I did pretty well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eventually, I found the phone\u2014still working and unaffected by the tumbling creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Back home a recliner replaced the rocks, and our ecstasy became an altar. Afterward, I stroked her belly with my fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou touch me like no one ever has,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy don\u2019t other guys do these things?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cBecause they\u2019re self-centered,\u201d I replied. \u201cThey haven\u2019t slowed down enough to listen to what their partner wants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Feeling safe, Kay inched closer to tell me about her family. Her mother was an evangelical Christian who tried to control every aspect of her daughter\u2019s life\u2014a born-again Demeter obsessed with her own personalized Persephone. She had looked me up on social media and pinned me down as Hades, ruler of the Underworld, here to take her only child away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHe looks like he takes advantage of naive girls like you,\u201d her mother said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay never told her we were dating. She wasn\u2019t even supposed to be having sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay hates her dad. He gets angry, she gets small. Becomes invisible. Knows not to speak. Home was a temple for the tumultuous. But now Zeus is gone from the Pantheon. Kicked out for infidelity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The guys she\u2019s been with are hardly better. Her first love ghosted her. Her second one was worse. He already had a girlfriend, but she was desperate for his attention. He used her. Wouldn\u2019t even introduce her to his friends. One night she stole her mother\u2019s car to go see him. What he did to her, Kay does not want me to tell. That\u2019s when she took to wandering the woods, hoping the spirits of the forest would take away the pain. And they did, on a misty November day. Whispering the words she wished her mom and dad would say: \u201cWe\u2019ll always love you no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Her third love found her at a cafe last winter and seduced her with music, weed and roses. He even introduced her to his friends. She was elated! They began to date. Her perfect Valentine! But then, he told her he wanted someone else\u2014a polyamorous relationship was all he promised now. She stuck around regardless\u2014too afraid to lose the love she never had from him. Eventually, he dumped her. I had met her in May, just after they had broken up. Even so, she still dreamed of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI would follow him to the ends of the Earth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHe won\u2019t be there for you when you need him,\u201d I warned her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI love him more than I love you!\u201d she yelled back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I had made a mistake\u2014encroaching on what little hope she had left that he would take her back. More importantly, I had been unable to accept that I came in second place. So I shut my mouth, the odd one out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Talk of former beaus behind us, we went out to dance. It was the night I had been waiting for. I was taking my own faerie princess to the ball! But it was all for nothing\u2014like the Velveteen Rabbit left at a burn pile while the boy he loved went to the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Couples twirled this way and that. Kay danced with whomever she wanted\u2014seeking to spite me for my transgressions. With every step and twist, she ground me into the floor. Soon I could barely walk. I was dating a toxic buttercup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Afterward, we went back to my house and retired to bed\u2014our bodies barely touching. Like an innocent child, I was being punished for my sins. What was she thinking? She wouldn\u2019t tell. As she had said before: \u2018Personal growth\u2019s too much for me.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Sleep softened Kay, and in the morning she fawned over me, grooming me like mother to child. My faith renewed, I returned the favor\u2014moisturizing her skin with cocoa butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThat feels so good,\u201d she said, with a sigh. \u201cNobody\u2019s ever done that for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I told her she had a famous Helen\u2019s body. Not the one whose face launched a thousand ships, but a silent picture princess from French Indochina, a character from the semi-autobiographical novel <em>The Lover<\/em>\u2014a book so cherished by both of us, that even the heat and humidity of Saigon\u2019s suffering couldn\u2019t dampen the spark of its forbidden love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She swooned at my proclamation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cHas anyone ever taken nude photos of you?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cNo,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDo you want to start now?\u201d With a smile, she acquiesced, and posed on my bed like Marilyn Monroe in a Playboy centerfold. I, the artist, she, the muse. I daydreamed of famous nudes while she lay at an angle or on her side covering what\u2019s meant to be: sometimes her breasts, sometimes everything, sometimes leaving all for all to see. She blossomed like the Venetian courtesan in Titian\u2019s <em>Venus of Urbino<\/em>, and for a short while all was perfect in the sultry summer\u2019s heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then it was over, and my Galatea\u2019s heart turned to stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI danced with other guys last night just to make you jealous,\u201d she said, in the early afternoon while we lounged in bed. \u201cI wanted to rub your face in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I didn\u2019t know how to respond. My anger stifled, my trust all gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then she panicked and breathed the words I wished I had never heard: \u201cI feel trapped!\u201d before getting up to leave and running down the stairs to get away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She called me that evening to apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m sorry I ran away this afternoon,\u201d she said. \u201cI just feel uncomfortable around you and I don\u2019t know why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I thought back to our conversation about her exes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMaybe you\u2019re used to being treated badly,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Maybe I was used to it as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe both want what we can\u2019t have,\u201d I said. \u201cI want your love, while you want your ex-boyfriend.\u201d&nbsp; I heard her thinking in the background, but I couldn\u2019t decipher her telepathic sounds. So I told her about my life. The psychotic mother who I worshiped like the Virgin Mary. The childhood days I spent locked up at home. The fear I\u2019d always be alone. I barely knew my dad. He left when I was seven. Then I became my mother\u2019s substitute boyfriend. When I turned eighteen I finally ran away. And even when I became homeless, I refused her offer to come back home and stay. I\u2019d rather sleep in my car then go back to being a slave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I stopped talking and it became so quiet, I could hear an imaginary breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat are you thinking?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m not, I\u2019m crying,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cBecause your story makes me sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">No one else had ever cried for me before. I didn\u2019t think I was good enough for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m afraid you\u2019ll abandon me,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019ll sing you a song instead,\u201d she said. <em>\u201cHoney, just put your sweet lips on my lips. We should just kiss like real people do.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay loves tap, swing and blues dancing. She is a natural performer and dreams of being a famous musician. Led Zeppelin is her favorite band. Mine too. My new favorite Zeppelin tune\u2014the one that made me cry every time I heard it until I met Kay: \u201cThank You.\u201d Hers: \u201cHeartbreaker.\u201d Thank you for breaking my heart. The Doors were our close second. And\u2026<em>I thought I was the guy, to make the queen of the angels sigh!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A few days later Kay brought her guitar over. I took photos of her playing, but she was embarrassed. She\u2019s more comfortable nude than dressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I suggested we go to church and have sex in a confessional booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She laughed. I was serious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Shortened make-out session today. It started out well. In between the fondling and kisses, we talked about sex. She\u2019s stopped having orgasms. She doesn\u2019t know why. I was perplexed. Then things went south. She dissociated like Ketamine after sex. She had that far-away look in her eyes and spoke with an anesthetized mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m thinking about breaking up with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I froze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cMy friends say you\u2019re a threat to my emotional safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Her exes\u2019 friends. The ones she never arranged for me to meet. I couldn\u2019t speak. She trusted them more than me, just like her second boyfriend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cAnd my mother says you\u2019re a threat to my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em>Mommy dearest all over again.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I recalled a slice of conversation we had when we first met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re a nice girl,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI can be mean,\u201d she warned me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Eventually, Kay calmed down, and we made up. Or so I thought. Just before she left, we played our usual game. She would meow loudly like my cat. I would tickle her. Then she would stop. Except this time she didn\u2019t. This time she kicked me. Hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I was shocked. So I yelled at her in dismay. That seemed to do the trick. But what other miseries lay ahead of us? The both of us were sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The next day I called her, ready to break up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cCan you give me an orgasm?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">How could I say no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Two days later we rendezvoused at our normal fae-inspired spot. She was basking in the shade, hot from a long walk. I joined her but found I couldn\u2019t talk. So, we headed to my house for diplomatic sex, both sides trying to get along. Our relationship had devolved into physical graffiti, and I felt like my apartment was a brothel. However, I couldn\u2019t figure out who was the prostitute and who was the john.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Upon arrival, I led Kay through the motions of ecstatic sex. Tantric eye gaze. Sensual massage. Pawing her every desire. Nuzzling her every dream. Pleasing her, pleasing me. Orgasms come. Eighties love songs fill my mind: <em>Sheets soaking wet. Freight train running through the middle of my head.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">She\u2019s freedom without love, using her body to escape. I\u2019m love without freedom, just trying to take and take. Neither of us can ever get enough. Her, a wingless butterfly. I, her hapless mate. By now I had grown disgusted with my metaphors, but I couldn\u2019t stop. They haunted me incessantly, making a mockery of thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Afterward, Kay fell asleep in my arms, and I stared out the window as the sun traveled through the bright side of the zodiac. I felt dependent upon my obsession like a transient lily to rain. But unlike Anais\u2019s blossom, the risk of blooming felt far more terrifying than to remain. I had been stifled by a mother who couldn\u2019t let go. Now here I was with Kay\u2014too afraid to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay woke as the sun dropped below the horizon, and I made dinner, while waiting for the other shoe to drop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Appetites satiated, we cuddled in the recliner as acoustic blues drifted through the air\u2014the Mississippi Delta bringing Blind Willie Johnson to our ears. Later, Ry Cooder took us to<em> Paris, Texas<\/em>, where we listened as two estranged lovers healed their past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We had planned to go to the dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cNo,\u201d Kay said. \u201cLet\u2019s stay here. I want to dance alone with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I was touched. We swayed in close embrace. Paradise found!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then mother texted, and daughter panicked. <em>Footfall.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI told her I\u2019d be at the dance. What if she\u2019s already there? We have to leave now!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I should have let her go by herself, but I still thought I was Prince Charming and my Cinderella just needed to get home before curfew for all to end well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">As we walked, Kay gave me worried looks. Then she grabbed my hand and dragged me across the street\u2014hoping mother wouldn\u2019t drive by and see us together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cLet\u2019s go up the alleyway,\u201d she cried, desperate for darkness to cover our supposed sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">We should have taken my chariot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then, as we entered the narrow lane, she wrenched her hand from mine and left me like a leper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI don\u2019t even know if I want to be with you anymore!\u201d she yelled across the asphalt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I winced at the ever-widening ocean that churned between us. Maybe I couldn\u2019t handle her after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The next time I saw Kay I knew it was time to end things. It was a Sunday evening and the last remnants of the weekend swirled about the atmosphere as the light faded. Kay found herself stranded by the sea. I went to pick her up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Half an hour later I found her on the boardwalk and said we needed to talk. An appropriate bench made itself available to us. From there we could look out over the water. It was twilight\u2014the bridge between love and fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">As we sat, Kay stared off into the horizon, avoiding conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cLook at me!\u201d I commanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m watching the sunset,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The sun was well past gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m just trying to help you,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re just trying to manipulate me,\u201d she answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I couldn\u2019t take it anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m breaking up with you,\u201d I yelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kay turned and looked at me in shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cBlah, blah, blah\u2026!\u201d My anger seeped out loud with grievances until it stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Relieved, I drove her home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">But it wasn\u2019t to end. A week later she came over to my house to hold me while I cried. I\u2019d never done that with anyone. But first the news. She had gotten back together with her ex. <em>That was quick. <\/em>He was taking her to California like she had always dreamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever come back,\u201d she murmured, as quiet as a mouse, afraid of the pain she knew I felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGood for you,\u201d I replied, lying as I stood frozen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Then we laid down on my bed, and I let the tears for what would never be, come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Grief gratified, I took Kay to watch Miyazaki animate <em>Kiki\u2019s Delivery Service<\/em> at a local movie theater. I fidgeted with loneliness. Then I put my arm around Kay, and we snuggled. Loneliness left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cGood clean wholesome fun,\u201d she said when the movie ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Like <em>Kiki<\/em>, Kay dreamed of leaving home as a new witch. Only, she substituted boyfriends for broomsticks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The weeks went by with birthdays bumbled. Kay was forced to spend hers with family up in Canada, while I spent mine alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">When she came back I called her. We had an argument and hurled insults at each other\u2014mine borne of despair, hers stemming from veiled fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019ll become depressed and suicidal again!\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cStop assuming things!\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou use sex to validate your self-worth!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re not a mind reader!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou\u2019re afraid of love!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019m not some \u2018thing\u2019 for you to idolize. I\u2019m not your savior!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I realized it was my responsibility to turn this around. She was depending on me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDon\u2019t you understand?\u201d I said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how to love myself until I met you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cReally?\u201d she replied, her tenderness my ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cOf course,\u201d I said. \u201cI felt worthless until I met you. You made me feel beautiful for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Her heart melted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI didn\u2019t realize I could make anyone feel good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI didn\u2019t mean any of those things I said to you,\u201d I offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI know,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cI\u2019ll always love you,\u201d I told her<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cYou know how I feel about you,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I messaged Kay a few days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cIt\u2019s my novel <em>Gods, Girls and Monsters,<\/em>\u201d I said. \u201cI want to change the character Kiera\u2019s name to Nike. I want you to be her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Kiera was a homeless teenage faerie who guided the main character, Psyche, as she traversed a world full of magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cThat makes sense. I always thought she was just like me,\u201d Kay replied. \u201cGuess what my nickname was when I was a child?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cKiera!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:5px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a><\/a>I saw her one last time, down by the quarry, where a wayward circus of lost souls was marking the end of summer love by performing <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em>. Kay was crying. I stopped to ask what was wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a><\/a>\u201cHe dumped me,\u201d was all she could muster through the tears. \u201cWe were supposed to be headed to California today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a><\/a>I tried to hug her, but she resisted. Then she fled. Our love was dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I watched as she disappeared into the woods, going back to the only beings she trusted. My sorrow swelled, but instead of running after her, I decided to do both of us a favor. I got in my hearse and drove to her mother\u2019s house. There I told Demeter about Kay and I\u2019s relationship. She didn\u2019t like it, but I didn\u2019t care. I was no longer afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This time, Mommy Dearest was the one who was desperate. She asked me if I knew where her daughter was. Kay had left a note that read: <em>I\u2019m going to the place where I\u2019ll be loved forever.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cShe needs me,\u201d her mother implored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cNo, she doesn\u2019t!\u201d I said. \u201cYour daughter\u2019s with the spirits of the forest. They\u2019re the only ones who ever made her feel safe, and that\u2019s all she ever wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">With that, I left the matriarch to fallow the fields, while I held the wings of a goddess who had all but disappeared from her heavenly pose. It wasn\u2019t until many months later that I realized what had torn Kay and I apart. It was simple: we were both too scared to love. And when I think about her now, I just remember the faerie tales we lived by and how we almost made our dreams come true in the mist and rain of the Salish Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Eros Salvatore<\/strong> is a writer and filmmaker living in Bellingham, Washington. They have been published in the journals <em>Anti-Heroin Chic<\/em> and <em>The Blue Nib<\/em> among others, and have shown two short films in festivals. They have a BA from Humboldt State University. Their work can be seen, heard and read at <a href=\"https:\/\/erossalvatore.com\/\">https:\/\/erossalvatore.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>__________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"438\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-15484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/01\/boudin-logo-1-300x145.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 438px) 100vw, 438px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\">\ud83e\udca0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/04\/30\/giant-pandas-eat-bamboo\/\">Back<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/2025\/04\/30\/baby-joseph\/\">Next<\/a> \ud83e\udca1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To learn more about submitting your work to <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/boudin-submissions\/\">Boudin<\/a><\/em> or applying to McNeese State University&#8217;s Creative Writing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/mfa-application-submissions\/\">MFA program<\/a>, please visit Submissions for details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nike of the Salish Sea Eros Salvatore __________ Kay had the look of a faerie princess found under a mushroom in the forest\u2014a seemingly innocent, adorable young woman searching for love as she metamorphosed into adulthood. But like the famous Nike of Samothrace, Kay had lost her wings and could no longer fly. Instead, she&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[229],"tags":[75,146,26],"class_list":["post-19410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blooms-in-dusk","tag-boudin","tag-fiction-2","tag-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19410"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19533,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19410\/revisions\/19533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mcneese.edu\/thereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}