I went to uncle’s house after the funeral — the house was filled with water. I couldn’t see my legs once I entered. People stood on chairs to breathe. Children on their swim rings to stay alive. Everyone in the house, except the family, tried to find the tap left open. Nobody could ask or speak about the tap, the outline of the house’s inside, or the water. Cousins held shut the doors of other rooms — so no one could see what the water touched. The wife of the youngest cousin

Falling  By Pilar Graham Stubborn Mule Press – 2025 Devil’s Elbow, MO Having never encountered the first name “Pilar” I looked it up and learned it is of Spanish origin and comes from “Maria del Pilar” which means Mary of the Pillar. This was a title given to the Virgin Mary after her appearance – an apparition seen by St. John the Apostle – on a pillar in Zaragoza, Spain. And so was born the honorific name Pilar, denoting strength and steadfastness. Ms. Grahams’s collection

In orchids, he multiplied the room until the balcony broke open. Four floors underground, he grafted the apartment to compose a deep poem. Each depth has its own darkness— until he found one private enough to write in, a fragment of shadow. An invisible clock-hand spun him tight; his gaze bent with its curve. Almost swallowed by the abyss of his own eyes, he wondered: If the battery sleeps, can I stay awake outside time? What difference for one who is already the sand in an h

"At the Oncology Clinic" Did our tumors beat in sync across the decades? My mother, resigned and afraid— me waiting, always, for it to be over. Our church prayed for her death, certain it was the will of God she suffered this wither of flesh and bone. I, having learned, tell no one and so they can’t pray for me, no calls toward some divine being to kill me quick. I stand alone in an ice-slicked parking lot, the clouds weeping snow. That Once in A Lifetime She asks if I’ve eve