sometimes i think the word revelation implies things too great and glorious for what is honestly a simple thing: the opening of the eyes. my first epiphany, such as it was: aged three or four, waking from a nap my eyes blinked open and suddenly i thought what is it, that i open my eyes out of this darkness? where was i? and by which route did i return here, to the world in which i flutter my eyes open? he said to me, once, "i'm starting to realize," and eight days later he left. maybe there w...

10 'Sometimes,' she says, lips already twitching into a grin, 'I think I disappear on closer inspection.' 'Oh?' He hasn't known her that long. Still. He's not rising to the bait. 'Y'know, when you say hi and nobody notices? And it goes on for a string of fifty people, all looking straight through you?' He snorts, picks up his glass of water. 'See? It's never happened to you?' Her voice is rising, somewhere between indignant and amused. He swallows the water. 'Maybe you're saying it too softly...

Who’s sleeping with who? They all whisper Hiding behind glossed lips Baggy pants, matched boxer shorts. She blushes (She does not want to know. That awkwardness, All those buttons, zippers Revealing white white skin Soft and sagging, Free and imperfect and What do you do afterwards?) They all ask each other Permutations, combinations, unlikely bedmates (She wants to sleep with a boy Her nightgown, his long pajamas Dreaming of some cold austere beauty.)

Clumsy sixth-grade dancer Glasses askew and poufy triangular hair everywhere. (The boys are all shorter than you.) You stand in the corner Thinking you are fat and tapping your foot Playing your violin and dreaming your Harry Potter dreams (Yes, the bush-haired know-it-all Is beautiful with the right spells) Five years later, the spell is completed Contacts and conditioned hair (Shorter than all of the boys) Cute little dress, same face dressed up with earrings, makeup Dancing: Hips, shoulder...

What she remembers, after he's gone, is what she saw when she kissed him. So unladylike to open her eyes. All good manners forgotten. They were such nice kids, everyone said. Strange -- that she remembers the sky behind him, grey. Set with brown trees. Hopeful, she thought. As if something beautiful would spring up. Later, evening, homes. Always lit with lamps. Secretly, secretly. Parents are never sure if they have raised nice kids. You never know. After he is gone, she forgets how it feels....