Queen Bess Island

Queen Bess Island

Pull your boat up to the shore here nowwith hundreds of pelicans in flight above the island, their nests scatteredin the mangrove bushes all over this place, and you’d never guessit was a ghost of itself five years ago, just a ring of stone with barely enoughgrass to...
Ode to the Magic

Ode to the Magic

Photo: aceshot1 / Shutterstock.com Gardens, more glitter than greenery. South Street sermonof wishes made, coins tossed into the chromium chasm. Hallowed be the absinthe-tinted bottles, bicycle wheelsunmoving and tile trails, each piece a mosaicked religion we worship...
After Hours, Ad Astra

After Hours, Ad Astra

“Bicentennial moon tree marker” by David Victor is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 Washington Square Park, Philadelphia This used to be a Night Marketfor body parts (spectral physiciansstill pick through piles of criminals under the Moon Tree). We sit abovethousands...
Steve’s Prince of Steaks in far Northeast Philadelphia

Steve’s Prince of Steaks in far Northeast Philadelphia

Waste is what I’ve put into my bodyalong with a monster I had slept beside, among a morning when my mouth acted as a napkin and I found I ate all the things I once loved.Cool, blue, refrigerated, and my lips burned from the coals of old meals. A Franciscan with his...
Looking for Judy @ Books and Books

Looking for Judy @ Books and Books

Photo: Helen89 / Shutterstock.com Five different times during our seven day visit,we trekked over to Eaton Street. Our facespressed the glass window, our hands cuppedour eyes. Looking for Judy. We donned our masks, meandered aisles.Perused displays. Eventually spent...
Ghost Ballet

Ghost Ballet

Photo by Steve Heap / Shutterstock.com My hometown has suspicioustaste in communal art: there is a rollercoaster by the river—the one that flooded its banks in 2010, whichno one remembers unless you were there; unlessyou felt water pouring two days straight and...