Silence is absence.

It’s the absence of that first strangled breath that breaks into a wail. It is what accompanies the body as it enters the world, and is what’s left behind after the early departure

It’s the cause of sleepless nights, which disturbs more than the anticipated cries.

It’s the stroller who gathers dust in the corner, instead of dirt from the paths

It is the lack of laughter in ...

The old man told me

if I wanted to get free

The only way out

was to turn right at the tree

I promise I listened

I swear that I did

I took heart his words

And turned as he’d said

But I did not find my way

I have not made it home

My feet are stuck in circles

On the beaten path I roam

There’s the stone I’ve passed

For the umpteenth time

I know I’ve been tricked

I don’t know why

I sit on th...

Alicia should never have told her friends that her dad was a mortician.

She should have never bragged about seeing dead bodies, and she definitely should never have said she could swipe her fathers keys.

If she hadn’t done those things, Alicia would not have found herself in this predicament, her morality teetering towards the breaking point. She would not be holding four hairs from a dead man’s h...

The body sways precariously. Little feet dangling above the dirt floor.

The feet are too little, and my heart catches in my throat as I watch them sway. I want to reach out, to hold the body, to whisper the words that have now been lost to time.

By the time I build the courage, it is falling, and I have missed my chance again.

No, not falling. It jumps to the ground. The body is a boy who hits th...