The Bluestocking 2023-24

he takes a hacksaw to his right hand, animal. Later, they will be in awe.

“Tell It to the Frogs”: The boy, wide eyes and a shy smile. Later, he will wear his father’s sheriff hat, gold star beaming above his head. He will hold a gun, face quizzical. He will shoot a walker and then his mother. A deer will haunt him. Later, he will have a body to bleed from. He will turn his face to kiss the grass, lips brushing a frog’s smeared and untainted body. He will whisper, lucky you. “Vatos”: A hole-digger digs because of a dream. His skin, feverish. His hands, wire-like and trembling. He dreams of tinted windows and bowls of soup on wooden dinner tables. He dreams of a curtain, covering. He dreams of his own body, suddenly not his own at all. He dreams of hunger. He dreams of death with dignity. Even as a ghost, he will know what to do with his hands.

“Wildfire”: They have been cold for so long.

“TS-19”: Unborn flames are looking for stomachs to lick, souls to light on fire. We learn the story of another dead wife. A CT scan shows her body, writhing. Three choose death in the fire. They are said to have lost the most human thing. Some say it is hope. Later, the boy and his deer-ghost return for the bodies. They find none.

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