POSSUMS TELL ALL

Vivan Sundaram,The Monsters at Ellora Put on Shoes!, 1965. Black ink on paper. Image courtesy of the artist

A PALACE OF WAITING ROOMS: LEGEND

VANESSA ANG ÉLICA VILLARREAL

Anomaly n. 1. a rupture; 2. a wailing sound that streaks the sky.

An Emily n. 1. future daughter; 2. an aberration; 3. a collection of moving parts fluent in expectation

Aurora n. 1. an electrical phenomenon characterized by the appearance of streamers of light in the womb; 2. literary goddess of the dawn; 3. fairy story Talia, mother of the twins Sun & Moon, originator of binaries

Barrenness/Baroness n. 1. the state of being barren; 2. female subjects who habitually fail to fruit; 3. devoid or lacking interest or charm; 4. a woman of high social stature who owns land, property; 5. a woman flaking into dust

Blastocyst n. 1. rain floods a moat in the perimeter; 2. white roots wind into black soil

Beauty/Belle adj cum n. a woman trapped in paper

Cinderella n. scrubbing & scrubbing & scrubbing all day

Colostrum n. 1. a handful of seeds tossed into the spring night sky

Dystocia n. too small hips, too short mother, too long labor, too high a weight, too high blood sugar, too painful the break, too large the child, too cursed the bloodline

Embryo n. 1. young animal; 2. to leap

Fetal Distress n. It would have been an easy labor had the Patient developed contractions. Patient was unresponsive to Pitocin during labor. Caesarean became only.

Fairy Godmother n. The ceremony will go like this: place your tooth in the bowl and hold the lump of granite in your left hand. Unravel the rope and begin to eat the strands. With each strand you swallow, imagine your belly swelling, a thunderstorm igniting the walls of your sex.

Guinevere n. 1. Welsh White Enchantress, White Fay; 2. a woman crowned with light at the foot of the altar, her back a knot of braids, her sex a knot of braids. 3. a woman abducted on horseback, limbs tied with rope to the hindquarters of a horse, ropes crisscrossed on her wrists for her infidelity to the king

Gestation n. 1. a planet of belief emerging from the black; 2. see ONCE THE PATIENT, pg. 1

Hindmilk n. nonexistent

Hyperemesis Gravidarum n. The patient has continued to experience nausea & vomiting post-partum. Tests show that post-partum hormonal levels are normal & that nausea is highly irregular. Patient refuses meals.

In Vitro Fertilization n. 1. Latin in glass; 2. The girl’s hair spins crystal in the glass jar she is kept in, her dress drenched in descent into milksea. The girl is a stain in the panties of her mother. The girl is a voice in the glass, willing itself into existence. Labyrinth n. The prince fights against the infinite walls of the labyrinth to arrive at the entrance to the palace, & in the walls finds himself staring back at himself staring back at himself staring back at himselfselfhim at back staring himself at back staring himself at back & all the princes grow tails or wings or fins & rush.

(Mis)carriage n. The princess arrives in a (mis)carriage pulled by four white horses, yanking their heads back as they exit the dense fog. The (mis)carriage is adorned in sound & song, swallowed up by the sand beneath.

Ogre n. In the kingdom, all the wars rage on in the realms of the ogre and the violence echoes off the stones.

Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome n. A condition caused by speaking prayers inside of dolls. Often seen in women aged three to 45. Behaviors may cause spontaneous generation of fluid, but salt may be swallowed to forestall the effects of loneliness.

Placenta n. There are telephones crowding every inch of the walls of the palace, each directly connected to the palace’s servant staff. Some servants press their bodies up against the walls attempting to divine which of the phones will connect to the outside.

Rapunzel n. 1. Fairy story. the fruit that brings wishes to life; 2. the condition that fertility be surrendered at birth

Trial of Labor v. Some girls are born princesses and some girls are born servants; some mothers are queens and some mothers are cattle; 2. see Madrigal v. Quilligan

Zygote n. a question in the water; 2. a balance.

Raha Raissnia, Shade, 2018. Oil, pigment, gel medium on canvas. 39 x 67 1/2 inches Courtesy of the artist and Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York. Photo: Stephen Faught

ALL INCLUDED

PAUL LA FARGE

— Ghosts? Alida said. In an old house like this, probably.

Robert was only joking, but he had expected a less equivocal answer. — I see. Is that why…? — The price? Alida laughed. — Oh, honey, no. That’s called divorce. And it’s winter, you’re smart to be buying in the winter. — I see, Robert said again. And the furniture? — Not included! But if you want it, I can ask the seller. I don’t know where she thinks it will all go. — Thanks, but no. — New broom, Alida said. Just what an old house needs. Look, here’s a cedar closet for your coats and sweaters and things.

Half an hour later, Robert shook Alida’s oddly warm hand, got into his car, and found his way to the Taconic. He wanted the house. Who wouldn’t want it? A historic three-bedroom farmhouse on five acres of land, hundreds of feet above sea level, and relatively close to the city! By the time he reached Westchester, Robert was daydreaming, masochistically, about being outbid by vile hedgies who would lay glass tile in the shower, or crypto-bros who’d hold shamanic rituals in the woods. He called Alida from the Bronx and said he was ready to make an offer.