My newlywed mother and father’s starter home came dirt cheap but not without two conditions; it had to be sold “sight unseen.” Nor were they allowed to meet the owner, a shut-in. On moving day they opened the front door to a pungent stench. Layers of curtains blocked out windows yellowed with grime. Dishes fuzzy with mold perched everywhere. Squirrels had overtaken the oven. Left behind on an end table in the living room were glasses and a Bible, as if the shut-in had been interrupted … Read more

Age Twenty-one

I present my naked 34-DD breasts to eight male medical students in crisp white coats who scribble notes on their clipboards at NYU Langone Hospital. I might try to flirt with them if I wasn’t perched on the edge of a hospital bed with my dressing gown pulled down to my waist.

Age Eleven

I am still flat-chested …  Read more

Was evident on my voicemail, my friend said, and though she swore she was fond of it I recorded the greeting again and again until it no longer said seven oh nine faw. I think.

My New York accent makes my insides clench a little when I’m reading aloud and see a danger word approaching. Wawl, tawl, smawl. But there are others I don’t even hear. I have to kind of dissociate and not think about it.

Not think about what my … Read more