J. A. Tyler


& (ninety-nine)

A man is dying, dies, and she changes. The girl, flying, sensing something in the air, a tremble to her oars, her arms spinning, her muscles. She flickers what would be breath but is sky, cloud cheeks and teeth made of sun. Her watching has been oblivious, was, squares of earth below her, the diagrams of living and lives, set out at angles, lines intersecting and running, parallels. She was always just flying, rowing in the blue, the sky of her mother’s eyes, the iris colors and clouds, the white and sun streaming beams. But now and without remorse she feels something new and unexpected, something less than oblivion, something with a kick or a bite or a punch, something like a coming, a going, a happening. Something is happening. And the girl rowing the sky, trundling through clouds and air, she feels different, expectant, full of direction. A man dies, is dying, and she changes.

J. A. Tyler is the author of the forthcoming novella SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE (ghost road press) and the chapbooks THE GIRL IN THE BLACK SWEATER (Trainwreck Press) and EVERYONE IN THIS IS EITHER DYING OR WILL DIE OR IS THINKING OF DEATH (Achilles Chapbook Series). He is also founding editor of mud luscious / ml press and was recently nominated for a Pushcart. Find more info here.

 
 
 
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