“I need another blanket please,” Kyoko said to Black. With blanket in hand he nods at me and walks her upstairs. Late night, after a blunt and a 40, I asked him about Kyoko. “Hell yeah I smashed that bitch. She was only 19, nine years older than my daughter, but she said she wanted to have fun. Dawgs…dawgs,” he said, pacing in a circle and clapping his hands. “You know her friend that kept following her around?” “Yeah” “I …
Author: Tracy Jones
On Minna Street near midnight, I went to a hostel in a narrow alleyway off of Eighth Street. “Like blouw, dare you go dawgs,” Black said, passing me a blunt. He was posting outside when I got there. “Get that head right dun, get that head right.” Black was a Puerto Rican albino with golden eyes. He’s from East New York. “…know what I’m sayin. They used to dump bodies in my neighborhood all the time,” he said. “Yo I …
This was my first night staying in a hostel. Sitting in that room anchored me from drifting in the currents of the city’s streets. I was cut away from eyes and bodies that could see and touch what I could not hide. Staring out the window, smoking a splif and eating a burrito, I was happy to, if just for a night, watch the world instead of it watching me. I got reborn taking a shower. The hot water felt …
“You’re not ready,” said Quang over the phone, from his 26th street Manhattan studio. He’s sipping Dalmore whiskey, watching The Traveling Players. “If you’re a writer, you don’t need money to write, just a pad and a pen.” “What do you mean?” I said. “And next time, don’t bring a cell phone. You can’t have this kind of shit and be a writer, every time you have trouble you call mommy and daddy.” “I’m not calling mommy and daddy I’m …
“Daddy, tell me about rockets and space,” Kantra said to me at bed time. Haruki got her into making up collaborative stories. Passing express trains are going to pick up dinosaurs and soon to be born babies. Zero gravity made her gasp. She loves watching this video, like the whole thing. Lately, raising her has been more challenging than ever. She has her father’s persistence, her mother’s innovative passive aggression and her parents’ temper. Her fearlessness hasn’t waned and she’s …
