1984: There’s a landfill in our living room
Mother and Maria’s world feels like sparkles down spines, Christmas is every day in their nidus of love

1994: He handed her to me, its weight would come in waves
Maria’s last day of school. As she arrives home, at the top stairs, waiting, are two bare feet. A tall odd man, a stranger who has a familiar scent of trauma, a childhood pain, a gemini of knowing stings – Michael