Six Sentences

[Six Sentences is a pretty cool deal, and the structure suits my creative attention span to a tee. However, my submissions from a couple years ago have mysteriously eluded 6S fame, so here they are now. They were nearly crippled by affectation when I rescued them from the crypt, but after some invasive editing there might be hope for them yet.]

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"Psychosexual"

The summer of oral fixation began the moment we graduated. My girls and I didn't seize the day, we chewed it to a pulp and spat it out behind us. Lollipops, popsicles, bubble gum, cigarettes, blowjobs, lip gloss, cherry stems - we fell in love every time we opened our mouths. We sang and giggled and gossiped and kissed, holding hands as we had barbells put through our tongues. Just as we were starting to believe that the summer would last forever, the weather had turned cold, our tongues were infected, and we found ourselves alone in college. We were scared, and our lips were sealed.

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"Dollface"

There is a sound like knees being skinned on concrete as she runs her mascara brush through her mousy eyelashes. Her lip gloss is the color of strawberry ice cream after it falls in the dirt. Her eyeshadow is the color of bruises from a bully.

She deepens the artificial blush on her cheeks. There is a sound like tricycle tires deflating as she breathes. She's ready to fall in love.

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"Heads Without Shoulders"

He was an ugly man with Costello glasses, and my mascara always bled under my eyes whenever we were together. The night after we first met, I went to the drugstore and bought hair dye in an unnatural shade of brown. As I applied the toxic goop to my brittle hair in the bathroom, the perfect model beamed from the box, somehow too elated to be condescending.

The first time I went over to his place, the whole apartment stank of frozen potstickers. He poured me a thimbleful of rum, and his cat knocked over a crusty bottle of rice vinegar. We toasted our miserable love, and with a single tear of resignation, I abandoned hope.

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"Stars"

The blunted eye would have missed it all, and fairly so, for their pinky fingers barely touched. But the outer-space sparkle in his eyes and her mouth was obvious to anyone who's ever seen a tree struck by lightning. He was stunned, still smoldering, his shell starkly singed. Sparks flashed beneath his skin and he burned blissfully where leaves had caught afire around his face. As the thunderous storm clouds cleared, a blinding light shone from where she stood; similarly goddesses shine with celestial power, love and mercy for mortals. When she laughed widely, little silver stars glittered between her teeth.