Smooth, round and smells
like cinnamon
Lights up the room
Warms me up but
gets smaller and smaller
each time it is used

– Michelle Stark

Bury My Rabbit in Shakopee

Things are not as they appear in Bury My Rabbit in Shakopee. What if one day you “woke up as a cat” (“Allycat”)? What if vicious wolves shifted into sweet dogs, and mythical creatures just wanted to “be famous and live in Hollywood” (“A Creature in the Pasture”)? The voices in this book point out the strangeness of our reality, blurring the real and invented. There’s mischief alongside courage and fear. One writer is “upset because the police officer killed the man that’s not right” (“Terror”) while another narrates being left at the mall by her sister: “left me behind thought I was fine want to confront her why did leave me behind” (“Confused”). And sometimes, in the midst of a tumultuous world, we are drawn to exploring alien planets and watching “sequins sparkle in the middle of the night” (“My Glitter Lamp”). These writers don’t shy away from the dark or the light.

 

← Book 48	Summer 2020 →