If You’re Waiting for a Sign
April says the people at church don’t talk to us because they’re motherfuckers.
April says the people at church don’t talk to us because they’re motherfuckers. She says this without looking at me, her fists balled, the edge of her lip jammed between her teeth. It’s hot today, the dead center of summer when the season has lost its charm and everyone just wants to be inside by the air conditioner, but we’re outside on the porch, watching the driveway. I ask April what a motherfucker is and she won’t answer me. Lily shushes us both.
Made in China
theethou
us
us
away
Nina Li Coomes’s essay is included in the anthology A Map Is Only One Story, forthcoming from Catapult in February 2020.
Nina Li Coomes is a Japanese and American writer, currently living in Chicago, IL. Her writing has appeared in EATER, The Collapsar, and RHINO Poetry among other places. Her debut chapbook haircut poems was published by Dancing Girl Press in 2017.
Enter your email address to receive notifications for author Nina Coomes
Success!
Confirmation link sent to your email to add you to notification list for author Nina Coomes
More by this author
I Love You by Remembering What You Hate: A Recipe for Herby Salad
I find joy in being let into the idiosyncrasies of someone’s taste.
This is How a Friendship Ends: A Recipe for Miso Ginger Carrot Bisque
This is an essay about soup, but it is also about friendship. Or rather, this is an essay about soup and how a friendship ends.
Between Parent and Child: A Recipe for Kodomo-Don
I call it 子供丼 (kodomo-don), because it is only egg over rice. Something about it is simple, one rank lower in maturity than an adult dish.
More in this series
My Mother, an Ouroboros
Who were we? Puerto Ricans stuck in a drift, still moving from an American haunting howling on The Island, howling in us.
Be Vital! Be Vigorous! Ride the Rollercoaster
Talking about it would make me sound mentally ill, and sounding mentally ill—in this economy?—feels dangerous.
The Third Root
As the dentist works, her giant belly touches my arm and my head, and I think the baby kicks me.