In the final tally I’m not sure who said it more, my daughter or me.
That year from two to three was full of refusals—there was the bedtime no and the cleaning up no; no to taking a bath and no to getting out of the bath; no to getting dressed or undressed. It was the toddler version of Newton’s third law: every action demanded an equal and opposite uh-uh . . .
I light my cigarette lovingly, laughingly, with a light purple lighter. Burn, baby, burn . . .
Mama and Papa’s love was magic! Their first kiss was magic. Their wedding kiss was magic. The kiss that made Mimi was magic.
One snowy morning, Papa and Mama shared a good morning kiss that turned magical. Their hearts and other parts warmed. Pajamas were shed. Heat built. Suddenly . . .
Where had I gone wrong? In four years as a mother, I thought I’d done a good job. So where had I failed? I pictured myself twenty years hence, cornered by a crime reporter. “I tried my best,” I’d sob. “But he began dealing in stolen property at four, and it was downhill from there . . .”
To celebrate the release of Go de Rass to Sleep, the new Jamaican patois translation of the bestselling Go the F*** to Sleep, Johnny Temple spoke with author Adam Mansbach and translator Kellie Magnus about translation, Jamaican culture, censorship, and more.
I didn’t notice I had nodded out on the train and had missed my stop until the conductor clamped down on my bony shoulders in Wellington, saying, “Come on, honey . . .”
To celebrate the release of Bernardine Evaristo’s Mr. Loverman, we’re very pleased to feature Chapter One in its entirety!
To celebrate the release of The Jesus Lizard Book, Akashic will be featuring excerpts from Book on our website once a week throughout March. Today, we bring you Christopher R. Weingarten’s two pieces included in Book.