My Cardboard Balcony

Safety Day Day Day by Belinda The sign says it all: Three times the day sharing only one safety. Abandoned rails rattle bicycle tires. Tongues behind masks feel soaked in pickle brine. Thirty-one years later, and you feel like lying about your age. But you're still young, and you can push yourself uphill with your so-called "thighs of thunder." You have time to survive. At the shipyard, the heads you count are few and far between. Noses and mouths are exposed beneath construction helmets, feeding into nervous laughter. A positive feedback loop. Like the Arctic being set on fire. The day and the day and the day goes on in a lukewarm fashion. How safe we feel after spinning wheels is an entirely different story. And you will have to monitor any symptoms that appear when you hold your lover to your chest.

I've Got An Idea by Belinda Roddie So how about arresting the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor?

Reckless Rationale by Belinda Roddie When I think about it, none of my habits are senseless, none of my anxieties are impulsive, and none of my regrets are irrational. I just sit drenched in a false sense of logical security, where I know how everything is supposed to be, but I don't feel comfortable in the space I've dug for myself with my trusty hands. My short fingernails still make quick work of once solid earth. My tongue is bleeding from all the times I've bitten it in order to hold it. And when I think about it, just because my neuroses, ultimately, make sense, doesn't mean I shouldn't revoke their keys to my mind palace.

Posthumous Recognition by Belinda Roddie It wasn't until he died that she remembered his name.

Public Service Announcement by Belinda Roddie I really wish some family members of mine understood this.

The Planet Of George by Belinda Roddie The planet of George had room for only one man - George, of course - and his two cats, Rocky and Balboa. He's set up his rocket with a cozy mancave, where he watches TV, drinks beer, and eats pork rinds. The TV is only set to one channel: Constant replays of historical World Series baseball and Super Bowls and NBA championships. Hell, maybe even a few US Opens here and there. And even Ultimate Frisbee or ping pong. He wishes he could watch the Olympics, though. George never married, so he doesn't have kids to worry about. His cats have enough food to last them forty lifetimes. Balboa's actually a girl, and neither feline is fixed, so he hopes she'll actually copulate with Rocky and have some kittens that he can tend to. Outside the rocket home, they get to play along craters and across blue grass and atop tiny hills built as if by ants. There are no bugs to speak of here. Means no mosquitoes. George is okay with this. His mother em...

Last Day by Belinda Roddie It's been fun being thirty years old. Prime number time!