Queen Elizabeth still exists in the Appalachian Mountains. Old man Volney took me down to Devil’s Elbow where a cascade froths against a corner of the mountain. The river there is rapid, deep, and dangerous even for trout. “We gotta … Continue reading
I was the second object the princess touched when she gained the gift to enliven dead things, but she did not notice me between the clacking puppet and miaowing harpsichord. So I was left for the cook to clear as … Continue reading
My mother and my grandmother have always lived together, from the time my mother was a suckling baby till now, sixty years later. Out of a need to support one another, these two women have always lived together. But to … Continue reading
The blow came unseen, an invisible fist shattering my jaw. I spat my teeth into the dusk. It swallowed those hot white fragments; then it retched, pelting the earth like a priestess casting bones. I sifted them from the dust … Continue reading
What is a revolutionary thing? Revolution often connotes the radical overthrow of an existing paradigm, usually a political regime. While some revolutionaries fight with weapons, others fight with ideas, or hexes, or stories. For many of us, our revolutionary acts … Continue reading
The past year has thrown into sharp relief the surreal terrain of our contemporary landscape, and here at The Golden Key, we have watched this rising social and political upheaval with a contradictory, heart-rending mixture of despair and awe. While the … Continue reading