by Jiordan Castle
Featured Art: Dry Brook by Jervis McEntee
A week to go &
still no word
on where they’re
sending him
this time. If you
search my father’s
first name, last
name, sex, &
race in a
federal inmate
database, you’ll see
he was released
the summer I turned
16, the summer
my dachshund Pepper
died, the summer
of the awkward
dinner at our favorite
restaurant. The
database lists options:
call or email, send
mail or package, send
money, visit, or voice
a concern; I
clicked the last
one because I had
some & there
I was forced to
confirm I’m not a
robot by selecting
all the images with
motorcycles in
them, but I
got distracted &
chose the ones
with fences
instead and
had to do it
again. Reunited
that summer, a basket
of warm naan between
us, I listened
as he spoke—
to the racing
pulse & whir of
the ceiling fan, its
dull blades
spinning overhead.
Jiordan Castle is the author of the chapbook All His Breakable Things (Finishing Line Press, 2020). Winner of the 2018 Pigeon Pages essay contest, her work has appeared in Verdad, Vinyl, Third Point Press, and elsewhere. She is a regular contributor to the LA-based food and culture magazine Compound Butter and lives in New York City. You can find her at jiordancastle.com and @jiordancastle everywhere else.
