It's #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day's archives!
She would be sitting by the Mediterranean at sundown, the sky as red as Campari, singing, or maybe sharpening her cutlery on a large stone. She would eat black olives as she watched the burning sea, its lashes opening and closing at her feet, its stories rising into evening before pulling away its long skirt. A hurricane lamp would cast shadows on the sand with its bright flame. Some nights she would talk to the flame, ask it probing questions as if all flames were related. Other days she would just laugh, shake her head, whisper the names of her enemies while collecting bits of sea glass to rub between her thumb and forefinger, one for each word God spoke to her. Green for “daughter,” brown for “pity,” white for “Orleans.” But most often, she would talk to the sea, its curling fingers of foam, its fists of water like a woman climbing out of ash and bone.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Arminé Iknadossian’s family fled to California when she was four years old to escape the civil war. After graduating from UCLA, Iknadossian earned an MFA in Creative Writing at Antioch University. The author of All That Wasted Fruit (Main Street Rag), Iknadossian’s work is included in XLA Anthology, SWWIM, Whale Road Review, Southern Florida Poetry Journal, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and The American Journal of Poetry. She has received fellowships from Idyllwild Arts, The Los Angeles Writing Project and Otis College of Art and Design. Iknadossian offers writing workshops and manuscript consultations. Discover more at www.surprisetheline.com and www.armineiknadossian.com.
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