Casting Call
Cathy Linh Che

You eat and the next day you feel cruel. You look like a muscled skeleton. Where is your discipline?

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There was a casting call for breasts. The women removed theirs. We inspected, then beat them like piñatas. Smoke puffed like powder.

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The barge is equipped with life vests. Women and children first. They are the ones with futures. Yours involves a comb-over and a Tom Collins.

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He throws dollar bills at the stripper, then looks away. The puffer fish expands when it is afraid. It is composed of air and seawater. I roll under a table and wait for the music to end, for daylight to cut through the smoke.

1996 © 2009