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In his newest volume, Pieces of Bones and Rags, Michael C. Keith brings to the reader more idiosyncratic and laconic narratives designed to amuse, enlighten, and provoke. This quirky collection mines the full range of human behavior and experience for all their varied and distinct manifestations and consequences. The epigrammatic tales between these covers provide a sometimes numinous often harrowing sojourn across landscapes both familiar and exotic.

Improvisation

The elderly woman in black shuffles about her dusty courtyard and spots a rattlesnake coiled up next to a mesquite bush. Instead of sticking it to death or brooming it away as she usual does, she grabs the canvas she’s been working on intending to add the reptile to it and curses as it slithers into a hole at the base of the adobe wall. Undeterred, she applies a squiggly streak of ochre, steps back, and nods approvingly.

Immaculate Conception 2

She grew flowers from her vagina at a time when other girls were experiencing their first periods. A spray of fairy foxgloves and forget-me-nots had sprung from her lap. She believed she was having her first menstruation, since no one had told her what to expect. The following month, to her joy and puzzlement, a lovely baby’s breath appeared.

— Michael C. Keith

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