Kathleen Frank
Everything Sounded Miserable
Elijah Sparkman
Everything sounded miserable. Going to Iceland. In a hot tub. With a woman. Italy. Picking grapes. Smoking a cigarette. Fulfilling one’s destiny. Publishing a book. Having a child. Seeing yourself in their bones. In their eyes. Thumbprints. Irises. Teaching that child how to grow their own food. How to administer medical help to a neighbor in case of emergency. Seeing your daughter go on to win an Academy Award for her rendition of Anne Frank in a magical realist adaptation where Anne Frank lives and goes on to become, essentially, Amelia Earhart without the whole Bermuda Triangle fiasco. Aliens landing on Planet Earth with the only intention of throwing a music festival that features the best musicians on their planet with the best musicians on yours. Eating mint chocolate chip ice cream on the dock next to the lake whose plant life isn’t being obliterated by a species of invasive zebra mussels that had arrived through the ballast water of cargo freighters. Going to Iceland. With a woman. From St. Louis. Who knew how to love. And had a favorite book. One that she couldn’t help but talk about. It just came out of her. Talking about the book. Even that sounded miserable.
Elijah Sparkman is a writer based in Detroit. His writing has appeared in ANMLY, Sleepingfish, and X-R-A-Y. He is the Program and Volunteer Coordinator for 826michigan, a youth creative writing organization. He is a member-owner of the co-op bookstore Book Suey in Hamtramck, MI. Website: https://elijahsparkman.com Instagram: @elijahsparkman20