Redneck arrival -- My baptism -- Under the dogonyaro tree -- Without the other -- What won't rub off -- From gypsy to socialite -- Bees and bad men -- Christmas execution -- Pine-solo -- New knees -- The vestibule -- Deer in the headlights -- Arriving at midnight -- Seeds don't grow in a hotel -- Buche de noel -- The Lima welcome wagon -- Godzilla, the witch, and the wardrobe -- Black magic and a guitar solo -- Phantom limb -- Christmas bird -- Our best imitation of gringos -- The butcher gets bigger -- Taking flight -- Tabloids and cigarettes -- Politicians in the living room -- The chicken-wire menagerie -- What I do see -- Helter skelter -- Images on a paper soul -- What remains
Summary
"Plumbing the slipperiness of memory and confronting what it means to be a "good" human, Amy Wallen links the fear of loss and mortality to childhood ideas of permanence as she grapples with the fact that her parents were grave robbers"-- Provided by publisher
Notes
"The essay 'When We Were Ghouls' was originally published in the Gettysburg Review 29, no. 1 (Spring 2016)."
