MFA Student Pilar Garcia Guzman Publishes in Aster(ix) Journal

Congratulations to MFA Creative Writing student Pilar Garcia Guzman on publication of short fiction, "I Find My Dead Father at The Local Supermarket," in Aster(ix) Journal.

An excerpt from "I Find My Dead Father At The Local Supermarket":

Apá is the cashier at the store. His face stares back at me.

He rings up bean cans and a soft thud echoes each time he sets one down. He makes sure they’re not stacked so that they won’t fall. His shriveled fingers tap the worn keyboard, nails wrinkled and bitten.

Apá looks up at me, a slight tilt to his lips that itches my heart. I want to tear it out of my chest and scratch it raw.

“Did you still want the plums?”

The voice is odd. It lacks rasp, it lacks heart. The smile I do recognize. His cheeks and the creases by his eyes remind me of sitting in between his legs, cradled in his arms, while he sat on the couch. I would trace his wrinkles with my pinky, pulling at sags on his skin and thinking that, if I tried hard enough, I would make them go away. Smooth them out and scare them away, if only I scraped my nails against them. [ . . . ]