Some people say Dudleytown was founded by a man fleeing England who carried a curse with him on the boat to America. I always heard that it was an incestuous knot of a family that figured out the way the puzzles of their bodies fit together in a variety of offensive shapes. This curse, this inbreeding, drummed up a sort of madness that was passed through the lineage, an heirloom nobody wanted. Brothers fought brothers; brothers stole from brothers. The land yielded nothing but rocks and the people starved …
Bio:
Callie S. Blackstone writes both poetry and prose. Her work appears or is forthcoming in Plainsongs, Prime Number Magazine, and other publications. She is lucky enough to wake up to the smell of salt water and the call of seagulls every day (see callieblackstone.wordpress.com).