Death loomed large during those desolate days.

The thinnest of veneers was the only thing keeping us in check and it was cracking fast. 

Through the broken window of his soul she slipped in to steal everything inside him. 

Their paradigms for paradise didn't include outcasts like me, he thought, looking at all their shiny clean smiling faces with toothpaste ad teeth.  

Portland was a preview of coming attractions. 

Her longings no longer needed fulfillment from without. 

We'd become pariahs with our pandemic-infested spittle sputtering fascist fantasies about "fake news."