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Noon Edition

Normal

(Public domain, Max Pixel)

I have written "Normal" as a response to the white father saying to his daughter, who had just brought a black boy home, "You know what normal is? I just want you to be normal." And then "What the Bones Said" is a comment on the effect of secrets, like the racism coded in words like "normal" or the crushing expectations coded in words like "mother."

-Emily Bobo



Dr. Emily Bobo is the author of Fugue (Lost Horse Press, 2009) and editor of Bobo Books. She teaches writing to single moms, ex-cons, and military vets at Ivy Tech Community College, where she is a professor of English and department chair of Fine Arts & Humanities.

Dr. Bobo reads "Normal," "What the Bones Said," and "Half-Hearted Ghazal at the Half-Way Point."

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