Matthew Licht

Matthew Licht lives between two worlds, one of which might be the real one. His short story collections The Moose Show and Justine, Joe & the Zen Garbageman (both from Salt Pubs.) were nominated for the Frank O’Connor Award. He is a staff writer for Stanza 251, which includes Hotel Kranepool, his weekly bilingual blog on metaphysical hospitality.

HAPPINESS by Matthew Licht

My father wasn’t a traveling salesman, just a guy who never seemed to be where he was. A look crossed his face if someone came into the room where he was thinking or dreaming or scheming or whatever he was pretending to do, or spoke to him directly when he was present but lost. The look said who are you, what are you doing here, what do you want from me? Everything was fine. We lived in an acceptable house where hot meals were a regular feature. Then one day Pop came home with a monkey. The baby hadn’t begun…

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