Divorce Party

Friends gave us towels with “Not His” and “Not Hers” written in glittery epoxy, mismatched wine glasses, and CDs in the wrong jewel cases. Eric, a mail-order minister, oversaw our anti-vows and we exchanged plastic gumball machine rings. A year later my ex took a job out of state—a move I blessed out of stupidity and a misunderstanding of the Buddhist tenet of nonattachment. Sometimes, when the hamper is full and the Laundromat too awful to contemplate, I use the “Not Hers” towel, whose words are so rough they leave long, unromantic scratches if I forget to avoid them.

Marc J. Sheehan is the author of two poetry collections—Greatest Hits from New Issues Press and Vengeful Hymns from Ashland Poetry Press. His short story “Objet du Desir” won the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Contest sponsored by the public radio program Selected Shorts and was read on stage in New York by David Rakoff. His story “The Dauphin” was broadcast on Weekend All Things Considered as part of its Three-Minute Fiction series. Publications in literary magazines include Paris Review, Prairie Schooner, Passages North, Michigan Quarterly Review and many others.