Found in my mother’s kitchen junk drawer: a matchbook from the 1990s, when she came to visit me in Olympia and stayed at the Golden Gavel, which wasn’t far from my house. Really just right up the street. She had hardly ever left Los Angeles until I moved away. That made her take a long train to me. That made her eventually get on an airplane alone to meet me in Mexico City.

I’m back from wherever I’ve been—the couch. Palm Springs. Grand Theft Auto. My head. The cemetery. Still sifting through artifacts and the day-to-day admin in the wake of my mother’s death.

What’s new with you?

Buy Excavation, Hollywood Notebook, and Bruja from Bookshop.org for a discount, plus support your local independent bookstore at the same time.