The day auntie makes you sort the pakalolo into baggies before the Mormons come over for the family home visit
by Melissa Llanes Brownlee
Pick. Pick. Pick the leaves from the stems. Don’t squish the buds. That cost money. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t lick your fingers. Be quick. Quick. Quick. And weigh each ounce careful. Careful. Careful. Even though you only know pounds. Pounds of bananas. Of oranges. Of potatoes. Sort and place each bud in plastic. Zip. Zip. Zip them closed. Put them in the box. Line them up. Up. Up. Pray you clean the place before they come over. No shame auntie. Shame. Shame. Shame.
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BIO
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Melissa Llanes Brownlee (she/her), a native Hawaiian writer living in Japan, has work published and forthcoming in Wigleaf, The Threepenny Review, Fractured Lit, Pithead Chapel, Cutleaf Journal, and Prairie Schooner, and honored in Best Small Fictions, Best Microfiction, and Wigleaf Top 50. Read Hard Skin (2022) and Kahi and Lua (2022) and preorder Bitter over Sweet (2025) from Santa Fe Writers Project. She talks story at melissallanesbrownlee.com.
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BOOKS
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Bitter over Sweet (Santa Fe Writers Project)(Pre-order)
Kahi and Lua (Alien Buddha Press)
Hard Skin (Juventud Press)
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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Bluesky: ‪@lumchanmfa.bsky.social‬
Instagram: @lumchanmfa
Twitter (X): @lumchanmfa
YouTube: @melissallanebrownlee
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