Author Archives: janishaag

In the hospital emergency departmentI overhear a social worker talking to a youngwoman in a recliner getting heart meds buthas no place to sleep tonight. “Do you want two days at the Salvation Armyand then apply for permanent placement?”he asks. … Continue reading →

… If you were to collect the found art of your everyday life and honored it—the repetition, the patterns, the strangeness, the heartbreaking familiarity—well, then I think you would see that your ordinary life is actually quite extraordinary. —Jamie Cat … Continue reading →

Walking out of the grocery storenot long before closing timebehind three young people—well, young to me,as so many are these days— I heard the young man in the trio say,“As far as I’m concerned, Sophie and meare already friends.” They … Continue reading →

(for Rebecca on her birthday) ••• We love them as who we are now.We love because that’s what’s left.—Alberto Rios from “Five Years Later” Going through each drawer, each closet,opening every cupboard and pulling outthe large and the small, the … Continue reading →

(In memory of Sonya Hunter,July 30, 1941 –Feb. 17, 2026) On my way down H Street to exerciseon a rainy winter morning, my mindconjures summer mornings in my backyard,the heat to come lingering in the still sky,yoga mats spread beneath … Continue reading →

Because, really, when you think about it,you can’t love small if you’re really loving. When you throw your whole heart into it,headfirst off the high dive, it’s big. But then comes the challenge, after the easyfall into warmth, into embracing … Continue reading →

Apologies have been made,plenty of mea culpas, some on our knees, though asking for forgiveness, it’s said,is selfish—it’s up to the one who has been wronged to decide, not the wrong-doer.Time to stop the self-flagellation, go outside, take a walk, … Continue reading →

At their advanced age, my teeth haveachieved ideal occlusion, the uppersslightly overlapping the lowers, as well as interdigitation—the cuspsof the upper molars fitting preciselyinto the grooves of the lower molars, thanks to a series of teeth-shapedaligners that have hugged myoverbite … Continue reading →

Your body will remember how to softenwhen it needs to. When the time comes that there is no time,when you become boneless, your spine melting into gel before slippinginto the ether. This kind of love might feel familiar,if you have … Continue reading →

(for Dick Schmidt on his 83rd birthday) In February the setting sunat just the right angle with enoughsnowmelt can sizzle Horsetail Falls into a fiery swath of pseudo lavacascading down El Capitan. Thoughwe’ve often stood in that meadow looking up … Continue reading →