Author Archives: janishaag

I don’t know, but I sit myself down next to one and ask. And then I listen. And in the quiet, the water making almost no sound that I can detect,Stream answers: We remember everything. As do you.Especially on the … Continue reading →

As I set off on my morning walk,I think of a woman I know, older than I,beginning a pilgrimage 5,500 miles awayacross 100 kilometers of trail older thanboth of us, far older than this troubledcountry we call home. What will … Continue reading →

(Lake Tahoe, west shore) Jackie has her phone readyas Ryan nimbly hoists himself uponto a piling on the pier, a goodten feet above the water. Balancing like a tightrope walker,he does not teeter and takes hisfirst leap into the lake … Continue reading →

(D. L. Bliss State Park, Lake Tahoe) As we take the granite steps,slowly, slowly, we see the topof the upper rock, tons of granite restingprecariously on a slenderstone base, we two older, far less sure-footed beings,mindful of our own balance,which … Continue reading →

(Lake Tahoe, California) As a whopper of a hurricanecalled Lowell steamrolls its waytoward our favorite Pacific island, we arrive at the largest alpine lakein North America to find it whippedby wind into a deep sea green, though in a matter … Continue reading →

for Ella Capri Malekian This is not the time to tell youa story I have probably told youmany times before, but I willdo it anyway— about your second day on the planet,almost 16 years ago, when your great-uncleand I came … Continue reading →

Her downcast eyes grab me,along with her polka-dot blouse, but it’s the red-covered bookin her hands that instantly makes me want to talk to her, ask whatshe’s reading, and what a shame about the graffiti across her head,though she doesn’t … Continue reading →

In memory of Gloria Steinem (March 25, 1934–Sept. 2, 2026) And in this so-called “post-truth world,”I’m really pissed off—not at you, Gloria, but your tenure on the planet has endedwhen we need you more than ever. That’s not your job … Continue reading →

Standing over the open canon the driveway, its lid posingas a palette wearing a soppy brushready for touching up, I think of all the paint I’ve appliedin my time to walls and boards,porches and chairs, though notnearly as much as … Continue reading →

(for Dick and Alison, good neighbors) Now you, who were accompaniedby friends on your first slow meandersafter the hospital, accompany your next-door neighboras she, post-rehab, with repaired hipand walker, negotiates the road you have both driven and walkedcountless times in … Continue reading →