Author Archives: janishaag

All over the sidewalks,in the gutters,doing their deciduous danceinto winter in theseparts of our citifiedwoods, finally crimsonedby mid-December,like so many rose petalsthrown at our feetwe can’t help scuffthrough them—or stop,bend and peer attheir starry selves,from browning bananayellow to pumpkin-esqueto deepest … Continue reading →

(Or why social media can be your friend) Just when I can barely hold your facesin my fading brain, much less your voices, I am reminded by the little devicethat on this day, nine years ago, you two lay on … Continue reading →

As the old saying goes,Everybody talks about the weather,but nobody does anything about it. I am doing something about it.I am in the car, driving toward the sun,feeling a little like Icarus, though I doubt I will get anywhere close … Continue reading →

Yes, it arrives every winter.And can, as it is doing now, hang aroundfor weeks. So I, a native of the long, slenderGolden State, who has spent most of my lifein the northern part of the great Central Valley,should be well … Continue reading →

Dearest Miss D.,I hope that you have awell-deserved placein the balcony where you can look down uponscads of us mere mortalswho hold your wordsin the highest esteem, shy as you were aboutpublishing in your day.I have fat books ofyour poems … Continue reading →

Every year, as this tree outside thescience building on the universitycampus I still think of as mine releases its gold bounty, I makea mini pilgrimage to stand beneath itand wonder who comes with what implement and makes perfect circlesaround the … Continue reading →

This time last year, I found myselfcaring for two aging femalesboth literally on their last legs,one with four furry ones,the other a two-legged onewho hadn’t had to shaveher smooth legs for years. This year as the sun sets earlier andearlier, … Continue reading →

They make you special art and leave itwhere you’ll find it, fully expecting youto use it for the purpose for whichit was originally intended. As if you’d ruin such heartfelt sentiment.As if you don’t go looking for another roll.As if … Continue reading →

We might’a thought: Look at the cute old peopletaking their own photonext to a trough of fire. It must be winter—they’reall bundled, though the manis wearing an aloha shirtunder his jacket. Do yousuppose he likes Hawaii? And the lady is … Continue reading →

Sure, easy go, too,but after all these yearsof having words flutter by and, when possible,pinning them down—or at least borrowing them to affix temporarilyto a page—I have cometo see them for the gift they are, not to thinkof it as … Continue reading →