Author Archives: janishaag

We all want to pluck a chunk of time,usually the good bits, and store themsomeplace safe— a chronological savings account,perhaps, or we chop time intosmall sections and stuff it into mason jars, tucking thoseprecious containers into our souls’basements so that … Continue reading →

(Noun: Music. A more or less independent passage at the endof a composition, introduced to bring it to a satisfactory close.) Neither my sister nor I thought it was important,but the family photographer did, wanting to take photos of us … Continue reading →

I couldn’t find it for months, the bracelet thatshe insisted had to be on the dining room table,the one I could not find on the dining room table, nor in her bathroom atop the slender medicinecabinet jammed with jewelry and … Continue reading →

My sister said to me in the driveway,her truck and my car, which not long agowas Mom’s car, full with the final loads from the house our parents called homesince 1966. Weighted with so much stuffbound for my own over-full … Continue reading →

I hadn’t realized whenI gave them to her one Christmasthat they didn’t match. “Jan,” said my mother in herwhat-have-you-done-now? voice,“These socks are mismatched.” “What?” I said. She hadn’t yetremoved them from their cardstocksleeve. “They have butterflieson them. You love butterflies.” … Continue reading →

Shimmering before my eyes most days now,a vision that makes me both worried and hopeful, I wonder: Is that the glaucoma? Oh, wait,is that you, Helper? Nice of you to drop in. I used to think of them as angels, … Continue reading →

If I must dielet it bring hopelet it be a story —Refaat Alareer from “If I must die” ••• I feel hope leaking likea bag of fresh sunlight afteryour slow passage into the what comes next.In the array of pale … Continue reading →

Every day the grandpa erects a castlefor his grandson who spends weekdayswith his grandparents at the home where his mama grew up, the grandpaknowing that his grandson will beholdthe intricate blocks-and-Lego structure for perhaps all of three seconds beforehe King … Continue reading →

(for Kevin and Ashley Just) And just like that the houseof the Haags becomesthe house of the Justs, the next generation ofJusts with the signing oflegal documents and thumbprints affixedand notarized. And aJust who was once a Haag passes the … Continue reading →

Breathe, darling,This is just a chapter.It’s not our whole story.—S.C. Lourie And given that it’s just a chapter,you are free to close the bookof you for a bit, take a break for now to,yes, breathe. And while you’reinhaling and exhaling, … Continue reading →