Author Archives: janishaag

It is no small thing to begranted this time, to walk into a long-ago classroom alivein your mind, slide onto a hard wooden chair attached toa round-bottomed desk, open the Formica’d lid, and pull outa nearly full notebook of swollen … Continue reading →

Everything— every breath, every moleculeof sunshine, the deluge that caught youyesterday, the morsel of gladnessin sharing a smile with a dear one,that sharp taste of sweetnessdown to the unfathomable weightof yet another sorrow— none of it will come again. Not … Continue reading →

(For R.D. Schmidt, in memory of C.W. Schmidt) You cannot take the measure of a manfrom his ruler, the one that restedin the dark of a slender desk draweruntil it was called into service, then brought into squinty office lightby … Continue reading →

(for birthday gal Shelley Burns) It’s over 60 degrees on the 23rd dayof this new year as freezing friendsin the east express envy and a little disbelief about Northern Californiaspringlike conditions after (for us)too many gray days and whomping rain. … Continue reading →

Sometimes the gods of auto-correctare your friend, like today,as my fingers attempt to type— in case you haven’t heard— instead, before my fuzzy eyesthe editors behind the scenesrecast it as— in case you haven’t heart— which, of course, causes a … Continue reading →

Lately my father has been riding in the backseaton Momdays as I chauffeur my mother in her car. He is, of course, belted in—the man who installedseatbelts in our 1965 turquoise Rambler, long before any law required them. He grins … Continue reading →

Jeez, dude next door—I heard all your (yes, I’m usingthis word) ejaculations, such repeated hollering thatonly one thing, I imagine,could warrant such an outcry. But an hour later into mynews feed comes the headline,and I remember what a football fan … Continue reading →

The days aren’t all gray now,though they can start that way—dove gray, glove gray, elephant gray,cloudy gray— the color of coins or pencil lead,pewter or the faintest gray of full moonseen from a far-away perch fromthis humble planet. Some days … Continue reading →

how do you know it’s not the last straw,that the ship has sailed,that you have not made matters worse? your guess is as good as mineas we live and learn,bite off more than we can chewonce in a blue moon. … Continue reading →

My mother cannot see my faceas I stand in the family room five feet from her—you’re all shadow,she says—sending a shudder through me not only because her vision has beendimming for years, but also because I, too, now nightly deposit … Continue reading →