Author Archives: janishaag

Crow blackcascading down her backlike kelp massagedby the sea braids to her waist—grown ‘em all my life,she says to the hootsof other Black girlsin my classroomwho pooh-poohthat notion hair’ll break it getsthat long—gotta beextensions Decades laterI stand on a trailoverlooking … Continue reading →

Dr. Janis peers through the magicalmachine that looks like a giant pairof glasses on a swinging pole—something Elton might have wornonstage in the 1970s—her eyes on the opposite sideof the device inspecting mine. She’s done this for years, keepingwatch on … Continue reading →

Even with the car’s A/C pumpingits little compressor heart out,I feel my left arm burning throughthe driver’s side window,having left the cool coastline,speeding just a little overthe I-5 limit north toward homeon the second century-plusafternoon of the summer. Next to … Continue reading →

(Moss Cove, Pt. Lobos State Natural Reserve) After decades of relishingthe feel of soft sandcaressing my toes, pebbled shorelineshave become my favoritebeaches. I appreciate the great work over eonsof the sea pulverizing rockand coral into fine silica, but how I … Continue reading →

(for the Brandt’s cormorants and brown pelicansof Bird Island, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve,California) ••• A convention of the slender black-cloaked,long-necked ones gathers on the great rock,some nesting the next generation into being,while nearby a contingent of brown giants somehow … Continue reading →

(at Mission Ranch, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California) ••• Clouds meander overhead aswe graze on an open-to-the-skydeck overlooking a vast pasture,the cumulus rippling overover meadow grass like waves, watching dreadlocked sheepmunch soft green grass, takingturns under a favorite low-hangingbranch for back scratches, theirblack … Continue reading →

(At the Tickle Pink Inn, Carmel Highlands) I study the sign for some time,thinking I shoulda learned someLatin when I had the chance, but that’s why God inventedthe internet, so I look it up.What on earth could restabit mean? Ah, … Continue reading →

Every time I walked up to the old housewhere we stayed—in this placewhere people were banished, sickand dying—I went between the posts that had once supported a latchedgate that kept out the undesirables.This house, where the doctors ofthe settlement had … Continue reading →

Up early (for me), I driveher Hyundai to her town,which long ago was my town,which is this morning my townagain, to sit in a shiny showroomnear the $40K snazzy electric car,which I will likely never acquire inthis lifetime, though I … Continue reading →

Even the most ordinary, doe-brownversions discarded by Canada geeseas common in this park as leaves. My walking buddy does not ask whyI bend to pluck them from the path,nor what I will do with the feathers, which I appreciate, because, … Continue reading →