Category Archives: Uncategorized

John

Never walked a labyrinth before.What’m I s’posed to do?Just walk? What if I get lost?Whaddya mean, I can’t get lost?I can always get lost.Just follow the path to the center?What do I do there?Anything I want, huh?Then walk back out?Huh.Walking … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Meditate

First, how did the artistwith the spray can reachthe bridge’s undercarriage to paint “MEDITATE” in asurprisingly legible hand?Crawl? Rappel over the side? And did the artful one imaginethat the word might convincea passer-by perhaps paddling below to calm the mind, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thank your benefactors

Well, the ancestors for sure.Especially the ones who never knew mebut laid down the path I now walk. The parents, too, who made mein more ways than the original one,far from perfect, perfect for me. The sister I didn’t know … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Jukebox in my brain

The tune should have been what I waspracticing that morning on the xylophonein the basement of the music building, but no, after my solo session, on my wayto the bank, I started making a listin my head about the day … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Thank you, darling

I can count on one hand the peoplewho’ve called me “darling” in a kind way,and, it occurs to me now, that none of them were sleeping with meor were related to me. They haveall been women older than I who, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Hope is the thing with flowers

If hope is the thing with feathers,as Emily so quotably wrote—dashes and all— hope is also the thing with flowers,a profusion of the blooming thingseverywhere in my small orbit, and I must ask the indulgenceof others who listen to myexuberant … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Burr’s Fountain

I drive by and sigh with longing,as if passing a mausoleum,which it is, in a way— the rectangular white buildingonce home to booths and a livelycounter tended by teenaged servers,ice cream scoops at the ready. Now it’s silent, abandoned, the … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Clumsy feet

The sweet, small, clumsy feet of April came intothe ragged meadow of my soul.—e. e. cummings ••• I set my rain-booted ones in April’s clumsy feet,clomping through puddles like someone much younger and closer to the ground,not minding the dampening … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pink roses outside Trader Joe’s

(Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento, California) Walk into the foyer of the store,and you’re hit in the floral sensewith all manner of bouquets at reasonable prices, perfectfor spontaneous gift-givingor, in the case of small bunches of about-to-bloom daffodils,for a vase at home … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Keep walking

And now some of the same monkswho trekked 2,300 miles acrossa good chunk of the United States are walking through Sri Lankawith their simple message of peace,offering blessings to hundreds who line roadways:May you be happy.May you be peaceful. May … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment