Category Archives: Uncategorized

(or One More Reason I Shop at Trader Joe’s) Because, after years of seeing grocery storesigns say, “15 items or less,” these guysget the usage right—not once, but twice, at the same checkout stand.And while they could be accusedof redundancy, … Continue reading →

Sometimes, emerging from the shower,a line flits across my mind like a gnat,and if I don’t snatch it and set it downwhere I can see it, it’s gone. So, toweled and dripping, I let my dampfootprints pad into the nearest … Continue reading →

I am too old for this, I think,open mouthed, as the technicianaffixes tiny pearls to my teethwhere nearly invisible trays will attach,adjusting my bite a half century aftermy parents paid the orthodontist$1,000 to straighten my youthfulchompers. Now I am paying … Continue reading →

(In memory of Nell Lester) The snippet of creeping plantin the pint glass on my kitchen windowsillhas grown wispy roots that wavelike the dangling tentacles of jellyfishor the white-blonde hair of a girlfloating on her back. I was that girl … Continue reading →

I look at them dubiously in their cellophanejacket in the produce section, their zippertantalizingly open to tempt passersbylike me with that tumble of dark rubies,practically daring the shopperto reach in and try one. I never do, assuming that would be … Continue reading →

Maximum cat, you are,I say to the big guy sprawled on his sideon my office floor, where I havejoined him for a time, still getting himused to the idea of me, as togetherwe get used to the idea of not … Continue reading →

(for Clifford Ernest PollandMay 21, 1952–March 19, 2001) You pop in less frequently now,but, when I see a handsome older manwalking into Target, about your height,hair and beard the color of a storybook cloud,I think—not for the first time—that could … Continue reading →

under stars, kabillionsof twinkles, of which I canusually make out only a few dozen, untilI migrate to the sea wherenight waves soften my gaze enough to float methrough the curtain of nightinto the greater universe where I sail effortlesslyon waves … Continue reading →

Now that I’ve given you up,I run into you every time I pop in to drop an envelope into the thin mawof the beast that embraces the mailables, and (please, postal gods) magicallyferries them where they need to go. You … Continue reading →

I have just learned that the wood thrush,a bird that lives 2,000 miles east of its westerncousins near me, possesses two sets of vocal cords, each in its own tiny chamber in the throat,allowing it to sing two distinct notes … Continue reading →