Category Archives: Uncategorized

Deep pink ones pop like over-inflated balloonsall over my front yard, as they do everywhere these days of floral abundance springing into action.I did not plant each geranium—my next-door garden goddess did from sprigs of her own plants—though the newbies … Continue reading →

(for Mom and Ashley, with love) The same Monday afternoon I cruiseplants in a nursery, I walk by a largeheart sculpture on an outside wall,and think, Nice, about to walk on. But something stops me, and Ibackstep to peer closely, … Continue reading →

I am terrible at games,even word games, which you’d think,wordy as I am, I’d cruise through like a Sunday spin over smooth road.Not so much, which makes no differenceto me until I take up a challenge to convene quartets of … Continue reading →

We whisper to the one setting off,one foot, then the other, whether into the labyrinththat will take them to the center or into the greater world.We infuse them with a bit of the holy that we all carry,on this walk … Continue reading →

(for Maxi) I’m sorry, dude, that I tried to pick you upand put you in the bathroom so a tall womanwith clippers could come give you a pedicure. And you cleverly squished out the doorthat I tried to close and … Continue reading →

The old one lies dead nearby,a 50-foot limp gray snake,all the air having left its bodyafter years in the back yard. I have not been able to remove it.What do you do with a hosepierced dozens of times by the … Continue reading →

You may have to breakyour heart, but it isn’t nothingto know even one moment alive. from “Any Common Desolation,” Ellen Bass ••• Looking at the baby on her 11th day in the world,you think, as everyone does, looking at suchpink … Continue reading →

Spring mornings I like to step outside,look up at the trellis over the driveway,admire the lavender clusters of wisteriahanging like ornaments of spring,fleeting as they are. The delicate petals have fallenon the windshield of my late mother’s car,the tiny cups … Continue reading →

Instead of hoisting a sign with millions of others,we drove into the foothills to hang paintingsthat had belonged to a dearly departed belovedfor her daughter, to spend timein remembrance. We waved at those holding signs on cornersin the small towns … Continue reading →

Dear Mrs. Lester, You will be happy to know, I think,in these months of greening that wemortals think of as spring, that your deardaughter—the child you produced primarily,or so I imagined, to become my best friend,the girl next door—sent me … Continue reading →