Category Archives: Uncategorized

(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 →

Though we have bailed out of exercise earlytoday—because the leaf blower man hascome to blow away the leaves on her lawnwhere we work out to and with the oldies— Marilyn comes inside, heading for her laptopon the table by the … Continue reading →

Given the choicebetween love and not love, between the harsh voiceand the gentle one, it is prudent, you remindyourself, to pause when this one or that one isannoyingly annoying, and you want, more thananything, to snap off their head and … Continue reading →

for Dickie on his fifth rebirth-a-versary The day you melted,I witnessed the collapseof a self, a candle burneddown to a puddle of wax,a heap of humanity—gone. Yet strangers sprangto reshape your meltedself into a new form,and we learned thatresurrection is … Continue reading →