Category Archives: Uncategorized

who deeply misses his dearlydeparted companion Dick Tracy—not the comic book characterbut an entirely real character— who married Felicia long agoand moved to her family‘s ranchwhere she was raised, where sheraised her children and trained horsesand cared for the world … Continue reading →

We come upon them,stilled atop bright yellowconeflowers near sunset,settled in for the coming night,so quiet they hardly seem alive. But this is how bumblebeesrest, the females returning tothe nest, the males in needof a safe haven to bed down. We … Continue reading →

Canary yellow fins of a kayak paddleflash between the soft blue of skyand teal green of Tahoe’s nearshore, as a boy embedded to his waist inthe small craft masterfully maneuversunder and around the pier wherehis grownups sit sunning on asparkling … Continue reading →

for Cora Johnson She once played a two-bitdancehall girl in a smallNevada town—a bit ofa floozy, Peachy Keen— but we know her asthe most loyal of friends,a gal who’d upend her life,grab her best college buddy from Colorado and flyto … Continue reading →

Lazy clouds meander like legless sheepacross the blue-eyed sky, pencil-pointedpeaks jutting into it, mountains we haven’t seen in ages, ones swathedso long in snow it seemed that theirrocky faces would never reappear. But there they are, the old reliables,Sierra sentinels … Continue reading →

No, Ma, you are not a size 14 or an XL—you’re the incredible shrinking woman,well below your high school weightof 118, a whopping 101 now, a size 8 at best and certainlya petite. No, you’re not 5-feet-4any more. I’m 5-feet-4, … Continue reading →

(for Donna Gail)•••Granite Bay, summer 1966 We are fish out of water, little sister,far from where we started:flat land close to oceanchoked with palm treesand orange groves, sidewalksfor roller skates and bikes,Disneyland, four grandparents,two aunts and an uncle andtwo older … Continue reading →

Permission granted to: • let your brain roll around in its hard shell• grasp at this thought or that• mull over the to-do list (or avoid it)• allow your monkey mind to leap from branch to branchuntil it settles into … Continue reading →

Last light blazes horizontally throughthe urban jungle of volunteers in all shadesof green, around the thick, old sycamoreflashing leaves the size of bread plates.Sunbeams strike the century-old house,turning its pink stucco vaguely tangerine. On the deck, two slender ficus rise … Continue reading →

Well, you may go to collegeYou may go to schoolYou may have a pink CadillacBut don’t you be nobody’s fool. —from Arthur Gunter’s “Baby, Let’s Play House,”recorded in 1955 by Elvis Presley with additional lyrics ••• On this day in … Continue reading →