Brand "X" , and ACME, poems and stories. Surreal, sappy, funny, horrific, and human.
Are you going on holidays? Buy our pills, or you could get traveler's diarrhea. (a woman in a white bathing suit runs toward a public bathroom, which is lined up out the door) Adults over 50 should get the Shingles vaccine. Talk to your Doctor. (May cause death in rare cases) Someone is shown enjoying... Continue Reading →
After her death, We cleared out Mother's house. Among the found things were A stained brown envelope with a marriage license from 1932 A jewelry chest full of baubles we never saw her wear In with the baubles, wrapped in plastic, someone's baby teeth An old leather bound Bible we never saw her read Pressed... Continue Reading →
A charming story.
I saw her again, the old lady in her seventies, who was sitting in the corner of a sofa outside the library. She was reading a newspaper, all her attention was paid to the front page it seemed, she didn’t turn the page. A half-empty lunch box was just beside her, she had already finished her coffee.
I walked towards her slowly so that I wouldn’t appear intrusive. She lifted her head, gently. No sense of surprise was to be traced, our eyes met, I smiled to her, and she to me. I sat on the floor, looking up to her face. Her grey hair was done in a loose bun. She smiled again.
Her appearance at the campus is quite noticeable, she looks so different from what is expected to be seen at an university. She walks slowly, having her back bent forward to such an extent that her…
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Steve Fuller has been encouraging the Baristas to develop monthly themes for the Go Dog Go Cafe’s Baristas and guest writers to use as a springboard for their creativity, much like the Chef’s use a unifying ingredient on Iron Chef or Chopped.
We will be launching this “ingredient for the month” concept in February in way that let’s us honor the great writer Ursula K. Le Guin, who we lost earlier this week after an amazing life of writing and inspiring adults and children around the world with her powerful storytelling, poetry, and essays. We challenge all of you to write a poem, essay, reflective piece, story, flash fiction that honors her, is inspired by a favorite LeGuin story, or dives into the mind of a character in one of her books. You pick, she is your main ingredient.
If you decide to take us up on our monthly challenge, please submit…
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I used to lie awake at night even with the pills praying for a goodly sleep to cure me of my ills but then, the greenies vaporized and many nights of Hell I spent, and I was terrorized by the clock's alarming bell and then, the jumpy nerves were calm and I was amply blessed... Continue Reading →
Ursula K. Le Guin was one of my favourite authors. I will miss her keen mind and great storytelling.
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by Beth Gwinn/Getty Images. 2001
I don’t know how many of you have heard, but literary icon and one of my personal idols, Ursula K. Le Guin passed away yesterday afternoon. She was the first woman to win the Nebula Award and Hugo Award for Best Novel, for her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness. She went on to win these awards several more times throughout her career. This prolific and gifted writer wrote twenty more novels, and according to the New York Times, “a dozen books of poetry, more than 100 short stories (collected in multiple volumes), seven collections of essays, 13 books for children and five volumes of translation, including the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu and selected poems by the Chilean Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral.”
Ursula’s novels made me realize that fantasy wasn’t always just about wizards and…
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This has really hit home with me at the present time. I would like to thank the author.
Living with a chronic illness is a challenge at best. If the illness is devastating but not recognized by the medical establishment, convincing ourselves life is worth living becomes an uphill battle.
Photo Courtesy of Lucie Stastkova
In the year 2000, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness that presented as a drop-dead flu. I’d been symptomatic since in the 1980s, but early on, flareups were few and far between. Innumerable doctor visits always produced tests with negative results. Over time, symptoms increased in severity and duration until they became immobilizing and constant in 1999.
I knew my doctors thought I was malingering. I felt invalidated yet knew damn well something was wrong. I lived in fear of a dreaded disease not being detected in time to be treated. Simultaneously, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live. By 1999 I was nearly bedridden; in debilitating pain; overwhelmed by fatigue; suffering…
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Well, I have completed weeks of total withdrawal from a five year addiction to prescription medication. The grip was that strong that it's been an ongoing struggle, but will get to the other side.
I never knew my Grandpa. We have only a faded daguerreotype. But we kids had found out what we weren't supposed to Through fortuitous eavesdropping. He had just gone into his barn one day And done the deed with his own shotgun. Then, when I was twenty, My troubled old Dad said a thing All... Continue Reading →
Some very helpful actions taken by Eve.
AreMyFeetOffTheGround 