Wonder World
The saddler’s leather The vane of a feather The needles that come from a pine Electrical static And the smoke aromatic And the shivery feel up your spine Hot … Continue Reading Wonder World
Dangerous day
Yesterday, in my little corner of the world, we ran into some coincidental calamities, or nearly so….. all in the space of ten minutes. I was driving east on … Continue Reading Dangerous day
A farewell to a life
In one of the back bedrooms of your emptied house, you sit for a moment on the stepstool you were using to dust out the vintage cobwebs. The others are … Continue Reading A farewell to a life
number fifteen
A green caterpillar, stripy, with soft padded sticky feet. It twirls and caresses the finger, then drops thirty storeys. A shattered shard of mirror, six inches from point to base. … Continue Reading number fifteen
My precious
This morning, I cried. Over foggy coffee, fiddling with my phone, I watched a woman in her hospital bed wake up with new lungs. How long she bore the breathing … Continue Reading My precious
Pierce my heart with cast iron arrows
Fifty years on, in my sad unpacking, this time of letting go, I find, pressed between panes, a polaroid. A face is fuzzily framed in one angled corner, and I … Continue Reading Pierce my heart with cast iron arrows
The shooter (GRAPHIC)
Far from home and soul is me so anchorless, adrift divorced am i from family tree and Maker’s kingly gift with jealousy and wounded pride without a sense of worth … Continue Reading The shooter (GRAPHIC)
The picture that bothers me
On my desktop, I’ve been in the habit of saving thousands of pictures from the internet. I have loaded them into a screensaver so that each one dissolves into the … Continue Reading The picture that bothers me
Amanda
We were out celebrating a friend’s birthday at a little tavern in town. The waitress I had been used to seeing was no longer there, and I asked the owner … Continue Reading Amanda
Live ones today
I posted an ad on Facebook (what a fool). I done dood it all wrong, I think…… Ad said “I have 3 old bicycles, free to a good home” “They … Continue Reading Live ones today
“It’s just Colin”
We had been looking for a place to rent near town because our landlord gave us notice to vacate. His kids wanted the house to live in. We’d never lived … Continue Reading “It’s just Colin”
The Seventh stairway
Furtive and troubling, the rustling of things, Imagined, perhaps, in the dark. And close now, the flapping of leathery wings, And the hounds are beginning to bark. Some thing keeps … Continue Reading The Seventh stairway
Might it be you?
I skip and skim too much, really. Too picky, you know? Might spend an hour in a bookstore, and come out with nothing. Just ’cause the first paragraph didn’t grab … Continue Reading Might it be you?
A dream of northern climes
Twenty years have gone by, such a passage of time, Since I dreamed the most singular thing. You and I, we were natives of a far northern clime, And we … Continue Reading A dream of northern climes
#14 Things in the swamp (not at all pleasant)
we’ve been led here. I feel we have. on a forest picnic so bright and sunny. dappled trails. you wanted bare feet, and carried your funny shoes. mossy springy grass. … Continue Reading #14 Things in the swamp (not at all pleasant)
Marshmallow Moon
Me and my dear daughter Are a-goin’ to the moon She’s pilot of our spaceship And we’ve gotta get there soon We’re bringin’ back some samples Of rocks an’ dymond … Continue Reading Marshmallow Moon
