Brief Notes

June 10, 2017.Reading time 2 minutes.

Dear Parents, Sorry I didn’t always do things in the way (or order) you thought I should, but quite frankly, your screwups made me seriously doubt your wisdom, and besides, what could I ever hope to learn from conformity? p.s. I hope I turned out alright in your eyes. Dear Kids, I know I haven’t […]

Lunch Bag Letdown

December 8, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

Some stories just beg telling and this is one of them. I knew there would be trouble the minute I laid eyes on the gold lame’ lunch bag my husband plopped on the counter in front of me. My old one, an industrial blue hardware store model, had drowned the day before in a bath […]

In the Game of Life, I’m a Fumbler

September 24, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

I think there is something wrong with my internal compass. Seriously. It’s like every time I set out to do something, I end up in a totally different direction. Is it just me? When I was twenty-one, for example, I bought a one-way ticket to England where I planned to live, work, and study Shakespearean […]

Brotherly Reunion

April 16, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

My mother birthed six children through the course of two marriages; her first husband, father of the original four, married a woman who also had four children, so we are a family of full, half, step and out-of-step children. Fifteen years separate the oldest and youngest, and as the second youngest, I have never really […]

Cutie Duck

March 2, 2016.Reading time 1 minute.

“Did you know that I am a big sister?” three-and-a-half-year-old Sloane is quick to offer to anyone she comes into contact with. If asked her sister’s name, she quickly replies: “I call her Cutie Duck”. Small for her age, Sloane has wispy, white blonde hair, big brown eyes, and talks with a high-pitched, squeaky voice. […]

Where Are The Dogs?

Contemplating risk –a reunion with a former selflooking for an exit When did I become a snakerestrained?When did I become persona non grata? I slither between storiesconvince myself I can flydistraction a ruse I have big cat energyoverstepping boundariessocially adverse A faulty jeweldreaming of abundance but there’s a dragon to disarm My mother’s burden on my […]

Turning (tanka)

Mother

When I had a mothermy hair would cascadein curls of auburn perfectiona red velvet bow to accentuate the wave And I’d wear my bestnewly sewn frockwith lace at the neckand fishnet stockingsand patent Mary Janes And the girls giggling with delightwould skip hand-in-handto the school promand the boys shyly perchedagainst the back wall would wonderhow […]