10:28am. Muffled through the ceiling, my upstairs neighbor is laughing and suddenly I’m aware of how few times I’ve used the word uproariously. Scrolling through profiles on my phone, I see a photo of a woman standing in front of bales of hay and I’m reminded of summer concerts on the farm in the fading…
Category: Dear Diary
Story Fest
On Saturday night, I went to a reading of sorts. Story Fest brought together a handful of Bay Area journalists on a stage occasionally accompanied by a trio (or was it quartet) of musicians. The stories were touching and funny, shocking and earnest. One told of coming to San Francisco chasing her dream of being…
That Sounds Like…
The song in my head was “On the Road Again” by Canned Heat. But then the song morphed to “Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing” by Chris Isaak. It morphed one more time to “Gold on the Ceiling” by the Black Keys. Of the three, the Black Keys song is the least similar. Where my…
Drafting and Drifting
The last thing I shared on this site was on June 9. I’ve attempted some form of writing at least 5 other times since then. Those attempts sit among the list of “drafts.” Looking at the months of May and June, I’ve shared 11 posts, and have another 15 that I never got around to…
Sushi from the Grocery Store
We were walking to dinner and trying to decide where to eat when we ran in to a woman my girlfriend knew and was becoming friends with. They had met while walking the dogs – or something like that. That’s not really where the memory begins. I was thinking that I should pick up sushi…
City Day, All the Things
Yesterday, Saturday, was one of those city days that had a little bit of everything: a touch of crazy, a lot of beauty, a little whimsy, and a mix of weather. The day started out gray and cool. I had my waffles, wrote a little, then caught a mid-morning bus to the Haight. Also getting…
A Year Ago Today
In the middle of a slow morning one year ago, I got a call from my best friend’s wife. My friend had had a massive heart attack. He didn’t make it. I couldn’t tell you what the weather was like that day. I couldn’t tell you if it was sunny or gray. I can remember…
What I’ve Known Influences What I Want
It was while reading a poem that begins with drinking white wine from jade cups in Szechuan China that I tried to imagine different lives, more exotic lives, lives I haven’t lived, lives I may never live. I started to write my own version of it – late-night dinner parties with interesting friends; stars and…
Stuck Somewhere on a Dance Floor
Another week has passed and I’m still waltzing around the edges of life’s ever-expanding dance floor. The dance partners change frequently: wonder for one turn, disappointment for another, curiosity, skepticism, worry, and reverie. All the while, the tune in the background is a series of questions – most of them variations on that eternal theme…
For the Love of Slow Mornings
When I can arrange it, I revel in the slowness of mornings. With sunshine and coffee, I try to stretch the moments for as long as I can. In the early hours, I love the way the mind loafs, when allowed to loaf. Meditations on people, or moments, or life’s many wandering paths, or the…
Social Butterfly, Lone Wolf, Hermit Crab
The sun is almost noon high. The sky is clear and pale blue. I’m having a tasty and simple lunch. I’ve already been to the farmer’s market, and gone for a run by the Bay, and written a few words that might become poems. The day feels good. Friday, after work, I took the train…
Terms of Endearment: A Meditation on Memory
“Hey babes, I got the wordle in two this morning…” At six-something in the morning with the sun already bright and streaming through the windows, I scrolled social media and the news. Someone shared a poem, someone shared their outrage, someone shared that they solved the morning Wordle and now they feel invincible, someone shared…