Today begins National Poetry Month. Each year, during the month of April, I try to set some poetry goals. Usually I try to write a certain number of poems (and fall short) or submit to a certain number of magazines. I don’t think I’ve set reading goals, which I might do this year – I…
Category: Life
Essay Camp: Day Whatever
I’m staring at the flashing cursor and a blank screen. For all of my talk about this process by which writing elicits more writing and practice allows words to flow more easily, I still have days where that is not the case. I’ve been trying to write something about wonder and novelty. I’m also trying…
Essay Camp: Day Two
I woke up at 4:30 this morning. I’ve gotten up between 4:00 and 4:30 the last two days. Ever since the time change, I was struggling to get up at 5:05 (when my alarm goes off) or really any time before 6:00… Then something clicked, and now I’m up at 4:00-something. It might just be…
Essay Camp
Today is day one of Essay Camp. A few months ago I began following a writer on Twitter. I don’t know much about her other than she seemed cute and was living in Paris and was writing. She has something like 10,000 followers or more. On her substack, of which I’m a free (unpaid) subscriber,…
Daily Fifty-Two: Mar. 20, 2023
The black pickup truck with the rattling muffler rumbles into a parking spot in front of the dollar store. The decal on the back window reads, “this is what white privilege got me.” Trash bags and empty water jugs fill the pickup bed. The driver’s backwards cap boasts the stars and bars.
My Dog with the Abby Normal Brain
Every step in the process of re-homing my dog feels like a loss. Reaching out to the shelter. Answering their emails. Scheduling a vet visit. Scheduling an intake visit. Every single step feels like I’m saying goodbye. Every step feels like a betrayal and a failure on my part. If I have a savior complex…
Goats on Van Ness
On the drive home from work today I passed a hillside where a few goats were grazing. Sometimes, the goats are out, and sometimes they’re not. I like seeing the goats. When I see them, I say (in my head) hello goats. Today, shortly after I passed, I tried to imagine the goats in the…
Hefty Cropping
The other day, an old friend texted a picture of the two of us and wrote, “you used to be hefty.” I sent back a photo of Wilford Brimley and said now I’m old and hefty. Fun fact: though he looked much older, Brimley was not quite 51 years old when Cocoon was released (I’m…
The Dog, Again
Yesterday, I wrote about the dog and the walks we have. Given that we live together, it’s a topic from time to time. We take two walks a day – every day. Quite often, they’re short walks because it’s cold and windy here for five or six months of the year. Because the roads were…
Be the Person, Blah Blah Blah
Yesterday, I ended my post about belief systems with some statements about the world being a more wondrous place when it’s shared with good company. I didn’t say it that succinctly, but it was part of what I was aiming for. That sentiment runs slightly counter to the type of self-reliance I’ve been trying to…
Green Flags and World Beliefs
The prompt on the dating app reads, “I’ll fall for you if…” One answer I recently came across said, “You’re a gentleman who does that thing where you walk on the street side of the sidewalk …” Admittedly, this is not something I do or consciously put into practice. This isn’t the first time, I’ve…
Stretching Beyond the Daily Task
Yesterday marked half-a-year of my daily fifty-two project. The on-going goal is to force myself to write a little something every day. The on-going goal is to spend a few minutes, maybe ten or fifteen observing something or thinking about something I’ve observed. Limiting myself to fifty-two words was an arbitrary decision, but is/was intended…