On Saturday night, when my friend texted to say it looks like the rain will hold off, I reluctantly agreed to go hiking. My weather app showed possible rain all day. which was one reason for my reluctance. In addition to that, I didn’t feel like being up early and giving up my day. As…
Category: Life
Two Years In
It’s raining. It’s been raining. We’re in the midst of an “atmospheric river” weather event which, if I’m being honest, seems like a pretty normal rainstorm back east. The only reason these things feel amplified out here is because we get so little rain. I think we’ve gotten an inch of rain so far. While…
AI and Art
The other day, I spent most of my morning shower debating with myself over the use of AI. Even though it, AI, has infiltrated almost every corner of life, I avoid it. By which I mean, I don’t use it to write or create anything and I try to ignore the AI summaries in my…
Scrolling through Old Photos
While screwing around with the photos on my phone, I touched the part of the screen that scrolled all the way up to the first photo in my library, an image of Banksy’s “Girl with Balloon” painting. The next is of a comic strip, and then a mirror selfie at the beach house from 2017…
These Last Few Mornings…
Monday morning. After a fitful night of sleep in which I dreamed about being given two abandoned, tamed, and not yet fully grown lions to care for and trying to get someone from animal control to help… a night in which I woke in a tangle of sheets and quilt, I had a quick breakfast…
Getting from Point A to Point B
It’s Monday and I don’t know how to start. Didn’t know how to start. Pre-dawn tired from a fitful night of sleep. At least that’s how today’s poem begins. I tried twice to write it, one version not terribly different from the other. I’ve already read a half-dozen poems and had one and half cups…
Looking for Community
While listening to a few writers read their poems and personal essays and also talk about where they’re finding the light in these dark times, it occurred to me that… well, I’m not sure how to phrase it – that I don’t have that type of community or those kinds of connections and friendships. It…
Falling Out and Politics
Not long ago I had a falling out with a friend. The falling out had been a while in the making. I think it started in early August when a woman he might have, kinda, sorta liked asked me to walk her home. He felt snubbed and sent some drunk angry texts to me: “Fuck…
Jury Duty: Day Two
I arrived in a more timely fashion for my second day of jury duty – in fact, I was quite a bit early. What had really happened the day before was that when I looked at how long the bus ride took, I was looking at non rush hour times. I adjusted accordingly. I also…
Fall in San Francisco
Paying attention to and living in the city has filled me with delight and fascination these past few days and weeks. Fall in San Francisco has a mix of some of our warmest days alongside fall-like days and there are festivals almost every weekend: Folsom Street (kink and leather), Chinatown’s Autumn Moon festival, Castro Street…
Jury Duty: Day One
The bus took longer than I had expected it to. I got to the courthouse on Bryant Street just in time. There was a line waiting to get through the metal detectors. A line of about 20 or 30 other people who had also gotten there just in time. More were showing up. Belt, cellphone,…
Point of No Return? Feeling Overwhelmed
Every day, I read the news and find another reason (or several) to dislike this administration. Every day, I wonder if democracy can survive until the next election, and I fear that what will be left of our country after four years of this will be unrecognizable. How will things look from the ditch we…