I say in lectures in 1996 that fifty percent or more of American marriages go bust because most of us no longer have extended families. When you marry somebody now, all you get is one person. I say when couples fight, it isn’t about money or sex or power. What they’re really saying is, “You’re…
Timequake
If there is a god, he sure hates people.…That there are such devices as firearms, as easy to operate as cigarette lighters and as cheap as toasters, capable at anybody’s whim of killing Father or Fats or Abraham Lincoln or John Lennon or Martin Luther King Jr., or a woman pushing a baby carriage, should…
Crabs in a Bucket
She waited for a break in the conversation to jump in and attack. I had been explaining a tax return (as best as I can) to her friend or partner, but hadn’t gotten very far in my explanation before she wagged her finger towards me. She demanded to know why she didn’t get a certain…
My Dog After His Walk
Hey Matt, Matt… h… hey Matt, that was a good walk, huh? Wasn’t it? That was a good walk, huh Matt? Um and um hey Matt, Matt… Matt, remember… remember that one time? Remember, when…? when after our walk, you… you … you gave me all the treats instead of putting them away… ? remember?…
One man in his time…
A long and lean woman stood naked in the doorway. The faint light from the kitchen outlined her silhouette casting the rest of her in shadow – almost spectral in the 3am night just before she came back to bed. Later, this same woman, someone I once dated, was with me as I submitted fake…
Sick Day
By 3pm on Wednesday, I knew it was coming. I could feel that soreness in my throat that walks a few steps ahead of its slacker cousins the stuffed up nose and groggy head. I was getting sick. Dammit. What started as “oh, I know this feeling…” steamrolled into certainty shortly after dinner. It was…
Early Spring, Still Winter
It’s too cold for this late in March. Traces of snow from last night’s dusting line the grass where the trees cast their shadows. The gravel drive, pocked with puddles caught in early spring’s freeze-thaw see-saw indecision, muddies my shoes and slips underfoot. Even the sun and clouds play coyly as they dance with trepidation….
College Life
Yesterday morning I woke up with a tune in my head. It wasn’t a song I knew, but I kept hearing this repeating melody. I briefly thought about a gentleman who needs to stop by the office, but the tune returned, along with another one. On Sunday night I went to concert, and I’m pretty…
Dismissive, Independent, Avoidant Johnny and Sometimes Anxious Sue
I want to write about a guy I used to know. We sometimes ran into each other at one of the bars I frequented. We would talk or share stories. I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we were friendly. In fact, I think if we ever got to talking politics, I suspect we wouldn’t…
Work, Passion, and the Monkey Mind
If I could choose those things over which I obsess or focus, I’d like them to be things that make me smile… things that bring me joy… things that make me understand better what it means to be human. A counter to that way of thinking is to smile at more things, find joy in…
The Process, or Lack Thereof
A poem is never finished, only abandoned. – Paul Valery Once every year or so, I abandon a few poems in the inboxes of some literary journals. After few months, those journals politely tap me on the shoulder, litter in hand like soiled tissues, “um sir… sir…. I think you dropped these.” I look around…
Failure to Launch
I started this post almost two weeks ago. It was cold then. I revisited it and revised it, the weather got warm, and now it’s cold again with snow on the ground and more on the way… During one of the revisions on a warmer day I wrote: In the predawn hours, the morning birds…