I’ve heard many complaints throughout my life that Baseball’s World Series is improperly named. It’s not a battle I feel like fighting, but I’d have to agree with the complainers. Frankly, the United States and one city in southern Canada do not the “World” make. So, perhaps the complainers are right to argue their point at every turn, but I’d rather […]
On Dust and Bravery
“When I was young, I fell in love with story.” It was the first line that caught my attention. I knew that feeling – that falling in love with story. I’ve done that. But then the words went on, and struck even deeper chords than my love of story: the tension of roots and wings, of settling and adventuring. It […]
The Night Cary Grant Hooted
Photo courtesy of Dr. Macro’s High Quality Movie Scans It started with Cary Grant screaming. Well, maybe you’d call it more of a hoot. “Squeal” is too high, “scream” too sharp. It’s this startled “whoooo!” sound that’s rather difficult to describe. It was 2006. The Olympics were in Torino and I was in Alaska. It was February, one of our […]
Stopping by the Woods: A Review of A Year in Weetamoo Woods
I’ve never written a poetry review before, so perhaps I’m doing this all wrong. Perhaps I should talk of meter and rhyme, cadence and word choice. But I’m not going to do that. I shall leave such things to those better versed in the criticism of poetry. Instead, I shall approach these verses as a reader. For, though I’ve studied […]
When Your Tuque Falls in the Curry
The full title of this piece—which, sadly, wouldn’t fit very well—is: When Your Tuque Falls in the Curry: And Other Problems of Using Your Laundry as an Outdoor Fridge -The Annals of a Philly Winter- Our laundry facilities are in a lean-to by the side of the kitchen that doubles as an entryway to the apartment. It is completely un-insulated […]
Pieces Go Missing
I was reminded this morning that tomorrow, December 1, marks the day of an accident two years ago that took a beloved and friend and mentor from this earth. It was the start of a hard Christmas season. One where tears held their own against the joy and the laughter. It was the start of a year of sorrow followed […]
The Still, Small Voice
I sat at a concert about a month ago and listened as the man standing before us, guitar in hand, dredged up the whole of his soul and threw it down in rhythm, chord, meter, and lyric. I desperately wanted to raise my hands and join him in the soul-pouring. I adored the song. I adored the performance. I worshiped […]
Stuck in the Middle
“I took one of those online quizzes to see if I’m left-brained or right-brained,” I said to Debbie over coffee earlier this week. She began chuckling even as I continued my thought: “I’m right in the middle! Practically 50-50!” “I could have told you that,” she said. She laughed a little more, then lowered her voice conspiratorially. “You know it’s […]
The End of All Our Exploring
It is hard for me to choose a favorite part of T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets; ask me one day and I shall give you a different answer than the next. But one line consistently speaks my language. I’ve tried to capture it again and again in my thinking and writing. I’ve written a novel manuscript with major themes revolving around it. […]
Figuring It Out Later: Hutchmoot 2013
“I’ll probably figure out what this weekend meant to me in a few days,” I said to Rachel and Christine as we drove home from Hutchmoot on Monday. After I attended for the first time last year, I discovered that I couldn’t put into words what it had meant until I’d read the offerings of a few other attendees. When […]