I Know This Much Is True
The artist is learning a special language in which to reveal truth. If you write, write from the heart, yet carefully, objectively. Never pose. Write little things which you think … Continue reading
Overhead
Still not moving–thirty minutes after the departure time. Passengers check the clocks on their cell phones, sigh, slap their legs, make utterances in their native tongues. When the bus to … Continue reading
I Pick Things Up And Put Them Down
At baggage claim in Istanbul, the men are standing with hands on their hips. They wait shoulder to shoulder, some standing sideways to get one arm slightly closer to the … Continue reading
On Your Way
You know, my dear child, that one cannot find peace in word or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent, but only in one’s soul. –(From the Mother … Continue reading
Baby’s First Swim
The mother slowly hands her infant to his father, who waits in the shallow end of the hotel swimming pool. The baby wears a diaper and a cloth head wrap … Continue reading
Summer, Childhood, Shades
“I know what’s wrong with me,” he told the doctor. “Acute nostalgia. I want to be young again. Is there a cure for that?” –Antal Szerb. Journey By Moonlight … Continue reading
If The Shoe Rips
There’s a Norman Rockwell-styled advertisement featuring a cobbler diligently crafting some durable soles. He is sketched in a moment of peering up from his trade to twinkle at the artist. … Continue reading
My Favorite Things
Perhaps he thought acting natural would mean he could escape my blog. However, he was a.) an old man, b.) wearing navy suspenders, c.) using a cane, and d.) eating … Continue reading
How Was Your Day?
I have discovered that most people have no one to talk to, no one, that is, who really wants to listen. When it does at last dawn on a man … Continue reading
A Donut Day In Swimsuit Season
The woman at the register greeted the next pair in line warmly, “I’ll take the next…Hi.” The mother stepped forward, her son jumped and danced up alongside her. “Well, don’t … Continue reading
Good Health. You’re Welcome.
Life can be hard for non-smokers who don’t have the tasks and belongings of smokers to keep their hands busy. Instead must find ways to deal with our hands, to … Continue reading
Wednesday Strategy Session
Some people have a great dream and don’t accomplish it. Still others have no dreams and likewise don’t accomplish them. –Fernando Pessoa. The Book of Disquiet (immortalized in Lisbon graffiti)
The Ideal
The young mother held her daughter’s hand as the tiny girl leapt off the curb, hustled ahead, then slowed down–her mother’s arm was a satisfactory tether. The open-air shopping center … Continue reading
Lawn Pilot
Still only one-third of the way through his job–navigating a riding lawnmower over two acres in front of the Lutheran church–he delighted in shredding each swath. He chose a bright … Continue reading
The Same
There is no great difference in reality between one country and another, because it is always people you meet everywhere. They may look different or be dressed differently, they may … Continue reading
I’m Thinking Lovely
She parks in the first spot outside Arby’s, and he waits patiently in the passenger side, readying his oxygen tank as she comes slowly around the long Buick. She wrestles … Continue reading
Skip the Map
If you find yourself asking: How did I get here? Isador once said, that probably means you are living a life worth living. –Aleksandar Hemon. The Lazarus Project (yes, AGAIN. … Continue reading
Spring Training
The humidity hasn’t kicked in yet. So the parks are packed with people: joggers, parents with strollers, cyclists, pet owners, families having picnics. At the site of one such picnic, … Continue reading
Night Game
After dinner the small boy stood at the far side of the lawn with his back to the street. He focused on a point in front of him, waiting for … Continue reading
On The Move
Whenever he was en route from one place to another, he was able to look at his life with a little more objectivity than usual. -Paul Bowles. The Sheltering Sky … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 