Originally posted 2016. Revised. Longing this morning to trade back my boots for the soft soles I surrendered to get them. I can’t feel the ground when I walk in these. Doctors try to tell me it’s neuropathy from my diabetes. They’re half right, I suspect; certainly some shiny whiteness is to blame and whether […]
When your memory holds a bed of nails you never truly rest. Once you think you’re comfortable a single adjustment of your back or even elbow brings forth blood. You get up and sit by the window pretending you are loved as you try to wipe away the red that only you can see but which […]
Some say we must mask ourselves to save ourselves and others Others say we must unmask to save America and as for the world beyond America it can kiss our collective unmasked ass Then again the face we know of America itself has always been a mask covering hypocrisy with good intentions Contradiction is how it stays […]
Touring the homes of all the dead who have ever lived Even the ones long gone burned buried torn down vanished Wandering halls Opening rooms Crossing borders to see all the places the dead have been Trying to learn what it means to remain present after the body has gone It is not something I have thought […]
To imagine our worlds as settled in some aspects, to understand that some people dear to us are no doubt now part of our pasts, that while we may correspond we will never be in each others’ physical presence again, yet still we shall continue to speak to and share in each other in all other […]
We were all bone-tired before this exaltation of humility came upon us. We may have looked more madcap, more animated from a distance, but if you’d looked into our eyes, you would have seen years of restless sleep and no true relaxation, regardless of what yoga magazines told us we’d gained. Scoff as you want. Had […]
How delicious it would be to have a world that did not require all this thinking — where instinct and emotion were enough to carry civilizations from birth to death — where guns and brawn were acceptable in the face of disease — where fear of the unknown was codified into quick and dirty law […]
He’s standing in the dead middle of the meat section at Price Chopper screaming “HOW CAN THERE NOT BE ANY FUCKING STEAK?” Someone comes out bearing chicken from behind the steel clad gates of the backroom where they cut meat and stage the cases. “Hey, you got any steak back there?” “Steak? No sir. None.” […]
Started out as Friday but became a Monday and thus the weekend became confusing. I baked a flourless cake and wept over a Sunday dinner that felt more like Tuesday’s leftovers, like the whole leftover menu from the whole week. Why do we bother naming the days anyway — it reminds us we once had […]
When the architect passes you still have the building. When the musician passes you still have the music. When the person passes you have what you remember — when Fats Domino passed, when Little Richard passed, I remember how their hands looked on the keys. I remember how I knew from watching them that the […]
No doubt — this is a crazy, scary, sad, worrying time for everyone. Most of us are sheltering in place and trying our best to adjust to a new reality. While we are not performing heroic deeds like all the frontline healthcare workers and first responders, grocery store employees and delivery drivers, we can all … Continue reading nine cool things on a tuesday (stay home, save lives edition)
Did you know that tomorrow, April l8, is National Animal Crackers Day? ???? Oh, to return to a simpler, more innocent time, when it was all about glee rather than guilt! * ANIMAL CRACKER (no s) by Gretchen Friel My students are inspired to read more poems aloud if I bring frosted … Continue reading animal crackers: a sweet memory in every bite
Feeling a little peckish? What’s your pleasure? If you’re craving something savory, perhaps we should zip on over to Illinois for some deep dish pizza and pierogies. Something a little more substantial? Well, we could feast on chicken fried steak in Oklahoma and bison burgers in Wyoming, before topping everything off with a platter … Continue reading [tasty review] United Tastes of America by Gabrielle Langholtz, Jenny Bowers, and DL Acken
“We begin in infancy by establishing correspondence of eyes with eyes.” ~ Robert Frost FRAGMENTARY BLUE by Robert Frost Why make so much of fragmentary blue In here and there a bird, or butterfly, Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye, When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue? Since earth is earth, … Continue reading baby’s got blue eyes (+ a giveaway)
I recently “discovered” UK illustrator Jane Newland while browsing images online. Safe to say that 80% of the time, when something different/exceptional/beautiful stops me in my tracks, the artist turns out to be British. ???? Jane lives and works in Norwich (the most complete Medieval city in the UK), which … Continue reading new art crush: jane newland