Sundown and the purple clouded sky reminds us of a peach drenched in wine, surrounded by a creamy mix. But soon, our sights turn to the moonlit river reflecting upon the jewel-studded terrain.

Then, as the clouds veil our moonbeam, we listen to the chatter of the wild only to hold hands and hug as blades of uncut grass brush against our bug bitten legs.

Yikes! It feels a bit scary, especially the chatter. Yet, city life can't get any better.

The best was looking up to see you standing there, your hand stretched out to guide me into the sea, when I was feeling unsure and intimidated.

The best was lying on your chest and listening to your heartbeat, steady and strong, hearing you turn page after page while you read to wind down for sleep.

The best was the sunshine and the heat, and feeling comfortably uncomfortable while sweating in every place imaginable.

The best was the expression…

His name, he said, was Ishmael, lone survivor of an old man’s mad vendetta against the great white whale who’d left him crippled and half mad.

I understood better than most of his listeners the lessons of his tragic saga; unlike his doomed captain, I alone survived the wretched fate I brought upon my shipmates with my sinful deed. Why I shot the harmless albatross I can’t recall, an act of thoughtless cruelty, and the weight of his innocent spirit yet hangs round my neck as I roam the…

They fell in love and got married, and stayed happy as clams for seven months tops.

They'd looked good to each other, that is, they each appeared to embody the virtues the other sought in a spouse; the ones that sparked lust were especially appealing to him and she fell in love with what passed for his brains and success in the world, and meanwhile they both made the right kind of noises...

Down the road though, as happens when fools make a dash to the altar, the off-notes grew…

It wasn’t apparent at the time but now I perceive that the trees around those chalets at Blowing Rock were not only inhabited by bats but by monkeys too.



Howler monkeys.   Howler monkeys whose very presence was enough to infect one (well, me at least, and I don’t think…

During the first mile of the six-hour drive to Atlanta, when the four of us were desperate to think about anything except Xanadu in the rearview mirror, Sandra asked “So how do condoms work in your country?”

Staring at the tag on the back of Teresa’s rental in front of us, she was referring to automobile license plates. My ears must’ve heard “car registration,” which is how I avoided a…

They called him the Sheik because, what he'd do, he'd wrap himself up in a sheet and go out and stab guys in the breezeway.

He'd glue boards to the sheet so they couldn't stab back.

Some years down the road they paroled him; a paperwork fuckup no doubt, or maybe they did it for giggles, who knows, but whatever, they let his ass go.

And he actually came up with a job, at a Texaco station hosing down windshields or something, and it kept him from starving but,…

We got.10" inch of rain last night, but that sure doesn't amount to much.

It's so dry the bears are rooting through the garbage dumpsters & one broke into a home in our nearest "town"

The cows don't look good at all ( the ones that came to the house) & you can tell they're hungry due to lack of moisture, which means lack of grass.

It's also…

At the end of a tunnel reeking of yesterday, it gnawed on the second hand. It had no taste. It chewed up time. And smelled the beating heart. There were no seconds. It clocked away slowly, as zombies do.

It is morning coffee on the couch with new books by the huge picture windows, birds feeding and then slam, slam, slam, three in a row.

I rise and in a moment of nonsense say,

"Stop slamming yourself against the plate glass!  Why do you do it?  Do you see youself, reflected, and desire to kiss that Magical One?  Or does it look like so much open sky and you wish to soar, doing damage to yourself against the unforgiving truth?

Stay safe, little bird, and do not hit so…

That god you pray's gonna help you to heaven.

That cute little blonde you hope makes you young.

That name you keep dropping you think drops some glory on you.

That flag makes you feel likeyou're Jesus in mufti.

That badge you think makes your dick weigh 12 pounds..

That gold-plated cage you think's gonna set your ass free.

Why I woke this day and remembered her, unlike all the other days is perhaps not strange, but it set the tone for the next hundred years.  Not everything that comes from the ground knows itself, understands or cares or loves, or is willing to do so. Most of us begin with the great bellows of our breathing. Jeweled eyes, hard garnets open in the dark. We begin and do not know our purpose until we find that One. We find that One and know what our beginning means, and from that day on our…

It took me half a lifetime to understand the way she made me feel, like nothing, worthless, never good enough. A simple word of praise was all I ever wanted, but her words were never simple and rarely offered praise.

Mother let me know from early on I was her greatest disappointment; her maternal sacrifices were acts of duty only, never love.

When I finally made my way in the world, somewhat late in life but with some success despite the burden of her martyrdom, I felt I’d…

My wife showed me the man she really goes for. She brought him out and encouraged him to display his talents. He’s not a bad guy - loyal, stable, and creative, listens, communicates, thinks he’s funny and still sports his original hair. It was the things that weren’t so apparent that I was amazed by. He’d expanded his horizons, challenged his fears, accepted opportunity, made changes, and adapted and grew over the…

A Canadian friend sent me an exquisite short story he’d written the other day, and a tide of envy roiled up in me like Floydian acid reflux, like hungry dogs gnawing at my guts.

You may have tasted envy, but yours was just a sour sip of wine at a civilized wine-tasting whereas mine is bottom-shelf, well-brand gin in a biker bar with leathers and colors and miss-the-urinal piss stains on the floor and churlish fat guys who only…

Once I was free as a crow on the wing: I could go anywhere and do anything and stay out all night, and I answered to no one and nothing.

Which is to say that I was a slave in a cage made of skin: every thought carried with it the sound of the cell door slamming on me; every beat of my heart was a tick of time served on a sentence that lasted forever.

These days I'm broke and I'm growing old, and I'm shackled by all the restraints that old and broke bring--but I'm not a slave…