Of Meringues and Mindsets My mother used to make lemon pies when somebody died. “Because my pies were beautiful, all fluffy and white,” she said as if it all made perfect sense. And I wondered at her logic. Was it as flawed as I initially believed? Maybe the soft white topping to the bitter yellow center […]
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Carousel of Marriage Harry and Grace had a carousel of marriage while it lasted. There were arguments galore and children by the score or so the neighbors thought as they counted kids running across their lawns causing divots to fly and dogs to bark, a canine tabernacle choir. Fireworks on the Fourth were peaceful in comparison. The kids would light their crackers in the yard while Harry and […]
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Room Of Silence Nine in one little room, not making a sound. One working busily behind her desk. Two read books while one reads a magazine, while on writes in notebook. A leg shakes nervously across the room, while two rock beside him. Another two are drifting off to sleep. All wait to hear a name called by the […]
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Heartless at the Checkout Line “I’d never take my anger out on you,” she said, when I remarked she looked so piqued I had the inclination to skidoo. As someone who desired her, I freaked out at the dewdrops missing from her ears, the stern configuration of her lips, her strident voice and mortifying leers. Since these impediments did not […]
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Separate, but… The boss told me I did a good job and the extra hours I put in last week secured a big account. He couldn’t give me a raise because the economy was poor: ‘As soon as earnings pick up’… But it didn’t stop him from a luxury vacation in France and Italy. Now is it just […]
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Surf Vibes I was having surf vibes on my surf board. Trying to catch a wave. The pristine, ultra white beaches against the sea was enough to take my breath away.
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TRINITY AFFINITY “And the three men I admire most, The Father, Son and Holy Ghost, They caught the last train for the cost The day the music died.” (from Don McLean’s “American Pie”) The three men I admire most, Though passed, remain alive To me because of what they wrote. Their legacies survive. Most favor Verne […]
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Insignificance Late in life I struggle against my insignificance When I should enjoy the freedom from performance before an audience. Applause is happiness but if they withhold applause, embarrassment. When Da Liu put me to work crunching hexagrams and spreadsheet numerology Instead of ghost writing his books about T’ai Chi for longevity I was humiliated but freed. No need to […]
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I take a 12 month chip, a copy of The Iceman Cometh, drape myself in Union blue, cultivate a salesman’s grinning grip. A Valley trip lies ahead, road miles registered in a company car. Spring becoming summer, there’s a ghost in the garden, a feral cat, sensuous in the drying grass. I light a Tiparillo, block walk the […]
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In 1920 he came on a boat from Ireland and found his way through Ellis Island. He found a room in a boarding house catering to his kind and went looking for a job but found instead signs in windows saying “No Irish Need Apply.” A cemetery asked him to dig graves and lower the dead. In America today […]
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